Review > Climb It > Top Out Slopers

When we get a mail that says:
"Heads up, there are some heinous slopers coming your way"
We're going to wonder whats going on! Then when you get the holds you figure out what's going on... and then you look at the name of the holds (which changed from when we first got these)... you kind of sit back and wonder just what you're going to do with them!

From the get-go on these holds Zach was very nervous about us reviewing them; why? Because these holds have a specific use, and he was thinking that we'd not be able to do much with them... we don't have a slab or a boulder we can top out on... but holds are just holds; aren't they?? Surely even though Louie Anderson has shaped some holds built for the tops of boulders so people can practice their horrible belly flop exits to climbs, there's no reason that they can't be used else where?? Really??

Noodles, was not worried, he set (for want of a better word) one of the most brutal balance / tension / foot popping traverse across the wall... and that's just where the fun began! Once we realized that there is no way in hell that you can use these even on the slightest over hang (well maybe a 10 or 15 if you're into double digit V grades) you get to thinking, how far can you push them on the vertical??




The answer is pretty simple, not that far, unless you have ninja like balance and hands like Spiderman; these holds are hard, but remember, these holds are for the tops of boulders!! So as there was a warm up comp happening at Allez Up we dropped them off for the evening to see what someone that was setting on the boulder would think of them. TJ and Alex used them at the top of the wall where the holds were meant to be, and the move into them was pretty damn hard, but once people dyno'd and caught with a hand they stuck and were able to pull up without a worry, even with the holds being thin. So it seems that if you have a boulder that needs spicing up then these will give you hours of setting and climbing fun, these holds were made with a purpose in mind and they fulfil that purpose as intended. Overall great holds for top outs, everywhere else it's a toss up as to how useful that they'll be, that being said look at last weeks video, do you see the Top Out Slopers in there?? They're the move out of the 45 degree wall, and then back into the wall and then the final hold you hit on that route... like we said, you can use them, hell before we figured out an easier beta on the start Noodles was matching on of the holds and then going into the top of the 45 wall; they can be used, but they're very wall / body position specific

Overall: we tried, we failed, but we had a laugh trying; that's for sure...they're a 50/50 not because of texture or size, but purely because they are meant for one function and one function only, that being said there are some more shapes coming that are in the same vein, but they'll be deeper and better for normal walls.... thank god :)






These holds are so specific that we don't even have an icon for them. The holds are best for top out and slabs but they also work well in corners like we had them set on our wall.

We like to find the full potential of the holds that we get and when we set them on the slight overhang we were surprised that we got as far as we did. But that wasn't very far and we were being very very creative with the setting and the moves; if you need something on a vertical wall that will allow you to hold yourself in place then these were a nice surprise. Putting them under the box and then matching was harder than we expected, you end up with so much pressure on your feet it becomes really hard to move. These holds could be used for some balance routes, but if the wall is vertical or overhung they're just going to be used (we think) as holds that will allow the climber to adjust their postion on the wall but not to pull on. Use them as intended; for the tops on a boulder and you'll have no complaints, elsewhere... avoid unless you're super super super strong on vertical thin as hell can I hold onto this slopers.





Climb It has taken the path of many companies and make their holds from urethane. If they were made from resin they would not have stood up to the abuse of the saw, we'd have shattered it all over the floor. Thus far we've not broken or chipped any of the Climb It holds that we have










AFTER A MONTH IN THE GYM
We set a route on the slab with the Top Outs / Patina's & Teknik: Svelt Pinches, a nice technical sloper / pinch route on a slab. Lot's of the real good climbers got stumped despite the lofty grade of 5.9 :P Here's some images of the holds from when they came back:Unsurpisingly due to the holds nature and lets face it slopers are pretty hard to stand on sometimes the holds have a huge ammount of rubber on them... a quick dunk in a bath (actually my bath) with some soapey water and a brush and they clean up pretty well, the rubbers pretty much gone. We're using a nylon brush, washing up liquid and just hot water!

There's no real damage to the holds, and considering the ammount of hands and feet that hit these holds the texture is still the same

Review > Climb It > Patina XL Jugs

Ah the Climb It boys are back at it again, they've been awfully quiet of late and that's understandable as Zach the owner has just opened a new gym called Hangar 18, now that that's been finished and open for a while it seems that the boys have got back into the shop and are pouring more holds for our climbing enjoyment (Keep an eye out, there are more sets coming people) This time they dropped us some of their new Patina jugs that have just been released. They didn't muck about with sending us any small shapes, they plumped straight for the XL jugs which you can see below:















Soon as the box arrived I ripped into it as I'd seen the pictures about a month ago and wanted to see if they were anything like the images, I was also keep to see what color they'd dropped on me this time :) Last time we looked at any Climb It holds it was the Sediments back in February of this year, those holds which were exceptional and unlike anything on the market came in a color that I described as dayglo green as they were so bright, this time? This time they're dayglo orange, and again the color is like nothing you've seen, kind of a cross between a traffic cone and one of those high-visibility vests people wear on building sites.

From the get go the first thing you're going no notice (other than the color) is the weight of the holds, these hour holds weigh in at a hefty 7lbs, which doesn't sound like that much, but when you pick them up you notice that they feel really dense and good and solid... which is a quality that some people like and other are on the fence about, me I like it, but due to the size of the holds I'm surprised that Climb It didn't make them hollow backed to save on material. (They're currently working on this)



With only four holds, we decided to string them across the roof to see how they performed, they'd been else where on the wall and they're so positive we figured that they'd be good on the roof... and they are and aren't. They are positive and there are good areas to grab, but unfortunately they're not that good and anything that requires matching you're going to have to work real hard for! The group consensus is that they're holds that are good enough for the roof, but if you're not a person that climbs roofs alot (like we do) you're just going to get pitched onto the floor (Noodles was totally shut down by the sequence), else where they're just great fun to climb on.





We've had different ranges of Climb It's holds around the wall for a real long time and other than a set of feet from the Sediments range (that were redesigned, as Climb It found the problem with them and went straight to work fixing it) we've had no problems... even after we lent the local gym some holds, other than where a rope had dragged on the hold for months on end, they cleaned up like new and there were no breakages. Allez Up (

Review > Climb-It > Sediments

Question: What do you get if you feed the Hulk radioactive tacos, poly urethane and green dye?
Answer: The Sediments in dayglo green from Climb-It Holds.

Do you think i'm joking?
Do you think i'd bolt a Hulk doll to my wall for fun?
(well if you answered yes to bolting a Hulk doll to the wall you'd be correct...)But i'm NOT JOKING about day glo green holds...
Nope, not one bit...I really do need to get a black light into the wall one day soon, between Holdz and Climb-It it's getting a bit trippy, and we love it!

Straight out of the box you know you've got your hands onto something completely different, but you're not sure how different until you see the whole line, get out your bolts and start getting them onto the wall.. let's see what they look like...What you're going to see is a whole bunch of holds that look like they have pebbles stuck to them, and you look and you wonder "Can I really climb on this?", "Aren't those pebbles going to rip out when I hang on them?" The simple answer is yes, you can climb on them and no the pebbles aren't going to rip out... we did a quick field test with Seb who weighs just over 200 and he was dropping bombs on them, we even had a few "stamp" tests where I'd bang down onto the pebbles from above and they're solid.Looking at the holds once you've got them on the wall shows you how much choice you have.. and its a LOT! It took us a while to get into the flow of the holds, just grabbing a rock that's attached to the main face of a hold is a little weird to start with, but once you realize that the best part of the hold, generally, is the pebble/rock then you get with the program.
I like to set very specific sequences, so I was intrigued to see if there were any of the holds that could be used with just the base as the hold (avoiding the obvious pebbles) and yes there are, if you like a good sloper, like I do, then you're going to have a ball on these holds. The texture on the base and the lines that are scored into them is just enough to hold onto... and because of the rocks you've got to be exact with your hands.I think these holds should be thought of as bolt on features, because sometimes that's what it feels like. You're climbing on a hold, but you're pulling on a feature of that hold... it's different, not a bad different, a good different. The base of the hold has the same texture as the normal Climb-It holds, good and solid but not overly textured, add the cracks that are scored into them and then you've got a pretty good combination for hands and feet. Add to that the fact that the pebbles are essentially a holdable smoother texture feature and you're onto a winner!

We've chucked these holds all over the walls, and they're good no matter where you chuck them..
The only place you have to be really strong or very careful is when you set them on a ceiling. Then the holds become really really hard, even the largest holds become a maybe (for us anyway), if you set the holds as opposing then you can get away with it, with some careful foot placement... some good spotting and some brute strength :)

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
A setter's dream come true, you want to set something easy? Sure go right ahead, use the holds with the big pebbles and rock on... want to set something hard? Grab the smaller holds with the smaller pebbles and have a ball :P At first glance the holds look like they're confusing to climb on, but once you've spent a few hours grabbing and pulling you're going to see that there's nothing quite like this set on the market, and that's a good thing! I've said it before and I'll say it again... "variety is the spice of life" and climbing indoors can (and will) get static after a while. Give your friends and your customers at your wall a treat, give them something to think about, put your hand in your pocket (or the wall owners pocket) and order the Sediments, you'll not be sorry. The sheer amount of moves you can set will make your brain hurt, any route you set will make the climber(s) think. Again Climb-It have done something amazing, they've designed something that no-one else is doing and they've executed the holds that have a style and feel like nothing else out there!

I do have one minor point to say and that is they do take up a lot of surface area on a wall, not a problem if you're a commercial gym, but a slight pain if you have a relatively small home wall... if you are going to have these at home the large, mediums and smalls (possibly the xl's) will be perfect for you.. well unless you're a complete hold junkie like me and you HAVE to have the bigger holds as well..

CHRIS SAYS
"Question: What do you get if you feed the Hulk radioactive tacos, poly urethane and green dye?" looks like Noodles is on the drugs again, but he's not far off of the point... these holds are green, he has a lot of holds over here but nothing quite as vibrant as these! First time we climbed on them we just chucked them all over one wall and it was fun to see how many different ways you could hang off of the holds, there are loads and loads it's stupid how many ways you can grab these things!!! We even managed to get a hand / heel hook on the 3xl, it's cramp but do-able :) Putting them on the roof is off of the cards unless you're Chris Sharma or possibly insane, we have a route across the roof right now and its super hard, we're getting stopped on the roof!! We'll get it in the end it just takes time.

I can see beginners and hardcore climbers really enjoying these holds, turn them any which way you fancy and just go nuts. Climb-It is fast becoming one of the companys I check to see what new stuff is coming out, mainly because they always pull something amazing out of the bag! Yeah the Sediments are great holds, can't really fault them.

PROS

• There's nothing like these out there!!
  
• Great for setting, there's enough choice on them to make everyone happy
• Order a really nutty color like the green we have or the day-glo orange and they'll stand out
• These holds are great for matching, most of the holds have at least two places to hold on them, and therefore when you're setting just with these holds you have plenty of foot placements
  

CONS

• The whole set isn't the cheapest thing out there, BUT (and its a BIG but) the 3xl and 2xl are very big holds
• (Minor point) They do take up a lot of surface area on a wall, but if its a commercial gym you're using these holds in then its a "mute" point. Think of the holds as bolt on features (especially the big holds) and you'll be smiling
• (Minor point (again)) The 3xl needs a really long bolt, probably a bolt thats longer than most holds, make sure you order this when you get this hold, you'll only have to order the bolt if you're ordering wholesale, the hold prices include bolts otherwise!!
  

PRICE

• The 3x-large is 1 hold at $60
  
• The 2x-large is 1 hold at $42
  
• The x-larges are 4 holds at $78 = $19.50 per hold
  
• The larges are 4 holds at $40.50 = $10.10 per hold
  
• The mediums are 4 holds at $28.50 = $7.10 per hold
  
• The smalls are 4 holds at $19.50 = $4.90 per hold
  
• The feet are 8 holds at $15 = $2.00 per hold
  
• The full range is 26 holds at $283.50 = $10.90 per hold

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.