Review > Entreprise > Jug'R-Nots & Small Patina Edges

Noodles has had a pretty long history with Entrepries as he's from the UK and has had his own indoor walls for around 15 years or so. He was pretty keen to see the new urethane shapes that Boone Speed had (re)shaped for them, if you've never heard of Boone then you've either been hiding under a rock for years or aren't as old as Noodles. He's a World renowned climber that put up or climbed many many hard test pieces back in the day, these days he's turned his hand to shaping and is a rather good photographer... if you're feeling skeptical about his shaping skills just remember that he shaped for (P)usher and the entire line of EP holds were reshaped by him in 2003

What we received from Ent were three sets, two of which we'll be looking at today (the third will be reviewed early next year), the ones that concern us are:

Medium Jug'r-Nots

Small Patina Edges

Both sets stand out from the get go, the Jug'r-nots because of the texture thats on the holds and the Patinas because they remind us of some other shapes that we received a little while ago, if you've got other Patina sets from other company's get these in the same color and they'll fit into the line nicely!! Before we even bolted these holds onto the wall Noodles was looking at the Jug'r-nots very closely, in fact a little too closely... whenever this happens it means that there's something that's bothering him, in this case one of the holds has a problem. The texture as you can see from the image above looks harsh, but that's not the part you hold (for the main part), it's just there for show, but on one hold, it is the area you hold and there was one specific area that really caught his attention!
"This is going to rip your skin off" was what he said, he showed me this one little raised bump that is close to the edge and is quite sharp... "They should reshape this hold and get rid of that bump, it's going to rip skin and dig into fingers!", ah more words of wisdom :) And I agreed, there is one hold that has a problem that needs to be addressed, so we went over the rest of the set with our hands to see if we could find any more obvious problems before we started hauling on them, and there are areas that are going to really dig into your fingers if you're using the granite like texture as the part to grab, if you're using the area you're supposed to grab then they're fine. The Patinas got a pretty good going over as well, and there are a couple of holds that look like they're going to be sharp but because of the Patina shape your fingers slip into a comfortable position and there's no problem!

Overall both sets climb pretty well, these shapes aren't as comfortable as some shapes on the market and the urethane although strong feels slightly rougher on the ol'fingers than a lot of holds that are on the market. But that comes down to personal preference more than anything else.. we found that extended sessions on the holds does take off a little bit of skin and that we had to stop climbing earlier than we wanted.

The route we set was an interesting mix of moves that allowed us to grab the shapes in a variety of positions and over most of our wall (we avoided the roof for once), and when Seb came over he managed to flash the sequence first time, which is a pretty rare thing. Once the congratulations died down we stopped and chatted about the holds, Seb weighing in quote vocally about the shapes, our comments are at the bottom of the review as per usual.



Good friction, positive edges and large enough to get a good grip both these sets are suitable for a variety of terrain. The route that I put up went across the overhang and into the vertical wall and even when I put the holds on less than optimal angles, we were able to get through the sequence with no sweat. These holds are great for pinches and I think that climbers from all levels will be able to increase their pinch strength training on these holds.

For the most part the Jug'R-Nots are positive jugs with a couple being closer to steep wall crimps than jugs. When you go check out the Entre Prises site they suggest that these holds be set on vertical to 45% overhanging terrain but we would go as far as putting them up in the roof.


SEB

• Well priced
• Colour easily matches other sets from different companies
• Good on most angle walls
  

Reviews > Metolius > Hueco Roof Jugs

Hueco tanks... is a climbing mecca, that's if you can get a reservation and don't mind rocking about the place with a guide. It's in almost every bouldering film that comes out and has some of the Worlds most famous routes... for some people it's like the Fontainebleau of the US. But currently with the restrictions that are in place and areas of the park being closed on a yearly basis it's getting to a point where you're only going to be able to see and grip Hueco like shapes from a climbing company. Many company's have lines that take their inspiration from Hueco Tanks and Metolius is one of them, I've only been to Hueco once a long time ago so I was interested to see what these holds would be like compared to the real place...

We took the Hueco roof jugs set that you can see below:

First thing that you're going to notice is that these holds are pretty big, not feature sized big but big enough that when you've got them in your lap your brain running with where you're going to put them, you'll feel the huge pockets and the dimpled texture and know that like the sets suggest the roof is the place for these to go! Our roof was lacking some huge holds so they went up, all of the holds have screw holes to compliment the bolt and you're going to need to whack a few in to stop these monsters from spinning on you! We've only used one screw per hold opposite the bolt placement to stop the spin... but if you've got some big climbers kicking about the gym then we'd suggest you put all the screws in when you set with these!

Upon first grabbing the holds when they were on the roof we were surprised at how big the features of the holds actually were, we're talking "thank god this is a jug, I can now shake out" sized areas to hold onto, we knew they were big as we'd played with them when we were getting them off of their backing, but actually getting horizontal and grabbing for them was a pleasant surprise :)

We set a sequence across the roof that would allow us to go both ways, it was a little harder than expected despite the holds being big enough for most people to swing around like a monkey on...If you've got any kind of upper body strength you should be able to huck about pretty much any terrain, they're going to be great for beginners on a roof or steeply overhung wall section, but they'll also be good for kids on flat panels as they'll be able to get their little paws on the holds, match and then have a monster of a foot hold to stand onThe route we set ran from one side of the wall using a colonette (that's also from Metolius) and then following some huge holds across the back wall, onto the overhang and then into the roof for the Hueco roof traverse. To make things interesting there is only one starting foot hold and then only the holds you have for your hands thereafter, this made for some very interesting climbing as you'll see from the video. I'll admit now that I wasn't having the best climbing day and that I was blown off many times on the sequence that we did set, maybe I was tired, maybe I'm just not as good on roofs than I used to be... who knows!

What took a little while to realize is that some of the holds had areas where you can get a sneeky match in, so when you've wrong handed a sequence you can hang on and then match or in some cases you can bump one hand out and get your other in it's place.

The surprising thing with these holds is that Seb got across the roof for the first time (I didn't see it I was making dinner at the time) but I did hear the whoop that was soon followed by Seb coming to tell me he got across the roof! (Seb is about 200+ and can climb 5.10's in a few go's. He his a habitual roof avoider!!) So that was a first for him :) Some of the girls that come on past had some trouble with the spacing on the route, but they realized pretty quickly that if your feet rip off you'll probably still be hanging one armed from the ceiling and can get back on and up quite easily. They seemed to like the fact that they could get two hands into some holds, whereas we can't... overall people seemed to like the Huecos.

SUGGESTED USES



We suggest the above angles for the holds, which as you can see is everything from slabs to roofs. The holds are obviously made for roofs but if you've got young children or beginners these holds will get them up the wall with little or no trouble. Most holds have an obvious jug to hold onto but there are areas that will allow a match or a hand switch. Remember for safety to use all the screws provided.

Incut jugs!! Huge, monster, put any name you wish to these! They're big, the main feature is always super incut, there are areas where you can match and these are pretty well incut as well. When you put these holds onto shallower terrain you'll be able to match on the outside of the hold as a sloper.



OVERALL BUILD
Resin based holds are always pretty heavy, these aren't as bad as you think they're going to be, they do have a good heft to them but they're not that bad. The bolt and screw placements are well thought out and will stop the hold moving around when people are climbing on it, the area to grab is well defined and has no burrs other than the Hueco dimples.

The backs of the holds are flat, and the resin is some of the best we've seen (there aren't huge air bubbles within it), the texture of the holds is grippy but not overly so, enough that you can monkey across a roof with no feet and not rip the skin off of your fingers.

Our holds are a what I'd call "baby yellow" or "canary yellow" which is fine by me, Metolius run some pretty nice Earth tones and and primary colors and although they're not the brightest holds on the market the do still a good presence upon a wall.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Ok the video shows me having a real bad day, but overall the holds are a really welcome addition to the roof of the wall. I've been hauling on these holds for a while and when I'm getting tired from running laps and am about to take a tumble I grab these holds as a gimme, or for a quick rest and a shake out. Are the holds like Hueco? Yeah they're pretty similar, of course they're not rock but these are a pretty close. From what I remember the dimples and the shapes are pretty realistic and similar to the real thing, what matters most is how they climb. And they climb pretty damn well, they're big enough that we've managed to get Seb (who hates roofs) across and lapping pretty well, he's a big guy and needs something with some beef behind it to hold onto when he hits the horizontal.

Matching is possible when you're back to the floor, but it does require some effort and bouncing on the holds to move your hands. The texture is good and although the holds do take rubber more than most holds, because of the dimples, they clean up remarkably well. The holds could be a little larger so you could get both hands easily into the jug part of the hold, and in some case's they could possibly be a little smaller as they do take up a fair amount of surface area on a wall, gyms won't have a problem with this... these holds did get a little slick from time to time, it is warm in our area, but never to the point where my hand slipped and I fell off of the route, more chalk was needed when we took the video that's for sure

Overall, they're fun to monkey about on. Make of them what you will, if you have kids or beginners at a gym that need something super positive to hang off of then these are a pretty good bet. We've got them up as a warm up route, but we'll move them at some point and will get them onto the second wall when we build it. Two holds are $21.95 so they're not going to break the bank.

CHRIS SAYS
Crash helmet? Why are we wearing a crash helmet in the videos? Simple, we're not onto stage two of the wall build yet and where the holds are placed there is a nasty ledge right underneath us... anywho onto the holds :) If you set anything like Noodles does (harder than expected) then even if the holds are huge the moves will be long and hard, add using the holds for feet and it gets very interesting on this bad boys! The holds allow for some interesting matching, and some really creative foot work, you can get some nice toe hooks onto areas of these holds and that's a move you don't see too often at a gym.

Any hold that allows Seb to get across the roof is great for us and better for him, it means we might actually get him onto some of the roofs when we hit the gym!! I was expecting some movement from the holds with him on them with just a single screw and bolt holding them but they were fine. These holds inspire confidence in climbers that don't like roofs all that much, so they'd be good for anyone that looking to get better at climbing roofs. These aren't my favorite Metolius holds, but they're up there... for me they're good for a warm up route and just for playing about on the roof when mixed with other holds.

SEB SAYS
I've actually managed to get across a roof that's more than 4ft, which for me was a personal goal. The wall over at CHR is always changing whether it be the holds or the routes that are set there, Chris and Jeremy always have some easy warm up routes that I've struggling to get around especially when it comes to the roof! Thankfully with these holds I can now do whichever route they've set and know that I can skip the roof (for now) and go across on something that I have nailed. I've got pretty big hands, so these holds aren't all that big for me, I'm unable to get a hand swap in and some of the divots that the others are using to match the hold are just too small for me to hold onto, maybe in time I'll get stronger and will be able to use the whole hold rather than the huge bits that they have.

I found them to get a little bit slick so had to chalk up on some moves, but this wasn't so hard as if you've got your feet placed well you can just hang off of your arm, chalk and then continue. I've not had much experience with Metolius holds (I'm not like Jeremy that can name every hold and every set thats on the wall or in the bins about the floor) but I know that if I see these holds at a gym I'm going to be able to haul through the sequence on pretty much any angle that they're placed.

As I'm new to the game, and climbing roofs especially I like the holds, they've enabled me to be able to do something that I'd not been able to do before. My guess is that now I've got across the roof is that Jeremy will change the sequence, he'll be cheeky and will probably just swap two of the holds, he's fun like that :P

PROS

• Skin friendly texture
  
• Nice shapes with no burrs
  
• Matchable, but you have to look for it
  
• Good for any angle...
  
• Great for beginners!! They're big enough that they can climb on these in sneakers
  

CONS

• Not everyone likes screws to fix holds to a wall. But due to their size they are needed, if you don't like screwing into your wall them you might want to avoid these (I'm sure that we'd not have them on anything without a screw, because of the size of the holds they would spin without the extra fixing)
  
• If surface area is at a minimum then these are quite large holds and do take up space
  
• Will get a little clogged with shoe rubber and chalk after a while (They do clean up ok)
  

PRICE
Each set (two holds) are $21.95 each

Review > Atomik > Fonts

Atomik sent us a whole bunch of holds.. when we say a whole bunch we mean it... two boxes arrived and a couple of hours later 169 new holds were sitting on the floor, we marked each one and then in a stroke of genius this happened...
There were just so many holds that we decided to make a quick Police style body outline on the floor.

What was pretty impressive from the get go was that even though these holds came all the way from Utah to Montreal, which is a distance of 2276.46 miles and the fact that UPS normally play touch football with some of our parcels was the fact that there wasn't one single, dink, scratch or bump mark on ANY of the holds! Not one! And this was from two boxes that we're pretty full to the brim, there wasn't one defect on anything. Now that tells you something about Atomiks shipping department, they actually pack the holds really well.

Right enough about us playing with the holds in the living room, lets look at the holds:

Mini Font Roof JugsFont JugsLarge Font JugsXl Font Roof JugsXXL Font Sloper

What the above photos don't show is the color of the holds we received, most of the Fonts are yellow, but not your normal run of the mill yellow, oh no, these are the brightest yellow that I've ever seen in a hold! The largest Font the XXL sloper is blue, and again it has a kind of stopping power that when you have a pile of holds on the floor you're drawn to and just want to touch! The final holds we have are some of the pinches from the site, they're green. (You can see one of them by Chris' head)

All the shapes are split across Atomik's site by size, and rather run reviews for some holds we decided to do it by shape... we grabbed the holds (easy to find because of the color) and we got to setting..














As usual I'm looking confused :P I decided as most of the holds we're jugs of one kind or another to set across the roof and then onto our overhanging wall, to the flat where the slopes and pinches would end up.. oh we were in for a treat with these, Font is one of my favorite places to climb so I was looking forward to getting onto some of the shapes!

In the below video you can see what happened, I think I got a little carried away with the roof sequence and made the route a little harder than expected, but as we like a challenge we left it as was and went at it in our usual fashion :)

What you're going to notice about the video is that neither of us got around the route! Well actually I did after the camera that we were using to video was turned off and we switched to the stills...The roof was the trickiest part, but thankfully even the mini jugs that we're up there were pretty bomber! But even after the first attempt, we noticed one very important thing about the holds... here are some stills from the video, can you guess (if you've not watched the video) what I'm going to talk about?? Yup texture! It's fierce, really really fierce. The molds from Atomik are still first generation so the texture is crazy, it'll be super good for a commercial gym as the texture will get worn down by all of the traffic but for a home wall it was a bit OTT! So here's what we suggest, you should try them and then if needed get a rubber sanding sponge or some sandpaper and then take the texture down a little so it suits your preference.

SUGGESTED USES - JUGS



We suggest the above angles for the jugs, which as you can see is everything from slabs to roofs. Most of the shapes lend themselves to roofs when we look at any of the jugs, from the minis to the larges. They are really positive to pull on, what isn't so nice is the texture which is very much like 120 grade sand paper, like Chris says in the video you want that if you're hauling long sketchy moves across a roof, I'd agree, but for a home wall you're going to want to comfortize the holds a little with some sandpaper. In a commercial setting where there are lots of sweaty hands and street shoes hitting them the texture seems like it will hold out and becomes a big positive.

Bomber jugs, each size is large enough and deep enough that you can hang off of them without worrying too much, the larger ones can be matched if you can bump your hands. What I like is what they say on the website under the large climbing hold section... and I'll quote "Large does not mean easy to hang on to"

SUGGESTED USES - PINCHES / SLOPERS





The pinches again are very positive, they've got a nice shape to them and when they're on steep or very overhung terrain the texture helps them out a lot. There's nothing super bad to say about them, they remind me of Font, which was the purpose behind the shapes.
If I can haul a long move on a roof with them then they're pretty damn good, you just need to find the sweet spot.

The slopers again are pretty damn good and are some of the best representations of font shapes that I've seen in a long while, big and open handed, they're tricky to hold on the vertical and crazy hard on anything that starts to run into an overhang, which is the way we like it. As usual with Font style holds its always where you place your hands and fingers on these holds that determines how easy or hard they are to stick.

Both sets of holds are pretty positive even though they are slopes and pinches, but they're harder than they look, terrain aside. It depends upon your strength and climbing style that will determine how well you're going to go on these. Foot work is going to be key as is good core strength.


OVERALL BUILD
I could have sworn that these holds were resin, but after checking with the site and Kenny over at Atomik he confirmed that they are urethane. My bad :P The colors are vibrant to say the least, they're some of the brightest hues that we've seen for a long long time, there is no doubt that these holds will stand out on your wall whether it be the gym or at home.

The backs of the holds are flat and there were no surprises in 169 holds, the bolt holes are clean, so clean in fact that there isn't any urethane in them. On the material side you're going to notice that there are very few bubbles in the urethane, less so than most holds so the mix is good and consistent. The smalls holds from Atomik have been tested to destruction at around 1100+ lbs, the mediums to 1800 lbs, so the mix is good and strong!!

We'll talk texture a little bit more, what Atomik say about the texture is this:
"If you want texture, here it is. If you would prefer a slightly smoother hold with less texture, simply rub the hold a little with some sand paper or a sanding sponge", simple enough! Atomik aren't the only company that makes holds with an aggressive texture out there and it's probably for the best that they know this and tell the end user to drop the texture if it's too much, it's pretty much pimping your holds to make them totally custom

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Yowser... texture, texture and once again texture! I wasn't expecting that, even when we were feeling the holds on the floor it was kind of hard to tell what they're going to be like until you climb on them, and they do grip a lot! But this is not like the Asana Joes, they just ripped your skin off, these you'll notice is more like climbing on emery boards so they sand down the rough patches of your skin :)

I set quickly on these holds, put some thought into it and just let rip and somehow it came out alright (I suppose 20 odd years climbing helps as well!), apart from one move that stopped me on the roof it was all good and when I did make the move the route went. Getting onto the overhang onto the pinches was nice as the pinches and then the large font sloper are amazing to grab onto, you fingers just get sucked onto them. The sloper on the vertical was good enough that if you kept low you can get a little rest, but as soon as you move it to anything overhanging you're going to have to stick it and then move off quite quickly.

Overall I'm impressed with the holds apart from the overly aggressive texture, but it's one of those things, it's not like I'm not going to climb on the holds, I'll just sand down the worst ones a little and keep them up. Some I will leave as is and then see how the texture wears over a period of time. One of the final points I'd like to make is that these are some of the best Font holds that I've seen in a long time, they may have even topped some of the Sloperz from Holdz that I've had for years that are similar, and that's a hard thing to do!
Next up we'll look at the sandstone shapes, that's going to be a longer review because that's the bulk of the shapes... did I mention that my local crag in the UK in sandstone?? Excellent!

CHRIS
Yup. I agree. The texture is pretty agressive although it was a nice relief when I got onto the big blue slope on our newly built box:) The slopes and pinches seemed to soak up the chalk more so then the jugs on the roof.

As you can tell by the video the first green pinch is tricky to get onto and I was able to get low on it to push out to the jugs sequence. Out of all the pinches that we received the best one was on the roof....obviously! The jugs is that they are big enough for one hand and they can be a real challenge to match on the roof. The problem got a facelift after we bolted the box onto the wall so the big blue slope got put onto the face of the box and the small slopes got put around the sides. In our original sequence we needed to match on the last jug but now I can forget about the match and Big Blue as a foot (much to noodles disaproval LoL) and I'm away with completing the problem.

PROS

• The fierce texture works well on the slopers, on the jugs it's so-so, it's a little bit much. But you can comfortize the holds with some sandpaper to make it to your liking. Commercial gyms WON'T have a problem as traffic will do the work for you!
  
• Nice shapes with no burrs, other than the obvious Font shapes
  
• Good for any angle...
• Jugs are good every where
• Slopes and pinches will be good up to 30 or 45 (strength depending)
  
• Packing was second to none!, no breaks or burrs
  

CONS

• The texture will need some time to wear down or you'll have to lessen it on some holds
  
• The texture does take shoe rubber really well, so hard to clean off
  

PRICE
5xl Fontainbleau Roof Jugs: $47.49
XXl Fontainbleau Sloper: $19.50
6 Large Font Jugs: $41.49
7 Font Jugs: $38.49
5 Mini Font Jugs: $36.99
The pinches weren't a full set, so you'd have to ask for a price on those

Reviews > Contact > War of the Worlds 2

UPDATE TO REVIEW AT THE BOTTOM

When we posted these holds on the news section there was a reaction to them, some positive, some negative. So much so that Dale (from Contact) offered his email address and phone number so they could bitch at him rather than anonymously on the comments section, the neighsayer didn't get the number and Dale stood by Contact's creations... and know what... rightly so.

Seeing the images of the holds doesn't really do them much justice. I was expecting some weird looking jugs, and what I got some people would class as a novelty hold but what these holds are is function over form, yes they've been sculpted to look like alien space ships, and yes some people may find this a little weird, but what the sculpting doesn't take away from is their function. Contact made some huge ass jugs and then made them look like alien space ships, hell So Ill mold telephones, so alien space craft isn't really out there...It doesn't take 5 seconds to guess where these holds were going, it's obvious once you see them that these puppies are roof dwellers, they can be put absolutely anywhere and you don't need to worry about how they're going to be... bomber is going to be the word of the day!
As we've got our new box up and kicking we figured we'd come out from under the box to one of the holds set as a side pull and then have a chuck across the roof (it's about 4ft to the hold) and see how that went... getting across was fine, getting back was a different kettle of fish!! It's easy if you use the side wall, so we took it out for fun.
The biggest of the holds is a huge double handed butterfly that has huge jugs on either side, that are more than matchable whichever way you fancy grabbing them. The other holds are just as large, except they're single sided not double sided, but whichever way you do look at the holds (and we'll say this a lot) they're huge, they're some of the biggest boltons that we have and have seen. Barring stuff like Climb-It's "Sleeping Giant", but that's a piggy back hold that takes other bolt ons!

SUGGESTED USES



The answer to this question is "where not to put them!?!", they're one of those holds that is a gimmie in any situation, roof's, super steep overhangs, they're going to be great pretty much everywhere. If you have a roof and want to set an easy route for beginners these will bego to holds for your setters, anyone should be able to haul on these holds pretty much anywhere

Incut is not the word I would use for these, hand eaters is a better description on what these holds are... super comfy once they've got some chalk on them bomber monsters from another planet.



In fact I'll go so far and give them a film rating, yup, they're rated E for Everyone! No parents needed, no having fake ID, just get them and you'll see just how big these holds are!





OVERALL BUILD
Excellent, which is what we've come to expect from Contact. Even with these holds being big the backs are well sanded and sit flush to the wall. The bolt hole and screw holes are nice and clean and well situated (we're yet to put screws in). Even with the intricate design of the holds they're well molded and look great. Texture does take a little bit of time to even out with chalk build up, but its in no way a bad thing and the holds don't rip your hands to shreds

There are a couple of minor points, I'm not all that keen on the color. As these holds are huge I'd want a brighter color if I was buying them, but bear in mind we didn't specify a color, ours are the green you see in the images. If I were you ask for the brightest color that Contact rock as it'll be worth it.

The final point is the way the holds were packed for shipping, they were in a box surrounded by paper, which means the holds can move about when the post people use the parcels in their care as a party pinata. It's something that they need to look at, but nothing that can't be fixed in a few minutes.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
There's not much I can really add, it's been hard to review three holds, but that being said it was a pleasure to do so. Bug jugs are always tricky, they're holds that you swing about on and if the texture isn't just right you end up taking skin off, thankfully Contacts texture translates well from their small holds to their big holds, add chalk to these holds and then it's not evennoticeable ! When I added these holds to the news section there were some negative comments, and these I feel have been put to bed, yeah Contacts made some holds that are a little funky, but they're better than if they were up there and we're just plain old hunks of urethane, this is especially the case with these holds are they're massive and you notice them right away!

My one gripe is the color, but it's super minor and nothing that's worth much of a mention. These holds are the same color as the Hex holds we reviewed a way back so in essence we're extended the set and now it's easy to rock both sets in longer routes. If I were buying them (like we said) I'd go for a brighter color so they really stand out, the red that Contact does will really make them pop out.

If you're looking for some monster jugs for beginners, or something you can chuck to and not worry about having to be super exact with your hands then these will do the job and then some.

CHRIS
Definitely function over form. These green invaders will spice up your wall, aesthetically and in function. I don't know if the guys from Contact did it on purpose but I realized that if you invert the holds you can use the features as crimps or better yet a massive (there it is again, MASSIVE) pinch. As noodles pointed out those same features can be used to match or bump.

When we set for a review we try to user only the holds from the set. We're lucky on the fact that we have a massive box on our roof so we could do that interesting move from under the box to the front. Even when we set for long moves, these holds are huge and it would take a blind man to miss these monsters.

In the roof, the holds are bomber. If you're like me and freak out a bit in roof sequence, these holds will help in getting rid of that psychological hex. One, two, three moves and you're on the other side.

As for the colour I don't really have any problem with it other than the fact that many companies do not carry this shade of green so if you set in a gym you can'texactly match the colour....no big deal.

What else can I say? They're massive, huge, juggernauts, monsters...you get the picture.

PROS

• Texture doesn't rip your skin to shreds
• Nice shapes with no burrs, you can even match some of the alien features if you're feeling up for it
  
• Good for any angle... ANY ANGLE!!

CONS

• If space is low then these could be too big...
• Colors not the best (but this is upto you)
• Packing needs a little bit of a look at

PRICE
Three holds for $85, but they're monsters!!

UPDATE:
Because of the comments we recieved Dale sent us some pictures to show how big the holds are, hopefully this will put the (as Dale puts it) haters to bed for a while... any comments can be addressed via the comments under the post or via our contact address. Next review we're going to take waaaay more photos, we didn't this time as we felt that the video showed how large the holds were! Our bad, we'll make sure to sort this out!! (and the pictures are of holds BEFORE sanding)

Review > Atomik > Sandstone Jugs and Patina

SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE REVIEW FOR AN UPDATE!

The long wait is over. We took a little vacation due to injuries and the call of the outdoors but we finally got around to the second installment of the Atomik reviews. This time around we have the Sandstone roof jugs...

...and the Patina's.

The holds vary in size from XL to medium according to Atomik's website. The roof jugs and regular size jugs not only get their shape from sandstone cliffs but have the texture to match, like all of the Atomik holds, these ones will also remove a few layers of skin (see our earlier review here for our views on the texture) As for the patinas, they look like something from the oceans floor, some kinda hybrid crustacean coral looking thing. I felt that the texture on the Patina are a more forgiving, when in fact it's just the shaping of the holds that makes them feel this way, even thou these shapes do have some nice dual-texture areas. Its obvious that the Sandstone roof jugs are huge (not huge like the War of the Worlds, but two hand huge just the same) so it came to my surprise that the first time Noodles hangs on the hold he hurts his hand, followed by two weeks off on the doctors request (Editors note: it wasn't a request, she told me I'd rip the entire tendon if I climbed), now you know why it took us so long to get this review out :P
We actually had this problem up more than two weeks ago and in the video you can spot the exact moment that things go wrong. The hold has a sharp edge, and combined to lack of feet may have helped with the injury, these holds do have some sharp edges (not super sharp) in places, so care should be taken when doing high stress moves! Some of the sandstone holds are sharper than they need to be...

We didn't let the size of the hold dictate where it was going to be placed on the wall so we have roof jugs into patinas back to roof jug, this makes for an interesting traverse across the roof. The Patinas are big enough for the roof but I can't manage to hang off of one hold, it feels like it's big enough but just isn't, you can see Noodles hit the floor and look back up! THAT'S the hold that is very deceptive. The regular size jugs are quite deceiving and it says right on Atomiks website "the design concept offers a deceiving jug that forces the climber to learn how to hold it on steep terrain" There are a couple of jugs in our roof sequence and at first we figure that it was going to be easy (Bear in mind we didn't expect an injury either!) but the layer effect of the sandstone can make the holds feel mediocre on the roof.

And now its onto the overhang! We put in some long moves to make things interesting.and my only complaint is texture. When you throw yourself at the hold, you're bound to lose some skin, but at this point it's the nature of the beast. The holds we first reviewed from Atomik have been at Allez Up for a month now and now that there have been lots of traffic on these holds they have mellowed out an awful lot!!

SUGGESTED USES (BOTH SETS)



We're saying you can put the Patinas and the Sandstone jugs anywhere you please on a wall. The sizing means that they're fine on roofs and pretty much anywhere you want to chuck these holds. Most of the holds can be matched, especially the Patinas that in some cases are nice double jugs.

All of these holds are incut to a certain degree. The smallest set are the Patinas and we have one on the roof but I wouldn't consider them a roof hold, although we've had smaller holds up there :), it's more than big enough to hang off of! As for the jugs, they're good everywhere. The regular Sandstone jugs vary in size and are all made for one hand. You could match some of them, and others would be sketchy in the roof if you're trying this.

OVERALL BUILD
Again, look at the original review because there's not much else to say other than what we've already said: None of the holds have any problems with their backs, they're smooth. There were less bubbles in the urethane than in the Font sets, so the mix is good and strong and these have been tested to over what you're going to do with a wrench, so you're probably not going to break any of them when setting a route!

These holds are RED, not RED, so they're going to stand out! I'll say it again, Atomik have their base colors down. They do have an amazing hue to them, if we could get the red and the yellow in a swirl then we would because that would be some seriously loud holds... like peoples dress sense in 1985! That's how bright they'd be!!!

If you want to see what we say about Atomiks texture go here, and read it. We're not going to go on about it again :) But put this in your mind, climb on the holds... if you don't like the texture, sand them down! The holds are a great price, so if you need to fill a wall with holds but don't have a huge budget the Atomik shapes should be a place to start shopping

Some of the holds do have some sharp angles that could cause injuries, we've had a bunch of mails from people stating this, and we had it in the review, but it got left out due to some PC errors at the time. Care should be taken on these holds when doing high stress moves!!! Some of the sandstones and Patinas do have sharp edges that make climbing upon them a little more harsh than needed, although edges like these are true to the real world, radii that's not comfortable in a gym / home setting is a no go!!

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
Argh, ripped tendon!! I'm not saying that it was the hold that did this to me, it was partly the move and my complete lack of footwork that did it!! You can hurt yourself on any hold, on any move, climbing is a dangerous very tough sport on the body, we had the video rolling and you can see the look of pain on my face. It wasn't fun, and it's still not healed completely but it is getting there. I've never fully made it across the roof on this route, I've got close but no medal for me thus far I'm afraid.

The original route which is the first part of the video was changed whilst I took a few weeks off to make it easier with more feet, there was no way I was going to attempt that move again and risk killing my finger again. Now its "slightly" easier, but not much and getting into the roof is nicer and much smoother! The holds are all positive to a degree, and I'll agree with what Atomik say about the jugs being hard to read, they are, and it does take a few attempts to learn how to catch a hold the correct way for a sequence! I like this, I think that having holds that are a complete gimme are good, but part of climbing is learning how to read sequences and finding the most efficient way to cruise through that sequence, so I'm applauding Atomik on that, I was caught out and I've been hanging off of walls for 22 odd years!!

I'm not going to lie, the texture tore some skin off, so these holds are going to the gym so that other climbers can give us their opinion on the holds... and so they can make the holds smoother for us :P I like the holds, they're not the biggest jugs, but they're also not the smallest, they're a good size for beginners or for someone that has a steep wall and they just want to run circuits to get super strong, the fact that you have to think before grabbing is a good thing that in the long run will make you a better climber!

CHRIS
I'd like to say again that I was shocked when noodles hurt his finger. I honestly thought that he was putting on a face for the camera. Since we had jugs to play with, we set the route to be a warm up and after we sorted out our foot holds it was just that. To say that the roof jugs are huge is an understatement and if you`re novice climber you shouln`t be using these anywhere except on roof or very steep terrain in my opinion. Of course you could set a wicked dyno on the jugs if the height of your wall permits :)

You can get your fingers into the jugs right up to your second joint and even deeper on the roof jugs, but the Patinas will only allow you to get the tips of your fingers (or to the first joint) into the pockets and are more like pinches than jugs. It's an interesting mix of shapes :)

The holds that we received are all in bright colors and they stand out in the gym. We set a couple of routes last month at our local gym and they`re getting a lot of traffic. My ego says that people are climbing them due to the setting but my intuition says its the colors. Now that the holds are getting a bit of traffic they`ve evened out on the texture front, no sanding for us :P

PROS

• Good for any angle...
• Jugs are good every where
• Patinas are also good on any angle
  
• Packing was second to none!, no breaks or burrs
• Good for beginners, they can be put anywhere and the Sandstone jugs aren`t a gimmie hold, they`ll make the climber think more than a normal jug
• Price, most the the Atomik ranges have a great price!!
  

CONS

• The texture will need some time to wear down or you'll have to lessen it on some holds
  
• Some of the holds aren't for complete beginners, as they're a "thinking mans jug" rather than a grab on and haul jug, so you'll have to be careful with what and where you set with these (but not too careful!!)
  
• Some of the shapes do have semi sharp angles, so some care is needed when dynoing to these holds
• There are some sharp angles on some of the holds, so care must be taken when climbing on them!!
  

PRICE
Sandstone jugs are $59,99
Patinas are $46.49

UPDATE!! Since I've had a lot of mails about the sharpness of the holds we've added what we missed the first time (Our bad, we did write it but for some reason it was left out of the review :( ) Atomik are updating their site about crimping in general on all sets that have semi sharp angles, and we'll add a word of caution of our own about the holds. Sorry we messed up, we've now got the correct review up!!

UPDATE 2!! Atomik are now sending out sanding blocks with their holds and an information sheet that informs people how to do this. It's a step in the right direction of being able to remove the sharp edges on some of their holds that could cause injury! We'd like to tip our hat to the guys for taking on the comments and for making adjustments to their ranges as needed!! Good work!

Review > Metolius > Blue Ribbon's

When we receive holds to review our first thought is usually can they be put on the roof? It normally doesn't matter what size the holds are, from pinches to crimps we always try them on the roof at some point! So it came as a relief when Noodles told me he'd gotten some holds for the roof and that they were the Blue Ribbon mini jugs from Metolius and as an added bonus the Blue Ribbon roof jugs. You all know how it go's now, we climb and go through our process of looking and setting with the holds and then we end up hitting the computer.... these days with videos and whatnot we end up on or near a PC a a lot of the time :)

We received one set of roof jugs (the set includes a pair of holds, Metolius has two other sets in this line) and prices run $21.95 for the set of two and $62.00 for the full set of six. The mini jugs came in a set of five for $34.95, so with these prices you won't have to break the bank to get yourself some bomber holds. Noodles grabbed some Blue Ribbon screw on hand holds way back on the original wall at his other apartment, so they've been on the wall in various formats for a year or so, right now as we're cranking down on enough crimps at the gym we're using them as foot holds, but they're more than big enough for most people to climb on on angles up to 30 degrees, after that they become a little marginal to hang, these guys run at $25.95 for a pack of ten.

Blue Ribbon holds are true to their name as the holds only comes in the one color....blue, just like Henry Ford when he said "you can have the car in any color you want as long as its black" that's what you're getting with these, except they're going to be blue! If you do your research (as Noodles did) you will find out that "Blue Ribbon" is a term used for grading high quality livestock and for items that are deemed of a high quality, and lets face it, Metolius have been making holds for long enough to know what they're doing. You're going to get clean consistent resin shapes that stand up to a hell of a lot of abuse, cleaning, traffic, hand gunk, shoe gunk and god knows what else and they'll always clean up like new! (We find resin holds do clean up a bunch easier than urethane holds, but it depends upon the hold)

All of the holds from this series, have a distinct thumb catch ridge that runs along them so when you're looking through a box of blue holds these are pretty easy to find, and when you climb on them you're going to find yourself using the ridge as a thumb catch when the holds are set at an angle rather than flat horizontal. Like all jugs these holds are best suited for steep terrain, anything will do from an overhang to the roof depending on your climbing ability, we've mainly had the minis and the roof jugs on the roof and steep terrain and this is pretty much where they will continue to dwell unless we take them to the gym and set a 5.6 with them on the beginners wall. I set a short route that started on the overhang and into the roof. I thought it was a good set until this:

If you pay attention at the beginning of the video you can hear me say that Noodles is climbing in his regular shoes and sends it (Ok he fell off once, he did it second try). Conclusion: the holds aren`t small enough to stop Noodles in is regular shoes but for a normal climber of average ability this route and sequence would be a challenge, and that's where we think this set lies in the grand scheme of things... anyone that has a wall and needs some challenging shapes that are skin friendly and durable for climbers that are just starting out and need to gain confidence you should have a look at these! Routes that beginners haul on are going to get mucky, slimy and covered in gunk from normal everyday shoes, and this is what these shapes are for... getting dirty and then cleaning up nicely with a wire brush and some soapy hot water. Don't get us wrong, these holds are for everyone, but we'd point beginners and gyms that needs good shapes in these holds direction first and foremost. But, if you're like us and have been climbing for a long time we'd suggest getting the mini jugs and the screw ons, then you're going to have fun as you can monkey across roofs on the minis and then have some nice challenging tendon friendly screw ons for the harder part of the route!! The minis are there and are good enough if set close enough together to be a jug haul on any angle, but start to spread them out and they start to get very interesting, and as I've found out over the last few months.. not as big as you'd like them to be when I'm pumped out :)

SUGGESTED USES

MINI JUGS AND ROOF JUGS
go ahead and throw a few of the mini jugs into the roof and see if you can get across, for more of a challenge set them further apart, if you can't make the move do what we did and stick in one of the bomber roof jugs, Noodles is campusing across the roof, so they're super big, The roof jugs can only be described as huge, as their name suggests they are best suited for the roof but make for a bomber hold that any climber will feel confident grabbing onto, Seb who hates roof's loves these holds as he feels like he can hang off of them all day, they're some of his favorite holds next to the Huecos

SCREW ONS



When used as hand holds they can be used exclusively on vertical walls for the average climber. I personally would not want to be using these on any kind of overhanging terrain, but we have had them on our old 45 degree wall and they were fine there, you have to be a little careful with setting with them as moving screw ons is a pain, but we had them all over a vertical and overhung wall randomly and they were great to grab onto, not super huge and sometimes not super positive but with careful footwork they are more than doable. These days we have them as feet on the overhanging wall, not because we don't like them but because at the time when we built the wall they were close to hand and we had the drill charged! They are wicked feet as well as handholds, as they're big enough that we can use them in a pair of sneakers or a worn out pair of climbing shoes that have no edges anymore.

OVERALL BUILD
Metolius is one of the original hold makers and it is reflected in their product. The back of the holds are sit flush on the wall and the texture is skin friendly. The largest roof jug has a bolt placement off to one side that's not optimal, on a roof it's fine, one of the corners lifts a little but it's never spun, what could (and probably will happen) is that if you use it on a vertical wall due to the bolt placement it will probably spin on you. The mold for this hold needs a screw hole to stop this problem, or you could put in a self tapping screw to stop this from ever happening. Thankfully if you pre-drill a small hole and then put in the self tapping screw the hold won't explode on you and you've solved the problem

All of the holds have nice flat backs that sit flush to the wall, and other than the hold that's mentioned above, the bolt placements are set so the holds don't spin when tightened properly
The hue of the color isn't all that bright, but they're good enough that you can see them against other manufacturers holds so you don't get muddled on a wall covered in blue holds, the ridge is a dead give away as well :)

RATING
NOODLES SAYS
As per usual I was pretty surprised by the holds, and again by Chris' setting, you'd think that 20+ years would see me looking at the route and going "yeah, my hands go here in this sequence" and yet again I fall off of the roof... I am blaming the torn and not healed finger on this :P
Metolius have a lot of holds out there in the World, and I've always seen them at pretty much every gym I've ever visited, I think that the Blue Ribbons will be being seen sooner rather than later at a lot of places because they are so beginner friendly. If you're more advanced then grab the mini jugs and the screw ons (Metolius should really do a box set of most of their lines) and you're sure to have a ball. I found that the mini jugs are good when you're fresh and not so good when you're pumped, the roof jugs are a "thank god" hold everytime I grab them when i'm tired, they're not all that easy to match upon, but with a little determination it can be done... I'd class the roof jugs as single handed, matchable but you need to work for it! I need to sort out a kick board on the overhanging wall and when this is done the screw ons are going back to where they belong... no longer as foot holds but as hand holds as they were intended, all I need is some wood... as per usual.

CHRIS SAYS
Sneakers (or as Noodles call's them trainers), if we're hauling about on these holds in sneakers then they've got to be good, even when you've got your feet on the roof they're fine, the holds have enough surface area to take any foot. Apart from one hold that I noticed was pulling off of the wall when we climbed on it the holds are fine in every respect, there are no sharp edges, the backs are flat and the bolt placement well thought out. I love the minis as they're a challenge on the roof, the jugs are what I use to spin my body around when I'm coming back into another wall. The entire route was Metolius holds with the starting and ending holds being from one of their other lines which is called the "Power Line" apparently Noodles brought these holds over from the UK when he first came over (He came here with a skydive rig, a suitcase of clothes and climbing holds!!!) so he must of liked those ones. The videos a bit shorter than usual and shows only one of us climbing, I'm repairing the video camera we use as the focus has gone off on us... and guess what? the camera is full of chalk! If you're starting your first wall and need to gain strength without killing your fingers the minis and roofs are good for monkeying about as much as you want, they're great holds to bounce about on.

SEB SAYS
Huecos or the Blue Ribbon roof jugs? It's a hard question to answer! I'm not fond of roofs in anyway shape or form, but when Noodles says he has some new jugs from Metolius (after I got across the roof the first time on the Huecos) I wandered over and see what they're like. I have a particular fondness of anything large and from Met these days and when I'm allowed to move holds around I do grab these holds more often than other holds that are just as big. They're not as big as the Contact holds that i'd not seen as they are HUGE, but if I can haul my self across the roof on these holds then chances are you can aswell. The mini's aren't as good for me as my hands are quite big, but I can see them being good for beginners on most slightly overhung terrain.

I'll see you all, no doubt, on the next Metolius review... Seb out

PROS

• Beginner friendly, soo beginner friendly on vertical or shallow overhanging terrain
  
• They're multi use holds (except the screw ons) strength dependant the minis and roof jugs are great on overhangs and roofs
  
• Skin and tendon friendly design, nothing that will catch your skin
• Price is pretty good
  

CONS

• One of the roof jugs does need a screw added if used on high traffic (Read lots of feet) routes
  
• Color, its a minor gripe, but we wish that Metolius would get some brighter colors
• (This is a pro as well) The holds are super easy on most terrain, so if you want hard problems these aren't necessarily the holds you want for your wall. BUT if you're starting out they're kick ass and will give you a work out
  

PRICE
Roof Jugs: $21.95 for the set of two and $62.00 for the full set of six.
Mini jugs: Set of five for $34.95,
Screw Ons: $25.95 for a pack of ten.

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 (