Archive
New Urban Plastix!
New Urban Plastix!
It’s pretty obvious from the photo that the large green tufa hold, The Tremor, is incredible. This pinch is positive enough to use on the steepest of steeps but will work great for a variety of purposes pretty much anywhere we can get it on the wall.
Close-Up of the Tremor
We are very excited to try it out on the Hueco! Here are some photos of other new holds we got from UP:
Most of the new UP holds in a pile
Close up of a Dog Bone. Silky nice texture.
Brick Ledges
Stealth Slopers
We’ll be setting with them today and tomorrow on the Front Hueco, so come in and check ‘em out!
Setting Update for May 21 & 22 + New So Ill Holds! + Special Kilter Preview
Reset!
New Front Font
New North Side Font. Check out those blue chunks!
New North Side by Back Arete
New Font Back Slab.
Font New South Side. Don’t miss the Pusher Sloper Testpiece.
I don’t have a great shot of the Front South Arete, but I will be posting again soon with that photo and a bit of a feature on some brand new holds from Kilter that we’ve got set up there. We also set with a large order of brand new So Ill holds!
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New So Ill!
The new So Ill holds we got are all over the Font Boulder and we saved a few for next week on the Front Hueco as well. It’s hard to miss the huge purple Cut feature on the middle of the front face:
The Cut. Ours is purple.
Here are a few more holds from the many different So Ill sets now gracing the Font:
New So Ill!
Have fun looking around the boulder and picking out all our new holds. There are several features and many smaller hand-sized holds in different colors and styles. We’ve finally finished our popular ‘Roids collection with the addition of the Big Roid:
The Big Roid
And it’s even green to match the rest of the Roids we have! You can check out the rest of So Ill’s holds on their website here:
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Special Kilter Preview
We’ve also got some brand new sets from Kilter and we consolidated them on the Southwest (front right) arete of the Font and some on the slab so you can easily find them to check them out. Kilter is a new company from shaper Ian Powell, who founded E-Grips and who you probably know as he works at The Spot. There was an excellent article on Ian in Rock and Ice two months ago, and this video as well:
The problems with Kilter holds on the Font are exclusively Kilter handholds. We’ve got other Kilter scattered throughout the gym and we’re really looking forward to getting the rest of our order, which is the full current line, in the near future. Ian is carving up even more amazingness in his little workshop, so look forward to being the first in the country to climb on new grips from one of the world’s foremost hold shapers.
A little Kilter preview of a groundbreaking shape. If you don’t know why, go find it and feel it. This hold is currently on the brown problem on the middle Dojo arete just under the roof.
So that’s all for now. More on Kilter soon so stay tuned for that and come into the Spot to check out all our new grips!!!
Texture Close-Up + Summer Jam & Beach Reset!
A close-up of the new Motivation texture on our new purple volumes.
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Beach Reset
We reset the Beach yesterday and today. New Motivation Volumes, World Cup trainers, problems of all grades and many different styles…and all above our brand new Futurist floor! Here are some pictures, but come in and check it out.
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Summer Jam
The Spot Summer Jam Member Appreciation party was today, and it was good to see so many folks show up for bacon cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, Avery beer, new problems, and a sweet raffle. Thanks to The Spot community for coming out and celebrating with us!
Here’s Dan the man with his adorable youngest daughter:
And here’s a picture of Coach Andy bbq’ing in our old hold washing rain pants:
See you at The Spot!
Quick Setting Update + New Volumes + Summer Jam + World Cups and Sean McColl’s First Bouldering World Cup Win!
Quick Setting Update + New Volumes!
We stripped the Beach today, first strip over the new floor and so far so good. Danny, Ian, Jonny, Connor, Lily, and I set some of the problems with the upcoming North American World Cups in mind–we want to help train Team USA climbers who live here so they’ll be in shape for Canada and Vail, and we also want to give visiting International World Cup circuit climbers some great problems to climb on when they come visit us in the week leading up to Vail.
Team Austria preparing for Vail at The Spot a couple of years ago
We always enjoy having the WC competitors acclimating at The Spot, and we’re excited to see everyone again this year.
In other exciting news (and to help with comp style setting) we just got a shipment of Motivation Volumes in, some with the new World Cup texture. You’ll notice the stickier purple volumes–those are the World Cup texture. The lighter pink volumes have another Motivation texture on them.
Check out the new volumes and the new problems on The Beach today (more coming tomorrow) and get a feel for some of the types of holds you’ll see on the wall at the Vail World Cup!
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Summer Jam
The Spot’s annual Welcome to Summer Member Appreciation event–Summer Jam–is happening tomorrow!
Members get in free ($10 or a climbing daypass for all others) and we’ll be serving up BBQ and Avery beer and giving away a bunch of stuff in a sweet raffle, including a Black Diamond crashpad donated by our friends at MooseJaw.
We’re also going to be selling our $150/3 months paid in full Summer Membership. The Summer Membership is a limited time offer, so don’t miss it! It’s a great deal and a good back-up plan for warming up before going to your projects outside, climbing while holding down a “real job”, or keeping in shape over summer with Colorado’s increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. We’ve got a roof to keep out sun and rain, and we’ve got AC and we’re not afraid to use it. So come on down, bring your family, friends, and roommates to Summer Jam!
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Sean’s Big Win
With the exception of the Vail event there are usually only a couple of competitors in the World Cups from North America. One of the regulars is Canadian Sean McColl. If you’ve watched any IFSC Lead or Bouldering events in the past few years you’ve probably seen Sean compete. He is a regular on the world podium and runs a well written blog with updates on training and competing. Anyways, Sean is one of the few holding it down from this half of the world, and we are super psyched for him on his first Bouldering World Cup win last weekend in Slovenia.
Sean after flashing the last boulder. When he flashed it he knew he’d won.
He climbed extremely well in finals. Amazing job Sean!
Read his impressions of the event here: My First Bouldering World Cup Victory | Sean McColl
Spot Blog coverage here: IFSC Bouldering World Cup 2013 #4 – Log Dragomer – Finals
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More updates and fresh problems tomorrow. Don’t miss Summer Jam!
Holds Everywhere! + New So Ill!
Some days routesetting can be a long and tiring job. Stripping, washing, setting, and holds holds holds. Sometimes things can get away from you…
We’re excited to be getting some brand new So Ill holds soon. Look for them on our walls in the next couple of weeks!
Quick Setting Update + Loop Holds on the BHCL
Quick Setting Update
We were going to reset just Front Hueco this week but we had enough setters to take down the whole boulder and get a pretty good fill up on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Lily and Ian Powell came in early Thursday morning to add even more problems! We’ve had a mix of feedback on the new/old grade scale and have been adding “bridge” problems at the upper and lower ends of all the spot grades SO, for example, you may find some 4 spots easier or more difficult than others because they are part of the bridge to 4- or 4+. We’ve tried to do this through the grade scale this week on the Hueco and last week on the Font, so hopefully this will help folks find problems to work on to take the step up to the next grade.
Enjoy!
Loop Holds on the Big Hold Company List
Just heard of this company via Facebook. They’re pouring polyurethane and have a small pro team that includes Brazilian crusher Felipe Camargo.
I have mixed feelings on their offerings, but variety is the spice of life, right? Also they seem to offer rubber bolt-hole plugs (to prevent the cheater’s thumb catch) which is cool.
Check out the Loop site here: LOOP WEAR & HOLDS. They are located in Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. We’ve also added them to The Big Hold Company List (links and a dropdown for different regions in the top menu).
Quick Setting Update + Floor In + Red Point Review Updated
Red Point Review Updated
The Red Point Climbing Holds review from last week has been updated a little–they took steps on the breaking mini-jug issue and are reshaping for more durability. Click here to read the Red Point Review.
Quick Setting Update
This week we set on the Font boulder. Danny, Jonny, Connor, Jay Jay, Chris Schulte, me, Ian Powell, Ian Dory, and Lily all put up a bunch of problems of all grades. Go in and check ‘em out!
Aly Dorey testing out the new floor under The Beach!
Floor In
The new floor is in under the Beach! It’s pretty awesome. If you have any questions about the new floor please don’t hesitate to ask the Front Desk. The rest of the gym floor will be resurfaced this summer.
Red Point Climbing Holds – The Review – UPDATED
Ok, so in mid-February we got a small shipment of Red Point Climbing Holds to check out. In case you didn’t see the first post or haven’t been into the gym, here’s what they sent us:
The holds are, from the top of the picture:
Purple screw-ons : Golf Ball Mini Jugs
Smaller Green Blobby Things : Commundum Pinches
Green Angled Pinches/Slopers : Tusks
Large Orange Blobs : Ergo Jugs (aka “Big Paws”)
Below are our impressions of each.
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Golf Ball Mini Jugs
They point out, rightfully, that these are great for home walls. Obviously we don’t put screw-ons into our walls at The Spot (our walls are concrete, except the Beach, which is mostly fiberglass), but we do put screw-ons onto other holds and on volumes. We got two of this set and on our first setting day with them Jon screwed one onto a large sloper to make the mantle on the slab.
This one worked just fine
He tried to screw the other one onto another sloper but as he put the 2nd screw in…
The hold broke like the piece of Prinz hold we broke off, that is, it looked like shorn plastic. The broken area is all white like it stretched apart. When it broke it made a loud crack though, so maybe it is a bit brittle or, as Jon suggested, maybe the 2 screw holes in the same approx horizontal line made it weaker. Urethane should flex when screwed in, and this just cracked. Also, in general the edges of these seem thin/delicate/brittle and so for a high-use facility they may not be the best choice.
The Yay
Very small volume, meaning cheaper for them to make, lighter to ship, less expensive for you, and less wall-space used, but still a nice crimp/mini-jug edge on each. Rounded lips for tendon comfort. Probably excellent on a wooden wall.
The Nay
Ian took a bite of one of the edges of one (Powell, not Dory) to test the strength of the urethane, and I’m sad to say he did get a little chunk out of it. We don’t usually bite test our holds so I’m not sure how telling that is. I am planning to throw one at the concrete floor eventually (our standard strength-test) and see how it does. I am loathe to destroy one though so I’m hoping that, like the Prinz holds, it won’t break. (UPDATE – as noted above one already broke, so I threw the broken piece on the floor to see what happened. It did not break further when chucked at the floor.)
UPDATE #2 – Red Point has noticed this problem and shared this:
As of now, we have pulled our screw on mini jugs from our lineup, as we had one break on us at the local gym. We like the idea of them, being small low profile and cost effective, so we will have a new set reshaped for us that has a thicker profile so no more cracking, more material for the screw, and less torque on the material.
We like the idea of small, low profile, cost effective and comfortable finger jugs as well, so hopefully the new shapes will be slightly more durable. We also like Red Point addressing the issue asap. Nice job guys!
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Commundum Pinches
I would have described these as crimps at first, though they are very comfortable to pinch and both of the ones we got offer a nice thumb catch.
The Yay
Neat, comfortable, unique little pinches. Don’t take up much wall space but offer lots of grabbing options. Hard to match. Positive so you can pull off them. Fine on vertical, positive enough for overhanging, possibly even a roof if you were uber burly. Would be great feet on a roof as well.
The Nay
The two downsides I saw at first are 1) Martini bolts (a big no-no at The Spot though we will use them sometimes and did find a couple to put these holds on and try them out), and 2) thin-edged base plates. The thin edges are a problem because they can chip; however, the urethane of these should stand up to our rough handling. I am nervous about them though because of what happened with the jib. UPDATE as of April 8, 2012, nearly 2 months after we got them, these are still holding strong.
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Tusks
The Tusks were the most instantly interesting of the samples because we don’t have, nor have we seen, anything quite like them before.
The Yay
They seem usable as either pinches or slopers, depending on how you put them. At the moment they are on the vertical wall, but I am excited to try them out on some slightly steeper angles on compression problems. Nice rounded edges mean comfortable for your tendons. Angle change means they’re hard to match. Can be used for left or right hand. Nice edge transition from hold to wall.
The Nay
Not super comfortable on the vertical. Kind of hard to find a really nice way to use them, though we did turn one as a sidepull/undercling and it seemed good that way.
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Ergo Jugs
I henceforth dub these jugs the “Big Paws” because if you’ve got big paws you’ll find them to be very comfortable.
The Yay
These medium-sized jugs are not super incut the way you might expect all jugs to be, but they are incut enough to be usable on a variety of wall angles (at the moment ours are on vertical) and I think they’d be great for a 45 or a woody because the lips are very large, handfuls even, so you can use them as the best holds on the wall without stressing your tendons. They remind me of Maple Canyon split cobbles. The ones we got can be used upside down as slopers with side thumb catches. I really like them.
The Nay
Maybe not as good for kids, and would probably be really hard on any sort of roof. Also, sort of heavy, so probably not the best to set a whole route’s worth so you don’t have to haul a bucket of ‘em up the wall.
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General thoughts
The texture is ok, a medium-sticky that seems sort of full of air bubbles. They are not painful, but a little more aggressive than the super fine texture we generally prefer (just for being able to climb volume without working your skin). This means, for us at least, that they aren’t instantly aesthetically as pleasing as a finer-textured hold (aka Teknik or Kilter) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t great holds that we and our customers will enjoy climbing on.
Integrity: I’ve been saving this review until we had a better idea of how the hold material would hold up, and so far they’ve been great. All besides that first jib have survived a set/strip/wash/set cycle. The texture still seems good, not polished, not painful, and there are no problems to note.
It was great of Red Point to send us a small variety so we’d be able to get an idea of their line and their direction as a company. If all they’d sent were the screw-ons and martinis, we’d not be very psyched. Instead we got those things plus some sweet pinches and jugs as well.
Another nice thing – though (according to their website) they’ve done some experimenting with their line, they sent us some nice, simple shapes in single colors. Though we do not set by color, we find single-color holds far more aesthetically appealing than multi-color holds (with the exception of DRCC, who do amazing multi-color like nobody’s business).
Packaging: They were wrapped in paper (recyclable) and packed tightly in a box lined with some cool air-pac stuff that looked like a new take on bubble wrap.
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Overall
Good presentation for a good initial impression.
I’d definitely buy the Ergo Jugs and if we had a wooden wall the Golf Ball Mini Jugs. For the rest choose according to the needs of your training/wall/facility. A good start from a promising young company.
Also, we didn’t get ‘em, but they make these:
Red Point Climbing Holds Single Dingles
Wanna see the rest of their line?
or find them & other companies on The Big Hold Company List.
Quick Setting Update – UPDATED
Hopefully everyone will be glad to hear that we reset the Dojo. Last week it was 2 days on the Right Dojo, this week two days on the Left. We got a bunch of new e-Grips and Teknik as well, most of which are on the roof as we got them on Tuesday this week just before we reset it. We’re keeping a few for the Beach next week though, which we’re setting just before the new floor goes in April 6th and 7th.
Last week I was in Puerto Rico but everyone else was around (including the constantly-traveling Jon!) This week we were a bit low on setters as Jon, Connor, Jay Jay, and Lily are all gone. Danny, Ian, Jonny, and I were joined by guest setter Chris Schulte.
Chris recently returned from a two-month trip to France and Switzerland. Last fall he helped us with the Hueco reset and repair, so he is intimately familiar with the complexities of Spot t-nuts. He’s also done short stints setting at other gyms, though he rarely climbs inside. For the Dojo Chris put up several lines, my favorite of which is the neon green 4 spot on the far right side of the Dojo by the Yosemite. It’s very balancy and technical. Check it out!
UPDATE – We made a Guest Setter page for Chris: Chris Schulte | The Spot Route Setting Blog
Orogen Designs – The Review
This review is a bit overdue, as I was in Hueco for nearly 2 months and we got these holds at the start of it, just in time for the Highlines & Highballs comp. I was excited to use them in that comp and again for Gladiator Finals, and I’ve been using them in the reset as well.
What we got
Right side – 6 Blocky Purple Holds - Olivine Series 1 Crimps
Middle – Top Large Purple Hold - Pahoehoe Jug
Middle – Lower Large Purple Hold - Low Volume Sloper
Top Left – Single Orange Blob Pinch - Cobblestone
Left Side – Orange and Green Feet - ORONITE Footholds
Left Side – Green Disc Feet - Ovoid Footholds
Bottom Screw-on - OROgranum Screw Ons
Another Angle:
My first impressions were lukewarm. The holds looked cool enough, but nothing spectacular. First impressions aren’t usually accurate though. Read on.
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Olivine Series 1
The Yay
These are my favorite of the Orogen samples, and I find myself reaching for them again and again. Similar to the blocky pinches in the Teknik line, but a bit smaller & lower profile. Very comfortable, the edges look harsh but are actually pretty smooth and just fine on the tendons. Good hold-wall transition. We’ve had them for 3 months and no breaks yet. Recommended.
The Nay
Very subtle and many of the other setters aren’t very inspired by them. Once you start using them though…great!
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Pahoehoe
We got the bottom one.
The Yay
Like the Olivine, a bit subtle in the edge, which is a comfortable block cut. I really like this jug. Good for a range of grades on a range of angles.
The Nay
Kinda heavy. Seems like it might be brittle, though no breaks so far.
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Low Volume Slopers
We got the one on the bottom right.
The Yay
Smooth lines, makes a nice hand position, a challenging foot, good on volumes or around an arête. Connor uses it often.
The Nay
The edges are chipping during our normal hold shoveling/dumping/washing. The chips aren’t major, though they do affect the look of the hold. This is so slopey it would be difficult to use without opposition. Kinda heavy.
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Cobblestone
The Yay
I’m not going to lie, I have feelings for our Cobblestone pinch. We only got one, but I like it a lot. It’d be the 8 o’clock hold, if you were wondering. Why do I like it? Small, fat, comfortable.
The Nay
This thing is sweet. The orange urethane seems stronger/more flexible than the purple holds (everything we got that is listed above this).
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Oronite Complete Footholds
The Yay
These are fine, nothing spectacular but good to go. Rough edges on purpose which is nice in a foothold because it’s uncomfortable to grab but good to stand on.
The Nay
Martini bolts.
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Ovoid Footholds
The Yay
Again, nothing groundbreaking, but useful.
The Nay
Martini Bolts.
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OROgranum Screw Ons
We aren’t big screw-on users at The Spot, because we can’t & won’t screw into our walls (mostly concrete, some fiberglass). However, we do use screw-ons on volumes and other holds.
The Yay
Small and rough, so good for adding a positive foot that won’t be used as a hand. Will fit well on/around other holds. Seem good for what they are are probably cost effective as well.
The Nay
Not our favorite style as most of the jibs we use are hand jibs and need to be smooth.
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General Conclusions
The texture is great–fine, comfortable, hold chalk, not slick (except the feet, the neon urethane is slicker).
The dark color of most of the sets we got makes them easy to overlook, but I find myself seeking them out because I know they will be fun to climb on.
I think that, despite my earlier positive comments about the uniqueness of their hold-presentation on their website, Orogen is actually doing themselves a little bit of a disservice by presenting everything in this particular color of green. The reason? It is difficult to tell what is going on from the photos. The photos of the holds that we have still look different to me than the actual holds we have, and I think it’d be hard to discern the holds’ lines enough to know clearly what to order. For example, on the website the Pahoehoe jugs look…mediocre. I probably wouldn’t order them from the picture. But they sent us one to test and it’s great! The edge radius is comfortable, the jug is incut enough to use on steep roofs but round enough for lesser angles…overall it’s just a nice hold. On that note, since the sets they sent us were good, I will assume their other sets are good enough to take a chance on as well.
See ‘em all on their website : Orogen Designs
Wanna see more hold companies? The Big Hold Company List – North America
