The Phoenix Rock Gym Friends holds are holds made in the early 1990s for the Phoenix Rock Gym by people that worked at the Phoenix Rock Gym, and other peoples as well. Paul Diefenderfer and Eric Ramsey and ........
July 2024 - Talking to Paul Diefenderfer about the holds. Dief says: "In 1992 there were not many hold companies around, and at the same time there were only a few rock gyms built so holds were not in high demand. Sure I can purchase multiple sets of what was available which brings me to a few hundred holds. But I need 10,000 holds. So we created our own holds. The largest holds are made of concrete. A big problem also at that time was that there were no small foot holds available or even manufactured yet, so we created the foot holds referred to as the Simple Green holds. And even another problem at that time is that the manufacturers were trying to keep the holds similar to real rock outdoors. So many of the holds were sharp and not comfortable to hold."
- History note: Climbing holds first became available in 1986 in Europe by Entre Prises. March 1988 Metolius in the USA has only 30 different holds available. Climbing holds really didn't take off until the early 1990s. I figure as more rock gyms opened across the USA in association with the advertising of home gyms, the demand for climbing holds went into full production!!
- History note: Climbing holds first became available in 1986 in Europe by Entre Prises. March 1988 Metolius in the USA has only 30 different holds available. Climbing holds really didn't take off until the early 1990s. I figure as more rock gyms opened across the USA in association with the advertising of home gyms, the demand for climbing holds went into full production!!
Large holds made of concrete.
- Heavier item to course set with, but the holds remained a cooler temperature in the hot summer months.
- Heavier item to course set with, but the holds remained a cooler temperature in the hot summer months.
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Medium holds made of concrete.
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I am calling these Simple Green footholds since Dief came up with the hold color by adding Simple Green into the hold mixture. Made of epoxy fairing gel and sand.
- c. early 1990s
- c. early 1990s
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Larger simple green holds. Experimenting with adding more sand to the epoxy fairing gel. Also mixed in is fiberglass fibers. The holds turned out solid, but too soft for high climbing volume, and over time became crumbly.
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