Atxarte Climbing Mixed Bag Review

 

Atxarte Holds have been a bit of a mystery…  Until recently they did not have a website, and if you have heard of them at all, it’s probably when you’ve seen them for sale on Amazon.  The shapes looked cool, but we never knew of any gym that used them, so buying any seemed risky.  So needless to say, we were very intrigued at the prospect of doing a review for them.  They sent us ten different sets, and overall we were impressed.  In general, the holds are pretty affordable and well made.  It should also be noted that while they now have a great website, they have retained their Amazon storefront, and yes, they are Prime Eligible.  For Amazon Prime members, this equates to huge savings on shipping costs.  Check them out their whole line at www.atxarte.com or on their Amazon page.

Perfect Pinches Large - 5 Holds - $65

These holds are very ergonomic, moderately directional, and have some cool surface flair.  We say moderately directional because they could function as system holds if you had 2 sets.  The directionality comes from the variation in positivity on each side.  They vary in width and depth of incut, and all but the widest one would function as a true pinch on steep terrain for all hand sizes.  Nothing special or innovative here, just some solid comfortable pinches.  Expect 5.9ish moves on vertical, V2-V3 on moderate overhangs, and no easier than V4 on steep.  

Stylee Screw-On Large - 10 Holds - $35 

Sandstone Training Screw-Ons - 5 Holds - $25

We admittedly do not have much experience with screw on handholds.  The bar is set pretty high for any future experiences though.  These are great holds.  Given their shallow profile, they are surprisingly incut.  Naturally this results in a very small radius and they feel a little sharp, but that is to be expected.  Obviously the steeper you get with these, the less this matters.  They are all predrilled and are very affordable.  If you’ve never used screw-ons on your home wall, you should.  They are perfect for filling gaps between t-nuts.  The Stylee set is generally more positive than the sandstone set, but both sets are suitable for steep walls.  You could probably eek out a V4 on a 50 degree wall with either set, but could likely break in to double digits as well.

Worms Large - 5 Holds - $65

Worms Enormous - 5 Holds - $285

Out of the box, these were the ones we were most excited about.  Turns out the looks do not deceive – this line is an absolute blast to climb on.  Most of them were very useable on the 50 in the V3-V7 range and some of them are positive enough to realistically be used in a roof.  The Enormous set are all matchable and could be used to force some awesome heel & toe hooks.  The ones they sent were not hollow backed and were VERY heavy.  We brought this up with them and they had already planned to hollow out the heaviest ones, and sent us a few of them.  They are way more bucket friendly and they ought to get a little bit cheaper as well.  Any of these holds would be an excellent addition to any home wall or gym.  Highly recommended!

Spade Crimps Medium - 5 Holds - $40

Sandstone Crimps Medium - 5 Holds - $40

The Spade Crimps are more of a finger bucket set than true crimps, but they are a great set.  Smooth comfortable radius, with some nice thumb catches.  Pretty standard, but well done.  You won’t get much more difficult than V4 with these on a steep wall.  The Sandstone Crimps are true crimps and are quite a bit harder than the Spades.  We could only hang onto a few of them on the 50 degree wall, and while we cannot send V8, we would imagine that’s where you’d land with these.  Expect nothing easier than V3 on any overhang.  Again, nothing groundbreaking here – just some well executed finger buckets and crimps at a fantastic value. 

Sandstone Crimp

Sandstone Crimp

Multiverse Small - 5 Holds - $30

Multiverse Enormous - 5 Holds - $285

Multiverse Small

Multiverse Enormous

This series features screw-ons molded into the actual hold.  So technically they aren’t screw ons because they cannot be removed - but they actually have screws.  Very interesting…  In the Small set, this concept worked pretty well.  The screw ons made for sweet thumb catches and small pinches – more of a visual flare to a standard crimp line.  They are tough and did not even go near the 50 degree wall.  Expect no easier than V3 on moderate overhangs, and double digits on steep terrain.  Cool holds and a fantastic value.  

The larger sizes were another story.  There are pinches and slopers in Enormous set.  The base shapes for the pinches are so cool that you wish the screw-ons were not even there.  In the slopers, they seemed more appropriate, except that there were too many of them – there was really no way to set them as true slopers, because you could always just grab the screw-ons, no matter how the hold was oriented.  The addition of the screw-ons on the biggest pinch not only ruined one of the coolest pinches we’ve ever seen, but also made it wide enough that most people couldn’t even pinch it!  The screw-ons mold idea is interesting and may be worth exploring further, but we suggest fewer of them and a bit more attention to how they will affect the use of the hold – especially on the pinches.  We cannot recommend the Enormous set.

Limestone Enormous - 5 Holds - $285

These also generated some excitement right out of the box.  They all feature a shallow pocketed texture and look great.  They are all hollow backed so they are super light for their size, but they lack a center column.  We have found holds without them are far more prone to cross threading - the column helps keep the bolt perpendicular to the wall.  The added weight of a center column wouldn't amount to much, and could reduce potential frustration. They appear to be a sloper set at first glance (with the exception of the one amazingly versatile jug, but they all have small incuts either at the wall interface or in the form of a deeper pocket in the texture.  Unfortunately, most of them have such an incut on both sides of the hold, which takes away the option of a true sloper when setting.  If they were to get rid of one of the incuts, it’d make these holds more versatile and allow them to be used on more difficult routes.  That said, these were a blast to set with and climb on.  They would yield VB-0 on vert, V2-3 on a moderate overhang, and V5+ on steep.  If you have a smaller homewall, these might not be the best choice due to their size, but these would be amongst the favorites in any gym.

Groperz Stumpies Line

Last October, we reviewed holds from Groperz after they re-released some old shapes and rolled out some new ones – all featuring a grittier texture than their previous plastic.  If you have not seen that review, check it out here. For the most part, we liked the shapes, but the plastic and quality control were sub-par at best.  Groperz contacted us again this summer with claims of improved plastic and some new shapes – The Stumpies.  They still cling to their cryptic names for the holds – categorizing them by size with their own nomenclature, and assigning each set a number.  This makes communicating about specific sets nearly impossible.  Which is more memorable – “XL Volcano Stumpy” or “Megalithic 10A-2”?

The claims of improved plastic are legit.  This stuff can actually hold it’s own in the current hold market.  None of the previous flaws were observed, except when drop tested. Normal (could be considered acceptable) amounts of chipping occurred when dropped onto a concrete floor.  The texture feels great at first, but it gobbles up chalk and rubber very readily. 

Name	Picture	Price
Megalithics 11A		$59.00
Megalithics 10A		$59.00
Jumbos 32A		$46.00
Keystones 42A		$33.00
Keystones 42B		$33.00
Poprocks 22A		$19.00
Poprocks 22B		$19.00

We enjoyed setting with these holds.  Their conical and cylindrical nature looks great and would attract people to routes set with them.  However, there is little variability across the line.  On the 20 degree wall they ended up being used mostly as pinches and meathooks – very positive overall.  Expect V0-V3 on anything under 30 degrees.  When they were moved over to the 50 degree wall things changed dramatically. One would think the shapes of these holds would lend to great sloper problems, but the abrupt cut offs of the cylinders do not allow the climber to engage the palm as you would on a typical sloper.  These holds really shine on volumes on a steep wall.  Problems got more gymnastic, thuggy – checking in in the V4-V6 range.  These will yield some really popular routes in the gym.            

The larger holds a predrilled set screw hole with an embedded washer: something we love to see.  The near perpendicular contact with the wall leaves little material to work with though, leaving the washer too near the hold surface for the screw to sink past the surface of the hold.  This is obviously a huge safety issue.  The quality control problems we noted in the last review were still there.  Once again, these holds were poorly sanded, and a handful of them would rock back and forth on a flat surface.  The invoice with the shipment even stated that these holds were heading out for review!  No matter how inexpensive they are, this is unacceptable and needs to be addressed.  Without a flat surface on the back of the hold, you will have spinners. 

We obviously understand the need for logos on holds, but in several cases, the gripping surface was ruined with a large logo. In some instances, a climber could possibly crimp on the logo.  Some of these holds are huge and protrude off the wall, but Groperz did not include a long bolt for any of the holds.  One needed a 9” bolt. Good luck finding that at your local hardware store. We have a great industrial supply shop in town, and they had some bolts that were adequate, except for the largest hold.  Luckily the center post on the hollow back didn’t extend to the base of the hold, creating enough space to allow us to use a shorter bolt coupled to a threaded rod.

Groperz has made an effort to improve their product to be competitive in the current market, but there are still a lot of issues to address.  They are relatively inexpensive – so there is the tradeoff we always mention.  If the quality control issues are addressed, these holds will provide folks on a budget (and lots of volumes) some potential for some fun gymnastic climbing on steep walls.  

DRCC Bleepin' Pinches Review

The Bleepin’ Pinches are a dual textured line from DRCC, comprised of 15 holds – 1 Large, 8 Mediums, and 6 Smalls.  The sized sets are sold individually, but you can buy the whole line and get a nice discount.  As we mentioned in our review of their Deep Cut Crimps, DRCC has the best dual textured holds on the market; remarkably shiny and slick as snot.  The boundary between the 2 textures is abrupt and crisp – flawlessly executed.  This line was the first set of holds we purchased; we bought them before the wall was even finished after watching CHR’s review.  We had that set poured in color stripes (they also do some sick swirls), another of DRCC’s trademarks, at no extra charge.  If you or the gym you set at don’t care about monochromatic setting, these striped holds are a great way to add some flair to your wall.  They pour in standard Aragon colors and provides color matching at no extra cost.

Having set with DRCC quite a bit over the years, we have found their plastic is relatively brittle and is prone to cracking – especially on uneven surfaces.  However, they offer an optional rubber back for a few extra dollars that mitigates the problem by providing a thin (~1mm) cushion of rubber for the plastic to nestle into when tightened.  The rubber also reduces the likelihood of spinners and protects the edges of the hold from chipping.  Bottom line – the rubber back is well worth money, and we would encourage DRCC to make it standard.  They do color matching and standard colors on the backing as well, so you can either hide it or add some funk with a different color.  The Mediums and Large all have predrilled, counter-sunk set screw holes as well.  Customer service has always been great and since they pour their holds in house, order turnaround time is nice and quick!

Black rubber-back layer

The holds without rubberbacking chipped readily when dropped from 3' onto concrete floor

When we received the sets for review, we immediately noticed how much deeper these pinches were than the ones we had.  We called to ask if they had changed the mold or started pouring them deeper, and they didn’t know what we were talking about - they said nothing had changed…  We compared thicknesses of the like holds in each set and found that the newer set was as much as 25% deeper than the old one…  That is a big deal, especially with such shallow holds and reveals some quality control issues that need to be worked out.  We won’t geek out with numbers here, but if you are interested, email us for more details.  Even if it was unintentional, we preferred the deeper holds.  Some of the smaller holds from the older shallower set have really limited use.  Curiously, the extra 12-25% thickness really opened up the angle range of usability without changing the difficulty all that much.  Maybe DRCC should consider pouring them a touch deeper?

The red hold is 25% thicker than the striped hold

Same hold.  Note larger footprint of the red - it is 14% thicker than striped

The Large pinch is definitely our favorite in the line, and we were thrilled to add another to our arsenal - like most large holds, this one sets really well in pairs.  One side is flat and the other is slopier which makes it versatile on lots of wall angles.  The base of the hold flares out preventing fingertip contact with the wall.  It is easily matchable, but still tapers thin at the ends making the match a bit technical and even less usable as a foot.  This one is a must have.  Get one.  Better yet, get two. 

Large Bleepin' Pinch

The Mediums are slightly less versatile, but most of them are still useable and comfortable on a wide range of angles.  We recommend these with slightly less enthusiasm than the Large, but they are still a great directional set.  

Medium Bleepin' Pinches

Small Bleepin' Pinches

The Smalls are a bit more of a specialty set.  Most of them are extremely challenging on even moderately steep terrain and would work very well for low angle/vertical setting.  Their size makes actually using them as pinches sort of uncomfortable and they end up being sort of strange crimps.  The scarcity of textured surface on these could yield some deviously technical problems.  They are worth a look if you have the right terrain, especially if you are going to purchase the other 2 sizes and get the discount on the whole line.

DRCC Deep Cut Crimps

NOTE:  Based on feedback received from this review, DRCC has renamed this set – Deep Cut Crimps, taken them out of the Jugs category on their website, and has updated the description to better reflect the difficulty of these holds.

The DRCC Crimp Jugs ($69.95) are a set of 13 1-1.5 pad incut crimps that feature the comfortable grip texture contrasted with a mirror like dual texture.  For crimps of this size, they are surprisingly comfortable.  They feature as large a grip radius as we feel is possible while maintaining their positivity.  All but the largest of the holds are not matchable, which makes forcing a sequence easy.  Also, several of the holds have a concave shape that will require some precision when used as feet.  This set would be a great choice for competition setting.

                                

First of all, there is absolutely nothing juggy about these holds – NOTHING.  They are moderately positive crimps – no larger than 1.5 pads but the majority of them are about 1 pad.  Not only is the name misleading, but this set is listed in the Jug category on DRCC’s website…  The description states: “Incut enough to equip beginner routes on vertical walls and some stellar V4s and up on the steep boulders”.  We do not agree with this statement.  Even on vertical terrain, the easiest you can expect with this set is 5.10.  The easiest we could set on the 20 degree wall was a V3.  “Steep” means different things to different people, but without volumes on the 50 degree wall, you are looking at V7 and up.  But moving on…

The most positive of the whole set!

The DRCC easily takes the crown for the best dual textured holds on the market – slick as snot and so shiny you would expect to see your reflection in them.  Any overhang at all will make the slick portions absolutely useless as feet.  However, cap head bolts protrude beyond the hold surface on the smaller crimps, and could be used as an unintended foot or even as a marginal thumb catch.  We recommend button head bolts for the smaller holds.  The DRCC pours in standard Aragon colors and provides color matching at no extra cost.  If monochromatic setting does not concern you, the DRCC offers some unique swirling and color layering by request.  Customer service is great and since they pour their holds in house, order turnaround time is nice and quick!

                                

We have set with DRCC holds quite a bit in our gym, and the plastic is relatively brittle.  Crank down on them too hard and they are prone to cracking, especially on an uneven surface.  However, The DRCC has largely mitigated this issue by utilizing a rubber backing.  It creates more friction with the wall so you do not have to tighten them down so much and risk cracking the hold.  Having said that, we cranked down on one of them as tight as it could possibly go on the flat wall – no cracks.  The rubber backing also protects sharp edges from chipping when dropped.  It is optional, but well worth the modest price increase ($4).  It would serve the customer well for DRCC to make this rubber backing standard on all orders.  You can even choose the color of the rubber back (which also match Aragon colors) for an additional $2!  All but the smallest crimps in the set feature a predrilled, counter sunk set screw hole with an embedded washer.  We tried our best to crack one by being overly aggressive in placing the set screw, but the counter sink kept that from happening.  Yet another measure the DRCC has taken to mitigate potential breakage issues.  Well done!

Overall, we recommend this set, but suggest a change of name and categorization on the website to reflect their true nature.  The rubber backing improves them in so many ways, and we strongly suggest paying a little extra for it.  They are straight up comfortable crimps with great directionality, aesthetic and value.  

TPG Extras 1

So when we aren't doing a review, the wall is FULL of holds and well set problems.  We've decided before we strip the wall for a review, we will film a few of our favorites.  We won't do a full review, but feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or want more detailed information on any of the holds featured in these videos.

Kilter Grips Sandstone Series

Sandstone series from Kilter Grips offers 42 holds:

Holds	Without Bolts	With Bolts
(5) Sandstone Large 1	$61.00	$63.00
(5) Sandstone Large 2	$79.00	$82.00
(10) Sandstone Medium 1	$67.00	$71.00
(10) Sandstone Medium 2	$72.00	$76.00
(12) Sandstone Medium 3	$82.00	$87.00

The Sandstone Series from Kilter Grips does it’s name justice.  These holds look AMAZING. Each hold is covered with tiny pockets, dimples, and cracks that mimic the look, texture, and feel of sandstone better than any attempt at this theme we have seen.  On many of the holds these features transition flawlessly from the face of the hold and into the gripping surface. This creates a realistic sandstone feel, while remaining comfortable.  The details on the gripping surfaces create irregularities, making different areas along contact surfaces more or less positive.  Like all Kilter holds we have climbed on, the texture of this line is a perfect dichotomy of grit and comfort, allowing for long sessions that are easy on the skin.

The two Large Sandstone sets are a bit of a grab bag.  Set 1 consists of 3 shallow sloping holds and 2 holds that require some crimping and accuracy. This set was used heavily on volumes during this review, especially on the 50 degree wall.  When used in combination with volumes on the steeper wall problems with these holds ranged from V3-V6. Without volumes you are looking at problems nearer to and exceeding double digits. When used on the 20 degree wall problems ranged from V1-V3.  The variety is really cool, but we would really like to see expansion on each of these ideas into additional sets.  Kilter has assured us that this line will be expanding in 2015!

Sandstone Large 1

                         

The Sandstone Large 2 set features more positive holds. There are 3 flake features that and 2 large pocket features. These holds were at home on the 50 degree wall.  Both pockets are deep and feature a comfortable lip, keeping them as comfortable as pockets can be on the tendons. The flakes worked well on the 50 degree wall without volumes, and are absolutely massive on the 20 degree wall. Both of these sets serve different purposes. From a consumer stand point, Set 1 would be for the home wall owner with slight to moderate incline, unless you have lots of volumes for your steep wall.  If not, then Set 2 would be a better choice.   

Sandstone Large 2

Then there are the Sandstone Mediums - Set 1 and Set 3 are rather similar sets, ranging from mini jug to full pad crimps and even a pinch. These 2 sets were a blast on the 50 degree wall. Most can be used without volumes, and yield problems from V2-V5, with potential for harder problems. 

Sandstone Medium 1

Sandstone Medium 1

Sandstone Medium 3

Sandstone Medium 3

Sandstone Medium 2 consists mainly of shallow slots and a couple crimpy buckets.  This made for more technical climbing on the 20 degree wall in the V3 range without volumes.  They forced accuracy and focus when climbing, producing (with volume use) problems in the V5/V6 range.  Without volumes problems could easily creep into double digits.

Sandstone Medium 2 - Slots

Sandstone Medium 2 - Slots

When it comes to criticism, there is not much we can say.  Set screw dimples are not present on Large 2 (the set that needs them most) but are on Large 1 (the set that needs them least).  Aragon plastic takes screws readily without predrilling, so this is not structurally an issue, but Kilter is flirting with perfection here – why not take it all the way? 

As stated earlier, Kilter’s texture is the best in the business, and our set of Medium 3 (while still comfortable) did not seem on par with what we expect from them.  We mentioned it to Kilter, and they asked for some pictures.  They asked for the holds to be sent back, and attributed this discrepancy to old molds being used during manufacturing.  So we took what we considered to be a minor issue, brought it to them, and they insisted on getting to the bottom of it, and will be replacing them for us.  This is a testament to the standard of quality and customer service they strive for.

Bottom line, these holds are not only beautiful to look at, but they climb just as well as they look. They are relatively expensive compared to holds we have reviewed so far, but there is the tradeoff you’ll make as a consumer.  You’re getting what we feel are some of best shapes available, made of high quality plastic, with the best texture we’ve climbed on, and great customer service.