What do you guys think the best holds are?

What do you guys think the best holds are? I prefer SoIll holds and if I am trying to decide between two routes and one has SoIll holds and the other has a different brand like Metolius I'll climb the SoIll route because I think its a better route.

I've never understood the need for climbing holds to feel like real rock. Indoor climbing is indoor climbing. My holds choices are based upon shapes and texture rather than their approximation to rock, and that's not to say I like cheap greasy grips but there's a difference between holds that have good texture and ones that feel like real rock (i.e. quartzite).

d.

I've never understood the need for climbing holds to feel like real rock.

Some of us don't have real rock close by (3 hours away for me) and so we do the majority of our climbing in the gym. I like having holds that are closer to real rock in addition to the nice, comfy plastic. It helps keep my calluses up for when I do get out to the crags.

That said, pulling on plastic in general sucks. I do plenty of it, and I even enjoy it, but the texture of plastic, no matter the manufacturer, is like grabbing onto greasy ass. I would MUCH rather climb on Synrock holds than any other texture out there - the only downside is the shapes aren't that creative and they can tend to be kind of ugly, but Jim at Synrock makes hands-down the most realistic rock-feel holds you'll ever touch.

Good point.

SoIll are my favorite holds in my garage. They have a great texture, but not a finger grinding over the top texture. This is not unique to their holds, but they are a softer material then some and thus hold to the wall a little better then say a hard Metolius hold. Besides the high quality of their products, they guys there are super cool.

I am a big fan of the wooden holds though. You can't fake a little crimp on one, only a solid pinch will keep you there...and zero loss of skin, meaning the day after you shredded your fingers, the bouldering wall still looks like fun and not torture.

My garage has a lot of slops, pinches and the wooden holds. Then have a hang-board for finger strength. (if you are new to this stuff, careful with mixing the handboard stuff with late evening bouldering, not that your drunk dumbass is going to hurt yourself, it is just that the hangboard can sneak up and reck a finger if you don't know what you are doing and are tired, etc..)

I think that holds that are trying to be natural are just kidding themselves.

If you accept that a big mac is just a tasty treat and not a fine aged t-bone steak, you will be happier with your tasty tasty treat. You will finally come to terms that your big mac will never become fine food.

The shapes of synrock holds tend to be what they are for 2 reasons.

First, synrock is extremely strong in compression but poor in shear - which means the shapes need to be blob-like and not low profile. This tends to limit the shapes I can make these things in. Although in recent years I've managed to make this stuff much stronger and I underestimated how strong this stuff was - when I made most of these shapes 10 years ago I really erred on the strong shape side.

Second, when I made most of these shapes 10 years ago I had really crappy finger tendons. I was always hurting them and my fingers were a chronic source of frustration. I designed these holds to have the largest possible finger contact radius possible. I wanted holds that I could use to strengthen my upper body and endurance (back then my target climbing area was the red). I put absolutely no effort into how they looked or how tricky they were to hold on to.
I just wanted holds that were hyper comfortable that I could flow from move to move on - for hours - without hurting anything.


Now, 10 years later my finger tendons are bomber and I don't sport climb much but boulder on gritstone. Hence the new rockpods. These babies are hyper-realistic, dual texture or inset holds and my goal is to dplicate the experience of climbing on gritstone exactly. I'm a gritstone addict and I want to duplicate the experience cause climbing on gritstone is the most fun you can have with rock.


I have a new system called the 8's that is going to be BOTH the most realsitic indoor system AND by far the CHEAPEST system on the market. I am going to be looking for beta testers who want free holds who can provide feedback and photos for my web site. More details to follow.


jim

yore rong.

their is absolutely know weigh I'm reading this.

Which is exactly why you aren't getting any free holds.