CHRWHO

The wall

2011-05-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

GENERAL THINGS WE'VE LEARNT :)

Lets talk about construction and how we do it and what we've learnt:

All of our frames are free standing, I don't own the apartment so I cannot bolt to the structure. So what I do is make frames and then build a wall within that frame
Every frame is a 2x6 piece of wood in one piece, cut to size. 95% of the braces are 2x4's
All of the joints are bolted and then screwed. We use 1/2 inch bolts that have washers on either side. There are four screws set around the bolt
Get a good circular saw, one that cuts your frames but isn't so big that it's a) scary to use and b) small enough (maneuverable) so you can make exact cuts on 8ft lengths of wood
Buy more screws than you need!! We have 1000; 3 inch number 10 screws in this wall and that doesn't include the screws used to put the climbing panels on
Buy good deck screws to hold your panels and floor down
Get good t-nuts... you'll be thankful. If possible get the ones that are hammered in and then take little screws to hold them to stop them spinning
Buy a chalk line to mark your t nut spacing

What went right was the designing of the wall and the execution of that plan, sure we made some changes on the way but having a plan and sticking to it makes a whole world of difference. We pre-drilled EVERY hole that a screw was going to go into (except for the deck screws) so it means we don't have any screw heads sticking out anywhere on any surface... we've also made it easy to access the back of the angles walls and easy to take down any other panel in case we need to fix something.

We've also used more braces than we have done before!!! There are four frames across the wall and then there are at least three cross braces on each climbing sheet; one at either end and one in the middle.... yes we know that "code" is a frame every 4ft and braces every 2ft... that would have taken forever to built and probably another $2000 in wood and screws etc

The end result is a wall that is solid as a rock, it doesn't move and it's doesn't bend when you jump about on it. Sure it took longer than we (I) wanted to build and some of our panels don't fit as nicely as they should have... but it is a work of art and it's going to serve us and you (the readers) well for the next little while... well that is until I decide that we need to add some more wall to it :)

If you have any questions we're always happy to answer them about the wall and how we built it, I get a few requests per month about how we did it so this is why I wrote this down, just drop us a mail and we'll answer back as fast as we can.

CURRENT WALL

The current wall is bigger than the last (it's what we try to do every time) We have a variety of angles and flat surfaces that allows us to set what we like and how we like. The wall consists of:

45 degree wall
30 degree wall
Steps into a roof
Vertical wall
60 degree wall
Large roof
Few corners
Hangboard area

45 to 60

Bracing

Corner of the 30 degree wall

OTHER WALLS

MONKLAND

15 degree wall bracing

Panel going on

CHAMPAGNE


When wood arrives on a fork lift... worry

Basic framing

30 degree panels going up

Deck flooring going down

Finished product

One side

Other side

BEAUDRY

Wood... mmm

Basic frame (2x4 this time)

Putting panels on

Note to self, build frame first!

Half done, sometimes you just want to climb

CONTACT US

2007-11-14T09:36:00.000-08:00

If you want to contact us with any questions or query's then please feel free to drop us a line at the below email address:

climbingholdreview@gmail.com

How we rate the holds

2007-11-14T09:35:00.004-08:00

It's simple, we rate the holds on the below area's, we look at every criteria. We use the hold(s) in as many different ways as we can and we then sit back have a lovely cup of tea and chat about them. We also go digging about the company's website, talk to the people that work there and see what they're all about, the areas we look at are below:

TEXTURE
Can you climb on these holds for prolonged periods of time with out shredding your hands and making your finger tips bleed? Are they easy to clean? Do we think that you want to hold onto these?

PRICE
We'll give you the price and number of holds in the set... no bolts, no shipping and no taxes (If applicable)

COLOR
This is personal taste, but we'll look at the colors of the holds we have and whats available. No-one wants to climb on dull brown holds all the time (Do they?) We'll look at the colors we have and what the manufacturer offers in way of colors...

VERSATILITY
Can the holds be used in any number of different ways? Can you put them on the roof? Are they good on just vertical or slightly overhanging walls? Can you turn them upside down and still use them? We have symbols and we'll tell you how we used them, via video and pictures, how steep of a wall can you use them on?? We'll find out! We'll look at what the manufacturer says, just to make sure you're not buying crimps and then trying to use them on a roof!!

QUALITY
Are the holds simply made well? Do they lay flush to the wall? Is the material that they're using of a good quality? Would you want to have this on your wall? Are the bolt placements straight, are the holds going to tweak out your fingers... we'll make sure you get nice top quality holds

SHIPPING
How were the holds shipped? Was the packing any good... did the postman play hockey with the box again??? If there are any breaks or chips to anything we'll tell you

PRO's & CON's
At the end of every review there will be the pro's and con's of the hold, we will point out the obvious flaws and any problems we've had with the holds i.e: are there sharp edges, is the overall finishing ok etc...

What you have to remember is that myself or Chris aren't pro-route setters, we set for ourselves and our friends, we also set with these holds on a monthly basis at a commercial gym... we take the holds in, set and then 4 weeks later we take them back; this way we see how the holds hold up to day to day abuse.

Our ratings are based upon whether or not we think the holds are good and if we think they should be brought by you the end consumer. Remember an opinion is a personal thing, we hope to give you the end user enough information so that you can make a informed decision before you spend your hard earned cash... it's important, no-one likes crap holds!!

We value your feedback, so please post comments, if you disagree with what we say then say so!

Who are we?

2007-11-14T09:35:00.001-08:00

Simply put we're a few people, I have a wall in my house, therefore people come and climb. The wall gets bigger and reset every few weeks... There are a few main protagonists that will give their opinion on the holds and the grades that they climb vary from 5.7 to 5.12, normally I'd not worry about having just my views up here, but as climbing is such a personal experience and everyone climbs a different way I felt it best to have more than one person contribute.

Climbing Hold Review stands true to what our moto says:
"Unbiased, Unabridged, Unrivaled"
We research all of our reviews and anyone can contribute to the site as they see fit, all the reviews can be commented upon and we love hearing what you have to say about holds. Even if you disagree... we still like hearing your views!!!

Let me introduce the gang:

Me.. Noodles.. or Jeremy

Owner of Climbingholdreview and some other websites as well.
I've been climbing for 23 years, taught climbing for 5 and have had the opportunity of getting outside more than most, these days I'm bound to a desk so I only get to play outside at the weekends. Thus far I've been lucky enough to get to Fontainebleau, the South of France, Germany, Spain and Portugal and all over the US to climb... I'm currently living in Canada, but travel home (to the UK) to climb from time to time.

I buy too many climbing holds and have reached the lofty grade of 5.11 inside, hence the indoor wall at home for training. I'm currently pulling 5.10 outside :P

I am a complete hold freak, love em, can't get enough of them. I don't shape, I just climb, there's an art to climbing holds and I'm in awe of the people that make them. There are A LOT of holds on the market and people need to know what to buy, that's why I'm here and that's what i'll do!

For a full disclaimer, I am a rep for Climb It / Project Holds / Element Climbing and the DRCC in Canada. This makes no difference to how we review holds, we still keep true to our values, if the holds are shit we say so... the people we work with understand this and that's how we roll.

Chris...

Canadian born and bred, has been outside waaay too much this year and climbs too much generally. He'll be found at my house climbing or the gym climbing if he doesn't pick up the phone.

Chris is the ying to ClimbingHoldReviews yang... I think of an idea and then he'll tell me I'm nuts; it's good to have someone that keeps you in check. Chris is climbing 5.12's and screaming all the way, and you think we're joking about the screaming!! We're not!

Dustin...

Dustin Curtis, Head Routesetter at True North in Toronto, Canada team member. Climb It / Project Holds and Evolv sponsored athlete!

If Dustin isn't setting he's pimping, if he's not pimping he's setting; his life is a simple one involving holds... that's probably why Climbingholdreview sponsors him as well. We met Dustin a long time ago in a bar after a Tour De Bloc competition, it's been roses and bottles of scotch ever since :)

Whenever we can get get Dustin to weigh in on the reviews, he's as honest a person as you'll ever meet he hates BS and that's why he fits in the crew

Seb...

We got a wide angle lens... here's Seb! Sometimes you need someone to see if a wall is going to hold up to all of the abuse... Seb is that abuse, he can and will destroy things in a random fashion, just step back and see if it'll stay in one piece.

Seb is getting better and better the more he climbs 5.10's now and is getting into 5.11's slowly but surely. He makes infrequent trips to CHR to see what's new and then will amaze us by climbing a route first time that we've been playing with for hours!!

Eve...

Despite his feminine looks Chris isn't the only girl that climbs regularly on the holds we test!! There's Eve as well :) Eve wants to be outside more than inside, but with cold Canadian winters she really has no choice, if she's not in the lab killing things in new and interesting ways (for science) she'll be climbing something, probably with one of us... she maybe small but she's strong

Jacky...

So we've had the good, the bad and the Seb.. meet Jacky. Part mechanic, part student... throw in a modeling contact and some monkey genes and this is what you'll end up with!!!

Marc...

Marc is our trad master, he also runs our shoe review site as well. He's climbs a lot with us at climbingholdreview so we just sponsored him hoping he'd go away... it didn't work so now we have to deal with his mental setting and super reachy routes.

Marc is an all round nice guy that always has some interesting beta to share