Climbing Holds

 So lately I have been doing a lot if thinking and shaping climbing holds and I have decided to start molding and pouring my own climbing holds, depending on what kind of feedback I get for the holds I might push more towards selling some of the shapes.  I do understand that this is something that I have seen quite a bit here lately with new climbing hold companies popping up left and right, but as a said for now these will be to put up in the local gym and my own personal gym so what I am posting now is just a little preview of some of the recent shapes not all of them are ready to be molded so that is the reason for the rough look.  Hopefully you enjoy them feedback bad and good is always appreciated.  The blue hold in the middle of the green shapes isn't mine it is Vision's Skibo.

Layers XXL

Large Layers Jugs

 Sloppy Slopes 

Assorted Fonts XL

Nice (Almost) Clean Holds

So the other day I took down a number of my larger holds in my bouldering room, it was a nice day and it seemed to be a perfect day to clean the holds and let them sit in the sun to dry.  In doing this I realized quickly which ones were not going to clean well and which ones were very quick and not a problem to deal with.  So I went through and did what I considered a thorough water and toothbrush cleaning.  The hold companies that I cleaned today were:  Teknik, Atomik, Pusher, Project, Vision, So iLL, Etch, Morganic, Grip It, and Asana.

Here is how they placed from quickest and easiest clean to most time consumed.

1.  Vision

2.  So iLL

3.  Project

4.  Grip It

5.  Atomik

6.  Etch

7.  Morganic

8.  Pusher

9.  Teknik

10.  Asana

So I will say that it was pretty upsetting that it was so hard to clean up both my Teknik Big Fat Slopers as well as my Boss and Baby Boss from Pusher.  I sprayed, scrubbed and repeated multiple times on my Teknik slopers and it wasn't shoe rubber that had been buried into the hold, it was skin from my wrists while reaching around them, no matter how hard I tried I just could not scrub it out.  As for the Pusher holds I had to scrub them both really good once let them dry out and then scrub them again.  The Asana holds are the Joe's Jugs and Crimps set and they were pretty much what I expected them to be with cleaning the holds feel like they are made from a very inferior material (not sure what exactly) and I knew from the beginning that they were going to be the worst ones to clean, I probably won't get anymore holds from Asana I have just overall been fairly disappointed with these holds.

My Vision holds, I know it seems like I really praise Vision's holds, but that really is only because they are so good.  The urethane that they are made from is incredible.  I really didn't expect them to clean up as quickly and well as they did, I didn't even need to brush them.  They take chalk off of my hands like no other hold I have climbed on, I should've taken before pictures of the holds because they were white!  All I did was spray them with the hose and now they literally look like the day that they arrived to me.  So iLL also uses some awesome urethane and it cleaned up really well both Vision and So iLL use a softer urethane as opposed to the very hard plastic feeling urethane that most  holds are made from.

Overall I still love all of my holds the same as I did before now I just know that some of them will require more work with cleaning than others.

New Things Coming Our Way

Tonight I got to sit down and talk with Stephen Scoff and told him about a potential spot to open up only 30 minutes outside of Columbia which is great news for those of us here.  I can't/will not tell anyone where it is only because I want the area to be accessed with the permission of the property owner.  Hopefully this will be a successful push for those of us here in the Midlands and we will have our own small Rumbling Bald right here at home for those afternoon bouldering trips.

Some other new news is that before too long Vision Climbing will have a new website and on that website will be some of my first holds that I shaped.  As much as I want to post the new holds and all the fun new things that will be happening with Vision I have been asked not to, BUT as soon as I get the go ahead to post the updates or the link to the new website it will be here.  So before too long you can expect to see the finished products of my shapes on the site.

And one last thing is that my Asana Bouldering Bucket just arrived and it will be my new hat while bouldering as well as the greatest chalk Bucket on the market even Climbing Hold Review has said that so clearly Asana is doing something very right.

If You Didn't, You Should Have

So after the ABS Nationals LT11 did a video on Teknik's route setter from the competition and at the end of the video there was a promotion for the new Big Fat Slopers.  And I am here to let you know that if you didn't take advantage of it, you should have.  They're BIG.  They're FAT.  And they are definitely SLOPERS.  If you ever wanted that perfect set of slopers to train on and set amazing HP40 and Rocktown like routes then these are the ones to use.  I have always been skeptical of how good Teknik's pricing is and that has been the one thing preventing me from buying their holds, I am here to say that these were definitely worth the purchase and they will definitely be up there with The Boss and Pusher's other amazing sloping holds before too long.  They have some awesome grip even without the addition of some chalk.  Each one of these slopers can easily be matched on with space for you to pull your feet up onto and hangout that way as well.  I have pretty big hands so if it gives  you some idea each hold is as big or bigger than my head.  I would suggest these holds to anyone wanting to improve there work on slopers.  I have developed an obsession for basic slopers, the route setter at Stronghold loves his slopers too so I believe it has rubbed off on me.  Overall great shape, great hold, and those two things add up to a great time.  If you are setting at a gym these would be an incredible addition to your gym

Troll Crack 5.11a

So recently I had the pleasure of working and getting a first ascent on one of my local projects that I have been looking at for a while, but I hadn't had the gear or a partner to help me do the route.  Troll Crack is a 25 to 30 foot high completely vertical crack that is fingers width all the way up, which makes it perfect to pull and lean on.  There are absolutely no feet on the climb so you have to use the crack to get whatever grip you can with your feet otherwise the wall becomes a shoe shredder while you smear your feet trying to stabilize yourself.  Overall I would say that this climb is one of the best quality rope climbs in the local area.  Once you've had crack you can't go back.

More and more holds

So yesterday I got in my order of climbing holds from Lynnette over at Vision climbing holds, and I must say that this is the most solid mix of urethane I have ever climbed on.  You get holds that you move your hands over them, tap them, and feel them and just know "I have to be careful about tossing these holds in the box."  The holds that I got from Vision I felt like I could throw them against a wall and worst case scenario is that I would have a divot in my wall and a dent/flat spot on the edge of my climbing hold.  To make things better the grip is pretty incredible its not like the more brittle plastic feeling holds that have really intense grip, but its a more gentle grip but at the same time still possible to get a great hold with your fingers.

Last night when my holds arrived the holds that I was the most excited about were the holds from the Crimpfest set, and I must say that these little crimpers were intense, with the sensation of real granite on the edges they were nothing short of my idea of the perfect crimps.  Some of them are incut and others are flat.  I knew last night that an awesome route would be set with the holds before I hit the bed and it was done.  I have about a 30-35 degree wall in my room that I set the crimps on and some of the crimps are only a third of a pad up to a half or three-fourths of a pad and they are awesome on that wall on that wall. I think that right now my Vision holds are right up there on my favorites with my holds from Pusher and that is saying a lot.

What's Next?

This last weekend was the 15th Annual Palmetto Pump down in Charleston at the James Island County Park climbing wall.  For the competition they got a lot of new holds from So ILL, Rock Candy, Project, Element  and a couple of other companies which I will say made the competition a lot better.  It was very easy to tell the holds that had been on the wall for a while because it was like trying to grab onto a plastic playground slide, they were almost gripless, but the routes were very well set and it definitely made for a lot of fun.  The majority of people there were under the age of 14 which made me realize how out of shape I am and how much of an impact some of the kids out there would someday hopefully make on climbing.  But the comp was more of a fun climbing event than a real comp, the winners didn't get anything, but their name called, all of the prizes were given out in raffle.  I came in 3rd in the adults division even though I feel like performance-wise I should have done better and placement-wise I should've been in 4th because there was at least one person that was better than me that placed lower because he was only trying the hardest routes and didn't fill his card.  Overall it was a lot of fun and I plan on being there again next year.

Now it is time to focus on the upcoming Jocassee Gorge Trail Day, it will be an organized event to help clean up some of the trails and areas around Beasley Gap, Little Eastatoee, Big Eastatoee, and Sasquatch. I have posted about this before, but I am very excited to get out there and help clean up some areas that deserve to look much better than they do now.  Check the event out here!