Review > Climb-It > Sliders

Climbing holds from California? Yup, Climb-It are the makers of some interesting holds, a couple of sets have adorned my walls for about a year. The set i'm talking about is the Sliders
Being called the Sliders you're not going to be surprised by what you get when the UPS man comes knocking, what you will be amazed by is a) they're light and b) the texture at first feels like you're going to rip off backwards whenever you grab them. One of the above statements is wrong! The texture is amazing and not as slippery as you think, once you get some chalk over them you're going to be wondering how you've lived without them for so long.

One of the other really nice features of Climb-It holds is that they come with a little cross logo thats been indented into the hold..it's a nice touch, not only can you see who the holds made by but if the route is a little bit harder than you expected you can use it as a handy thumb catch (beats using the bolt hold!) so you can
bear down a little harder.

Over the last few weeks we've had the holds all over the place on the wall, except the ceiling, and every time theres been some screaming and ass' hitting the floor. The holds are great for beginners on a vertical wall and if you're looking for a challenge pretty much any hold in the set will make you think about the move when on overhung.

If you're setting routes that are feet follow hands I'd suggest picking up some of Climb-It's footholds as some of the Sliders are mmassive for feet, but that being said some of the holds aren't that deep (and they're slopey as hell) will challenge most people.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS:
$90 for ten holds that $9 per hold, which isn't the cheapest out there, but most of the holds are pretty big and there are plenty of matching options on nearly every hold. These are a thinking mans hold, you've got to be pretty strong to power though a sequence that has these bad boys, they'll make you strong and make you work your technique to boot. Buy em, they're a ray of CA sunshine in an otherwise dark basement...CHRIS' FINAL WORD
CA Sunshine? Noodles is on the happy pills again :P These holds were first put on the small wall at the last apartment and as it wasn't high enough it was hard to tell if the holds were actually that good or not... thankfully Noodles moved and the wall is much higher, and that's where these holds come into their own, just when you've got to reach for them. You're going to have to work hard to hang onto some of these boys, but if climbing were easy we'd all give up an just buy ladders and would forget about the plastic. Remember we're running these on an overhang (30 degrees) and it makes for a very interesting_am_i_going_to_fall_on_my_ass time, on the vert these holds are challenging for a beginner but semi easy for anyone pulling 5.9's.

KEEP AN EYE OUT...
Climb-It are knocking out new shapes all the time and we've been told there are new sets being carved and should be ready within the next few months.. if you don't believe us check out this monster..The Sleeping Giant measures in at 32x18x7 inches and attaches to your wall via a single bolt this I'm pretty sure I can say is the largest (or one of the) volumes on the market. You can also bolt 7 holds onto the back of this beast! We're going to be getting one of these early next year so keep tuned for the mayhem that will ensue as we fall all over the place trying to hold on for dear life.

Review > Metolius > Cobblestone

If you look in the dictionary (or in these days of technology.. dictionary.com) and look up the word "Cobblestone" you will be given the following:

Cobblestone – noun :
a naturally rounded stone, larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder, formerly used in paving

And when you get these holds from Metolius...

..they're almost exact definition of what the dictionary says... Now these days as climbers, our roads are vertical and not horizontal, and the only time our feet will touch a Cobblestone is when we're trying that tricky hand / foot match on that new problem at the gym, rather than walking about town in Victorian times :) So the holds are aptly named!

The holds come in Macro, Modular and Micro sizes (we've got the modular) so depending upon your needs you can get pretty much whatever you want...The holds all have a pretty aggressive texture when you first start to pull on them, I'd go so far to say it's a little bit too much for my taste, but thankfully with some blood, sweat and chalk it evens out after a while. Our local gym has had some one the wall for about the same time as we've had ours and with the amount of traffic that the holds get over there headed down midweek to have a sneaky climb and to see how they felt... I was pretty impressed, despite the fact that someone should get up there with a brush the holds were still positive to pull on (mind you this is on a 40 degree wall and the holds are part of the crux sequence on a 5.10)... so the texture came into it's own as even with a lot of traffic, the holds were still nice to pull on, surprising really, no one likes slick holds. If these get too slick give them a quick brush and have another go at the route, I think you might be surprised, they come back to life.

But saying that, don't be afraid to get out the ol sandpaper if you want to knock down the texture some, the holds are all good even shapes and its not hard to do.Now normally with holds once you've had a route up for a while you'll end up taking it down and moving the holds about (I know, I do it A LOT) but one thing I found nice about the Cobblestones is that you can just turn them... the holds generally have an area that you want to pull on (i.e: the best (biggest) bit) and then they taper into the wall, so all you need to do is rotate a hold a little and your V1 just became a V3, I found it a nice way to keep people on their toes. Chris was over twice last week and he's climbed the route a bunch, so when he left I turned all the holds... leaving them in the same place and then a few days later suggested he try it again. Oh the fun I had watching him flail about on a route that he'd nailed before, I left it for a few goes before I told him that's what I'd done.

The Cobblestones all look like they're pretty similar at first glance, but there is enough difference in the radii of the holds to make them all feel unique... Most of the holds aren't that positive (but there are a few) so they're not really destined for any super overhanging walls, but if you're strong and know how to use that core tension you're going to have a whole bunch of fun setting problems with these.

RATING:
NOODLES SAYS
At first they're going to make your hands burn... and then over time they become nicer to hold. Too much chalk build up will make them a little slick especially if your wall is warm, but a quick brush and you're cooking with gas again! If you want some good slopers that are going to last a long time then you can't really go wrong with these holds, I've climbed on all of the sizes and they're as good as each other. If you're tight on space on your home woody so for Micro, if you have room to spare go with the Modular, if you want something larger then hit up the Macro's, three sizes and one common goal... to make you strong and yet be tendon friendly :)

CHRIS SAYS
You had me fooled on this one noodles! Rotating these holds a few degree's make them especially harder to stick. Some of the holds in our set were a little too small for an open hand and too round to crimp so its all about footwork on these guys. They have enough texture to stick them on a slight overhanging wall like we did but be prepared to be shut down a few times. The set is well rounded (excuse the pun) and is great for anyone who is looking for a way to train hard and save tendons.

PROS

• They hold up pretty well in a commercial gym
  
• Holds get better the more they are used
• Changing a route means rotating a hold a little
• Very tendon friendly shapes, not a sharp edge in sight
  

CONS

• They only come in one color... lime green
  
• They do take a few climbs before they get REALLY good
• Depending upon how strong you are will dictate how overhung a wall they can be used on
  

PRICE

• 5 pack of holds is $34.95 = $6.99 per hold
• 15 pack is $97.50 = $6.50 per hold
• 30 pack is $177 = $5.90 per hold
• (They come with all needed hardware :P)
  

Review > Teknik > Flaps & Tron Slopers

I've had some Teknik holds for a while now, when I say some I mean a load of holds (well the ones I could get from Le Mec anyway), the Tron's I've had for ages and the Flaps we're picked up about a month ago.


Now as I grabbed the Tron's from Le Mec it means i've only got four of the above 10 pictured holds but as they've been a staple of my wall for over a year I can give you a pretty good opinion of them. Ready? Go to Teknik's site and buy them... done! Slopers are the best holds to train on (your hands work hard but you don't nail your tendons) and these are some of the best slopes out there.
Hell if I can chuck no foot cross over dyno on an overhanging wall between two of these holds then they've got to be pretty good to hold onto... the texture is grippy but just enough that you can hold without feeling a burn on your skin,

They're hollow backed so getting them shipped won't break the bank and the colors that i've seen are always vibrant, so they'll stand out on the most cluttered wall.

RATING
It's hard for me to make a call on the price of these holds, I grabbed about $600 worth of holds when I was at Le Mec one day and I only get the 2 hold set(s) not the 5 hold sets. But that aside these holds have been great to pull on for ever, I hardly ever seem to have to brush them as they stay good to hang on for weeks.Now onto the Flaps...
I picked up the bag and thought well I need some foot holds lets get these... nope, wrong. We screwed some of these to the ceiling, they're not that big but they're not that small if you are feeling cheeky you can get away with some interesting horizontal moves infact here's what the Teknik site says "Flappetty-flap-flap-flap- the most incut of all our screw-ons. Pure positivity and very, very thin in profile = neat-o. You will be floored with how great these holds are to grab" and i'm inclined to agree. They can be a little bit sharp in places, but we've put them up as sidepulls, roofjugs (?), and as undercuts... hell some of them are good enough to match on.

RATING
If you need some space fillers, small undercuts or something to just pull thats big, but not that big then these are the holds for you, they come in a 10 pack and are well worth the money.CHRIS' FINAL WORD
Did Jeremy just tell someone to go and buy some screw ons, thats a first! Mind you they are pretty special little holds and I thought that he was buying footholds (least thats what he told me) I keep unscrewing these and using them as blind sidepulls and as undercuts, I love em and they're MINT yes MINT greeny blue, how often do you see that?
On the Tron's I think we need to go and buy the full sets as they're such nice holds to have on a wall, hell Teknik should make even more of them but maybe half the size so we can bolt twice as many on the wall!