Amazing break…

I can safely say that I’ve never seen this before, nor did any of us ever expect to see it:

A visiting climber from Chicago came up and handed me the cobble. I had to pull the rest off the wall with a wrench.

Turns out, the urethane where the cobble connected to the main hold was extremely thin.

Another interesting note--the piece didn't just fit back in. The hold had to be flexed apart to make the piece fit in properly.

I theorize that several things contributed to this amazing hold break.  Firstly, as you can see in the photos, the hollow back urethane was poured thinly–perhaps too thinly to support such a big feature on the outside of the hold.  Secondly, the way the hold was being used on the problem it was on did create quite a bit of torque.  Thirdly, because the Spot’s walls are not very even, the hold was probably not sitting perfectly flat.  The tension on the hold would explain why the hold, when off the wall, would not accept the broken piece back in its proper place.  Finally, it has been theorized that this batch of Climb-it holds was a bad pour, as we’ve been breaking them left and right in the last couple of months.  It seems like most of the batch lasted just fine for 9 months or so and then the urethane got too brittle, or something, and now we’re breaking them regularly.  This is disappointing, as Climb-it makes some great shapes and previously their urethane was more durable than this.  It should be noted that Climb-it has an excellent return policy, and that thus far they have kindly replaced the holds we’ve broken and sent back to them.

Has anyone else ever seen a break like this before?

Carlo First Ascent of Flux for Life V13 in Endo Valley, RMNP

Carlo at the top out. He fell here at least twice before sending!

We are psyched to report that, despite his destroyed skin and it being at least his fourth day on, our head setter Carlo made the first ascent of a sought after project in Endo Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.  In this picture, Carlo is beginning the finish mantle–a move he fell on at least twice during previous attempts at the boulder when his heel hook picked.  Then yesterday, after a quick stop at the Spot to patch together his worn-out finger skin, he he headed up to Endo with a slightly different heel placement in mind.  The better heel seems to have worked, cause he sent!  He’s calling the problem Flux for Life, and proposing V13.  Nice job Carlo!!!