This is the summary



This is the rest of the post

Read More......

Click the logo to get your Element on!

Read More......

Review > Element Climbings > Beta

We received a few sets from Element Climbing, everything from a roof jug to crimps. Now sitting in front of the box of fresh new holds it was easy to see the jugs and pinches but way at the bottom, there was a little bag of lonely holds. So we fished the bag out to find the Beta crimps. At first we thought they were foot holds but when we got them out of the bag we realized that they are too big for foot holds and that they must be crimps, a quick check on Elements site and yup they're crimps...Ranging from incut, to slopey to flat out edges this set has something for everyone, setters will have fun as these holds are good enough for walls up to 45 degrees, we had a number of routes that we used to see how the holds performed, the best one was also the hardest! From the Ammonia holds on the 45 into the Betas on the 30, round and under the box and then finishing up with some easy roof moves on the Metamorphosis... everyone was left pumped at the end of this one!

The holds at first sight are going to leave you thinking "feet?" and sure they do make some pretty nice footholds, big and positive; but where they're best is when they're used to as handholds. Two sets and you're going to have a ball, one for hands and one for feet, but maybe the holds when used as feet are too large for anyone other than beginners or on very steep walls, there's nothing really special about these holds in this mode... keep them for hands unless you're in need for some bomber bolt on footholds.

As hand holds on our 30 degree wall the small slopey holds are super hard to get onto and hold, you can hang them but you need to be delicate, what made our route run was the edges that gave you a slight break before you head into the box and the moves there, then you end up on some of the slopey guys underneath the stairs... brutal? You betcha!!

Most of the holds are deep enough (as you can see from the above image) for two pads of your fingers, so they're really not all that bad for your fingers, some of them to have flat edges so they could dig in and cause a little pain, but no one complained about this, what they did complain about mind you was the move from the 45 onto the 30 degree wall, it was the small round holds and dynamic moves and then hand bumps that caused a lot of problems.

Overall the holds are good as either feet or hands, it depends upon what you need and where you're going to place them, they're by no means anything out of the ordinary but they do climb pretty well.





We went all the way upto 45 degrees with these, and the only real complaint people had was that they were getting pumped out, that is because of a number of reasons the holds (the slopey ones aside) are big enough that if you're semi strong or have good foot placement you can hang around longer than you expect... so you can think about your next move and figure out what you're going to do. That could be a problem for beginners as they're going to be looking ahead (we hope) on a small hold and then are just going to fall off the the wall pumped, this of course is by no means a bad thing, but it could put people off of your intended route / problem because they get pumped out quickly. The holds do inspire confidence, they're small but they're actually pretty damn big compared to other crimps on the market, and that leads us to a question... "Are these holds true crimps?"; well the answer is yes and no, Dan (pictured above) crimped on them, whereas Noodles was using them open handed (better for the tendons) and everyone else did something in between, these holds don't force you into the classic "crimp" hand position, which is a good thing, but if you're looking to train crimp strength you could find these holds a little too big for that.... they're more like 2 finger pad edges than crimps

You can put these holds anywhere as feet, and on a 45 degree wall they're superb, not too hard and not too easy. There are a few sharp edges, but nothing that we found overly bad


Versatility: Crimps to 45 degrees, or footholds
Screw Holes: No, not needed

Urethane! It's a pretty strong mix from what our torque wrench tells us, there were some bubbles on the backs of the holds but nothing major to worry about, unless you look at the Worms which we think will be reshaped... those holds although huge, do not make use feel comfortable on the roof at all!

The holds were well packed and came via Fed Ex. Ah Fed Ex, how I love to hate you! As per usual I had a run around with the buggers and had to make some phone calls to get the box; they'd not thrown it around too much and the shapes came out without being bashed about, which is pretty unusual for Fed Ex :) There was enough packing in the box to give your rabbit bedding for a month or two, so needless to say it was more than enough (Copy from before as we have had the holds a while)

JACKY
These are the type of equipment that asking for beta is not shameful, unless of course you are only using them as footholds. Otherwise these are clearly to be used by experienced clientele. The surface finish is porous, giving good adhesion, that is, if you can even hold onto the Betas. The surface gives the feeling that these holds will be nice and sticky, and that they will remain that way despite exposure... under the condition that you treat them to a nice brushing to avoid magnesium saturation.

The fact that there are some holds in the kit that have positive angles brings a level of difficulty I do like to see in crimps. Since the Beta come in a pack of 12, a setter can use them to force a given movement on the climbers. The construction seems solid since we didn't feel like we were going to snap the pieces when bolting them onto the wall. The size of the pieces are well guaged, giving solidarity and a nice technical difficutly, there are no irregulaarities that could cause finger discomfort or skin flappers. And so for me it's back to the wall for training, remember... it's all in the footwork :P

In order to lengthen the problem we set, we used the roof jugs "Metamorphosis", you know the ones that look like worms, which is why we clearly named them "Worms" around here! Again the holds are pourous so once you're holding them, you know there's no slipping off of these holds. Although the "Worms" are pleasant to look at on a first glance basis, we wondered if they could handle a few extra pounds or "big-bones" hanging off of the roof... the skinny part of the Worms caused us to worry about their durability, until none of these holds have broken, even after we've had a heavier guest over then Noodles*, leaving us with more confidence. Conclusion on the Worms, they're massive handle bars to be used on a roof or to entertain children with their shape. Although I should mention that we still doubt their strength against someone 200lbs or more

*Noodles being the heaviest member of CHR... hahahaha!

Read More......

Review > Element Climbing > Ammonia & Chloroform

We've got a two for one special for you today. Element Climbing sent us a bunch of holds and we'll be reviewing the Chloroform and Amonia set. The Chloroform is your standard roof jug, big deep two hand pocket but the rest of the hold can be used for other grips mostly pinches and, if set at the right angle, slopey. The Amonia set consists of three incut pinches. We're reviewing these holds as one because we've been setting with both sets together all this time and we find that they compliment each other. The Chloroform is a single hold found on the jugs section of their website, the Amonias are a featured set and you can link to the product page right off Elements home page.

Ammonia

Chloroform

So you can see why we've been setting with these two sets as one, they really look alike, so much so that they could be from the same line. The Chloroform is shaped for bolting onto a roof and usually we jump at the idea of setting in the roof but in this case we kept it on the 45 degree wall. The shape of the jug itself is quit generic, the pocket is round, finger friendly and you could hang off it for hours but flip the hold sideways or upside down things start to get interesting, if it was by design or not, setting the hold up at different angles allowed us to use the fins as pinches. Now not only do we have a two for one review, we also have a two for one hold :)


The Ammonia set are three pinches and their shape closely resembles that of the Chloroform, minus the big pocket of course. There categorized as X large pinches but they're not all that big and won't take up as much space on your home woody. We think that the X large grading is due to the size of the pinch itself which in some places can be quit wide. The holds are incut and although they may be categorized as X large they are still on the smaller side and you can only get two or maybe three fingers around the hold. SO we knew from the start that these holds were going to be tricky so we set them up on the 45:)

Element Climbing sent us the Ammonia's and Chloroform with two other sets, the Betas and Metamorphosis's, and our first problem we set was with all four. The problem started on the Chloroform and continued onto the Ammonia's and they ended up spitting us off a few times before we found the right foot holds to use and the correct sequence for the hand movements. We set them up so we could use the incut part of the hold, being on the 45 we figured we'd be giving ourselves a break, but it was still necessary to use the other pinching options on the hold. This didn't make the problem any easier, it just made it easier to match the hold, and it still required a lot of strength to keep on the pinch.

Our second problem was once again on the 45 with a long move to the finish on to the Chloroform. It was a short problem. only three moves, but once again the Ammonia's spat us off. The shape of the hold has many pinch options and makes even the short sequences fun to work, but hard to hold

We've had these holds around for quite some time and they seem to always find their way onto the 45 so we handed them off to Seb to set something different. And he didn't disappoint. He started his problem on a vertical wall, under the box, and ending on the Chloroform. The sequence was much easier than the 45, the pinches are still a little tricky to maneuver, but what Seb did with the Chloroform was to set it on its side. With the hold set up this way we needed to use the hold as a slope...yes a slope. The Chloroform has a big pocket on one side, but the rest of the hold is slopey and when Seb set it up as a side pull, we were able to grab the top of the hold instead of the pocket.




OVERALL BUILD

Nice and centered, use cap head bolts
Slightly smooth but grippy
Versatility: More than you think on first glance... pinchy fun!
Screw Holes: The Chloroform could do with a screw hole, the rest are fine

Element Climbing have only been around a short time and they've done their research. The holds are well built, the bolts are centered and the holds don't spin, they've even hollowed out the back of the Chloroform to loose weight. The texture is smooth and we could work our sequence, unbolt the holds, move them around and work another sequence without feeling any pain. I was a little disappointed with the colour. On the website, the holds are molded in a cool marble green but ours came in a solid tone.

The holds have been on and off the wall and they've gathered a lot of chalk and the texture hasn't changed very much. Usually the texture of a hold will mellow out bit with Elements holds had a nice smooth texture all the way through even when it's been caked in chalk.

Build wise the backs are flat, the bolt holds nice and square with an inset washer... we've not had any of the holds spin on us yet, but it's a matter of time before the Chloroform gets some jewelery in the shape of a set screw
Urethane! It's a pretty strong mix we've not cracked a hold yet

I really like these holds, they nice and round with no sharp edges in sight, the texture is smooth and the shapes are unique. They gave us a challenge and everyone had fun with the holds. We had to work most of the time to get any progress, but in the end everybody had tried the problems repeatedly.

PROS

• Good for all level climbers (Depends on the angle of wall)
  
• Nice texture
• Varied pinches, just spin the holds
  

CONS

• They could have a bigger line, maybe some small pinches
  
• Order the colour you want, don't get caught with a colour you don't like
  

PRICE

Ammonia, are three XL pinches for $44.95
The Chloroform is a single XXXL roof jug for $49.95

Read More......

Review > Element Climbing > Orbits

It's always nice to see a new company spring out of nowhere, I can't remember how I found these guys I think I was looking for a name of a company for one of the people that reads the page and I just stumbled upon it by accident! One thing that I noticed from the start is their website is pretty damn slick, it's not the website you normally see, it was in the form of a periodic table (and as I'm a geek) it stood out. They've been selling holds to local gyms for a while, and we figured we should have a look and see what's up with their line. First up is the Orbits, some round shapes with the tops lopped off and flat edges / slopers for your climbing enjoyment.




We went a different route with these holds, normally we ask can they go on the roof or the 45... this time we gave them to Seb and let him have fly out of the box; he set something that looked just to low to get onto, the first hold was high, and then the second two just looked too low for anyone to be able to make use of them.. and then a throw to what can only be described as a flat edged sloper; remember all of this on an overhang, so the hold (pictured left) is going to be just-that-little-bit-worse then it needs to be! Thankfully, the camera was rolling and I managed to nail the route first time, I'd never touched the holds so it was an interesting climb:

As you can see Chris was a little muddled on his feet, he had a harder time than me because I'm short and I can just keep a lower centre of gravity, Seb on the other had was having a hell of a time keeping his 6'2 frame on the wall; he could actually reach the throw from the start but doesn't have enough strength to hold onto it and move... he'll get it eventually.

One thing we all noticed during that session was the lips on the holds, where the nice round shape is cut off on every hold there's a lip that catches your fingers from time to time. From an aesthetic point of view it makes the holds look nicer than just a sloper with the tops flattened, but from a climbing point of view it's not really needed. People with smaller hands are probably going to feel this more than your monkey clawed brethren, it's not sharp, it is round but it's one of those little things that could have been better. I spoke to Dave over at Element the day after the session and mentioned that the shapes climb well, but the lip gets in the way. The holds would be pretty good without the lip, he agrees and might shape some more shapes without the lip to compliment these.

The second route as you can see what a little more technical, Eve set something that was pretty hard and stretchy, note the use of a head jam for her to get across the route! Again the holds performed well, the edges are just enough for you to hang on without worrying about being spat off once you get the sequence in your head.

You could go to 45 on these holds with some good, no great feet.. your core is going to get a work out trying to hang these, it is doable, but it's hard. Given the nature of the shapes with only one of them being incut this is where the lips do come into play, but you're going to have some sore fingers if you attempt this over and over again! On a 30 degree wall you're going to be challenged with some balancey moves and matches that are going to give you a test but is by no means undo-able. Seb / Eve and Chris had a hard time to start with on the first route, but once they'd worked it a few times they either got the sequence in a few more trys or just nailed it once they figured their footwork out.



EVE
Climbing is always fun! Well, to some. Being some, I can say that the Orbits from Element are fun to climb on! However, I can't say there was enough to them to make them memorable. They're round yeah, and they came in this ordinary shade of green... Dull. Once it's covered in chalk, its pretty gray and unexciting. They have a texture which is fairly soft and sticks nicely. It feels like it looks cause it looks like it feels! They are, I guess, serving their purpose since they almost totally lack in flexibility. The advantage is that it allows a setter to impose pretty easily what the move is going to be. Although when you can't set you can confuse yourself; they just didn't see the headlock :). So I say Orbits work but they won't send you flying.

Read More......