Hold Shaping Q & A

We fielded a bunch of your shaping related questions on Instagram the other day and now we're sitting down to answer them. Ryan has been shaping for over a decade and has learned a thing or two that we hope will help you guys fast-track your learning curve. For the more experienced shapers out there, this conversation might be interesting as it offers insight into how we think about hold design in the modern climbing environment. A couple questions we'll cover in this video include: 1) What type of foam do we use and where can you get it? Short answer - Foam is expensive and difficult to get. For new shapers just starting out, this can be quite the financial barrier. To help out, we're going to start selling chunks of our own foam. For more information, stay tuned to escapeclimbing.com or shoot Ryan an email at [email protected]. 2) What tools do you need? Short answer - We've put together some Starter Shaping Kits, which will include all the basic tools you'll need to start your shaping career. They'll be available through escapeclimbing.com shortly. 3) How do you dual texture? 4) How much concepting do you do prior to work? 5) When designing a series, do you design it around a texture/style or a type of hold? 6) How much consideration does the shaper give to the actual production of the hold or do they just leave that to the molding guys? 7) What are your favorite shaping tools? 8) What are some unconventional tools you've used? 9) Do you ever shape for specific hand sizes? Thanks to everybody who contributed questions. We had a ton of fun digging in Ryan's brain to glimpse how he approaches hold shaping. In our next video were going to take a more advanced approach to the questions of: Bolt/Set Screw placement Ergonomics Friction Got ideas for a video or just some questions that we didn't fully answer? Hit the comments and make your voice heard! Thanks for all the support, guys and gals!