Review > Project Holds > Shellshocked

Here's the second part of our review on Project holds. Earlier last month we reviewed the Jugs ans they have since been set at our local gym Allez Up. We have a saying that goes "no brand loyalty" and in spite of sounding biased... these holds are SWEET:P And once again, like the Jugs, these holds are like no other that we have on our wall. So we received the full line of Shell Shocks minus the Shell Shocks Large 1. Now we got one more hold from this set, The Wedge is a 6xl and its HUGE!
How huge?? Here's someone holding the monster!It's huge but surprisingly light. They put this beast on a diet by molding it with a hollow back so it only takes one bolt. We had a long session on it with Jackie and Eve and the hold never spun out on us. So Project put it best when they describes the holds as "a new spin on the classic brain texture". Everyone who has gone to the gym knows that holds with this texture can be deceiving but the Shellshocks on the most part have a really good edge on them and they are all quite big. Some of the bigger holds from the set have decent pocket and could be set in the roof. The holds came in green, just like the images on the website, and they stand out on the wall. The texture of the mix is rough on the skin but the bottom line is you stick the hold and the mix gives you plenty of friction.

We've had these holds since last month and we couldn't resist the temptation of putting them up. As I mentioned earlier we had a bunch of sessions on the Wedge and some other holds with Jackie and Eve. Now that we've had some fun with the holds we set a route up with them for the review and to make things interesting, Noodles flipped some of the holds around after every attempt..


It wasn't all falling though, we did get around the route a number of times with the holds having a different rotation each time... the Wedge, again can be deceptive!

The session ended with a small problem with the Wedge, a cross threaded bolt and a new hole in the wall... Noodles wasn't amused (see his comments for the full story)



These holds are big enough to be used on any angle. With the exception of some of the smaller holds and the Wedge they can even be put into the roof but it'll require a hell of a lot of core strength to maneuver around the pinches and Wedge if they're set on steep terrain. We're not even crazy enough to attempt anything like this.

Keep in mind that these holds are categorized as medium to large and on flat or slightly overhanging terrain the holds are easy to match. As per usual the exception is the Wedge. It takes a couple of dry runs to find the sweet spot on the hold but once you know where to hit it, along with some controlled movement, the Wedge tons of fun.



After we had a great session playing around on the Shellshocks I decided to rotate it one more time and to my surprise I had a hard time getting the bolt loose and after fighting with the wrench the bolt started to spin, but it wasn't the bolt that was loose, it was the t-nut spinning into the back of the wall. So we performed some climbing wall surgery and got the Wedge off the wall. When we inspected the hold we came to some conclusion on how things went wrong. First of all the bolt that Project sent us was too long, secondly the t-nut started to bury itself further into the wall each time we re bolted the hold. Louis also brought up a good point in that the bolt hole isn't reinforced so when you over tighten the bolt the hold flexes because the bolt hole doesn't extend all the way to the wall. So after all the fun we had with the holds we had on a bad experience at the end but as an optimist I need to say that at least have an unbiased review.

• A new spin on the Font texture
• Something for everyone in the full line
• Well priced
• Project sizes are larger than you expect, so look at the holds carefully as you may be getting more than you thought!
  

CONS

• The Wedge is huge, and because of the bolt placement / design you could cross thread a t nut / bolt with the torque you put on the hold...
• The colours are not consistent from batch to batch
• Noodles doesn't mind the texture, but I found that my hands lost more skin than usual.
• They could add a small line to the range
  

PRICE
Shellshocked don't come in anything less than a medium!!
Medium 01: $39 for 5 holds (tested)
Large 01 / 02: $49 for 5 holds per set (tested)
X Large o1 / 02: $69 for 5 holds per set (tested)
2xl : $139 for 5 holds (tested)
Apollo: 4xl $79 for one hold
Rhino: 5x1 $99 for one hold
Wedge: 6xl $139 for one hold (kicked our ass when it's rotated!!, but tested)
UFO: 7xl $199 for one hold