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Review > Sequence Climbing > Matter Now

The Matters Now from Sequence Climbing are some of the thinnest shapes out there...ok ...maybe not the thinnest but after failing repeatedly trying to get myself up the 45 degree wall, they feel thinner at every attempt. Noodles had a blast on this one. After his third try at the problem he made the send, and I on the other hand couldn't. So here's one for all those who like to see me fall:



And this weeks winner is Noodles by a long shot. At first I had my doubts and thought that maybe it was a fluke but he sent the problem over and over again just to prove to us that it was possible; but seeing Noodles lap the problem didn't make it any easier to clamp down on that hold. The first few times I managed to keep my feet on the wall the hold felt solid until my feet broke off and my hands would slide right off the holds. Now I don't want to make any excuses but the holds are slick, and after a few attempts we needed to brush the holds off. Did this make it any easier? Not the slightest. The trick here is to squeeze the holds with everything you've got. I thought that I could get around that by crimping the top and doing the move static but the holds are flat or slightly incut and when they're on a 45 degree wall and you really need to rely on your pinch strength. My lesson learned: I need more pinch strength.



Remember when I said that these were some of the thinnest shapes out there? That was a bit of an exaggeration and when we handed the pinches off to Seb he set the route with big gaps between the holds. You need to keep in mind that Seb has at least a hand length more than us, we ended up being full stretch on some of the moves and the holds felt much nicer (and bigger) than they were on the 45.

The holds were set up flat on the wall and there won't be any lack of friction, the holds are big enough to get all your fingers on them. We even skipped some of the holds to make the route harder! Lately, to make the easier sequence a little more fun, we've been getting into the habit of rotating holds for the reviews and we did the same for Sebs route. Once again the holds were solid and the problem was sent with ease. Now that this review is done, the holds are going right back onto the overhang.

SUGGESTED USES
Right out of the box we slapped these babies up on the 45. I was confident that it could be sent but my ego took a blow on this one. A 45 degree wall is the steepest I would go and on my second session on the problem I could feel the strain in my fingers. The holds for the most part are flat edged pinches, with the largest of the holds being slightly incut you can see from the video that Noodles caught the hold and then could hold on and look at the camera without too much trouble.

On the complaint side we'd suggest these shapes get a look at on the edges front, they could be a little rounder to stop any finger pain that could occur, and some people will find that the wide pinch grip isn't for them.The holds are more than big enough to be matched, either when they're in pinch mode, or even when you're using them as edges (90 degrees to how they should be normally set), so there's some variety to be had, there would be more if the holds had a side that sloped more, but this isn't the case... you're going to get some matchable pinches / edges with these.

Now when Mike was running Sequence you were always going to expect some high jinx with your parcels or when the phone rang you may get called my the Police... yup! One time he phoned pretending to be the Police and then one of my parcels was addressed to something like Jeremy "Big Dog" Dowsett, the postman thinks I'm a loon anyways.. now Brock is the CEO what do we get?? SHOTGUNS! I suspect the Mike was involved somehow :) It's good to see and feel Sequence's new mix, now no one can complain about their holds breaking; we're going to look at them side by side fairly soon so we can show you the difference in the holds that you're going to get, so stay tuned.

Overall, I'm impressed. These are pretty old shapes that we'd not seen before and they climb well with the new texture being a treat for the ol'fingers. What I'd have liked to see was someone other than me getting up the route on the 45, we have video of Jacky falling off a whole bunch (It wasn't just Chris) and there are some attempts at the end of a session where I tried it and failed, it happens sometimes :) Giving the holds to Seb to play with was a treat, he wanted a warm up stretchy route, and that's what we got, nice long reaches to the holds as pinches, and then we rotated them by 90 degrees to change it up a little. Both ways the holds were fun; infact I'd go so far to say you could have the same shapes but half the thickness and you'd still be ok with the moves. I like the texture, its there and it's good enough for a 45 (Chris disagree's he thinks it's too slick) without ripping your fingers to shreads and when the holds are on a vertical wall they're just big... on the 30 degree wall again they're huge.... you can hang on them all day and not worry. Sequence is back, they're shooting stuff and putting out new holds, keep an eye out (Especially if Mike is holding the gun!)

Testing these holds raised more questions than answers in my case. But, before let's state the facts before the questions:
-LOOK: Average as they have nothing special, but don't look bad
-TEXTURE: Liked it a lot actually. Don't requite that much chalk and I've still got all my skin
-VERSATILITY: They don't do much, but what they do... they do it well
-ARE THEY FUN: Yeah no doubt
-PRICE: A little expensive from my point of view

Now the questions: Does a set of holds always need to be combined with other holds in order to see it's full potential? Let's leave the huge features and foot holds out of this discussion. The reason i'm saying this is that I've often seen sets that were self sufficient in the art of creating potential and variety in routes. And when I'm thinking about the Matter Nows all I can see is that they are a great addition to an existing collection. Now don't get me wrong; I am not saying that a set of holds needs to be self sufficient but when I pay $72 (I know I didn't here) I'd like to have that little value on top

My final question: Would I buy them? My answer is iiiccch. I usually REALLY like the Sequence holds but these are a little expensive for what they have to offer me. And the me part is important as they may be what is lacking on your wall as you've only got slopers and need some change. I've also seen other people make an intense route on the 45 wall with them and have some realy good times on it. Or at least I had some watching them fall / fail miserably :)

PROS

• Good for all levels of climbers, depends on angle of wall and sequence
• Skin friendly texture (even on the overhang)
• Virtually indestructible
  

Review > Sequence > Virus, Power Blox and Sugar Plates

The triple threat today, reviewing the Virus is kind of apt as my girlfriend is sick. So as illness seems to be todays theme let's get started...

This is the Virus 1 set, there are actually two sets but Virus 2 is undergoing a face lift, I have them both and they've been a staple on the wall since the day they were shipped.

On the whole the holds have a texture that is quite fine, but doesn't get slick and the sets are sold as pinches and I find that its rare that we actually set with them as pinches because they make such nice open hand slopes. We've set routes with these on their own, but normally we end up mixing and matching between sets..

Like this, what we end up doing is having a mix between the Virus 1 & 2, the Power Blox and in the above image the Sugar Plates. This makes for a route that have either mean slopes, mean pinches or really mean crimps / side pulls. At the moment we have some of the Virus' on the roof (!), yup the roof and we're doing a silly pinch / layback hand traverse, its marginal but do-able. There's no way these holds are meant for the roof, unless your last name is Sharma, first name being Chris.

Which ever way you turn these holds gives you a new problem on how to hold it, slopes, pinches, ledges they've got it all...

RATING
NOODLES SAYS:
These holds are pretty big, but built strong and are hollow backed. If you over torque them you could easily crack em, so be careful when tightening. I've set many a warm up route with the Virus' and have spent hours pulling on them, the texture is amazing and for open handed problems they'll make you strong. They do need some brushing from time to time as they can get slick from all the chalk, but we do use alot of chalk, and checking with my local gym where they get alot of use it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I'm waiting to see what Mike pulls our of the bag next.
CHRIS' FINAL WORD
These are pinches? We always use them as slopes... whoops! I'm off to set some pinch problems :) Some of the holds are hard to hold, but that just means you have to try harder!!! Try to set some problems where you have to lower onto the holds and see how that feels...

Onto the Power Blox..
Who sung the song "Anyway You Want It"?
That's a song about the Power Blox, turn them any which way you want and you'll have a different pinch, of if you're going at the holds dead on a sloping edge.

The great thing about these holds is you can set a route and then change how hard it is with just a few wrench turns, just spin the hold about and its the same route... just a different pulling experience. The texture is slightly rougher than the Virus, but as some of the sides are so slopey thats a good thing, the set gives you five holds but I think that Sequence should make some more variations.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS:
The texture is rougher, but you can pull on it as long as you can hold on. On a vertical wall these holds would make some fun routes that would test a beginners skill at holding sloping pinches, on an overhang (which is where we normally have them) it makes for a far more interesting time, and when I say interesting I mean HARD! But you can dial in the difficulty really easily, so you can set how you feelCHRIS' FINAL WORD
These are pinches? That's twice today, we need to go and get the wrenches out again! I generally set with these as slopes with long moves between them, or as a traverse section as they're interesting to hold whichever way you come at them. I wish there were more of these, some a little larger some a little smaller. If you're looking for some devious sloping feet then I sometimes chuck these up, they make big feet but the slope of the hold makes all the difference.

Time for some Sugar...
Lets get something straight from the start, there is nothing sweet about these holds. They are HARD, HARD, HARD! If you're looking to train your balance on a vertical wall then these holds are super technical, on an overhang they are finger rippers.. it may sound like we're being harsh here but they are some really small holds.

But... there are some that are.. I_can_hold_this_if_i'm_gentle.

See! On an overhang :)
Where we find these holds to be great is when you mix them up with other Sequence holds and use of the Plates as feet, really technical horrible, horrible_my_foots_going_to_rip feet. As soon as you see a route with these holds and then you look at where you feet are going to go you start thinking carefully about how you're going to get through the moves.

RATING
NOODLES SAYS:
Ok, the above review sounds a little harsh, but there is good reason. If you're training then you don't want to injure yourself, climbing on anything other than vertical with these holds is a burly experience for sure. Soon as these holds are on anything past about 15 degrees its just a matter of time before you rip off and possibly pop a finger. I love these holds (and I did use a wrong bolt one time and took one to the face (not done that since)) they're great, just be careful when you set and climb on themCHRIS' FINAL WORD
Wise words from the Noodles there... let's ignore him for a second. I love these holds, I love pulling on small holds and these are some small holds. They ARE hard to pull on, and I like that. Noodles likes the big sloping holds so its nice on his hands. I don't mind pulling on the smaller stuff, so its give and take on this review. I'm going to go and smack Nud's in the head, and we'll figure out a score from there.

Review > Sequence > Wrenches

What does every wall need? Commercial, home, garage, wherever.. come on you know the answer... wrenches, that's right wrenches! How often have you been looking for a wrench at the gym? Who (like me) was using allen keys to tighten their holds? Well no more! Goto Sequence and get some of these:
A 7/32 and 5/16 set of wrenches, that have just been added to the Sequence line up. Not only do they look pretty pimp but they also double as a home defense weapon! They're pretty heavy, so be careful not to bean yourself on the head.

Not only are they heavy but with the bright yellow handles they're easy to spot under the pile of holds in the corner, which is pretty handy when you're setting somewhere without too much light.

One thing that made me laugh (and maybe its because i'm from England) is the packaging..."Buy Canadian eh!", and now i've started to notice that some of my staff say "Eh!" alot, nice work Mike :)

RATING
There's no real need to a table for the rating on this one, they're a set of wrenches, they do up climbing holds on your wall and you can never have enough of them kicking about the floor.
$22, so they're a good deal EH!