5 Small Simple Pinches

37 review(s) | Add your review

$24.19

Turn your hands into hydraulic vise-grips when you pull onto these bubbly pinches of peril.

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Overview
Reviews

The 5 Small Simples Pinches are quite similar in terms of width and incut. You can get a full finger pad with four fingers and a thumb catch on all of them. The sizes do vary but on a tiny scale. Many climbers will see these as narrow, which they are meant to be. The incut is quite acute and abrupt so that you get that super positive feel. Keep in mind; small hard incut pinches will be a wake-up call for the beginner and intermediate climber. Climbing hard doesn't always feel good, so when digging into a hold like this, it will require you to step up your pain game.

When setting with this set and you orient them vertically, on a vertical wall, you can expect V1/2. On a 25-degree overhanging wall, expect V3/4, and on a 45-degree overhanging wall, expect V6/7.

If you are on the fence with this set, you can use these as steep wall feet and as crimps. By setting with them horizontally, you get the same biting incut, and they feel easier by a number grade than in the vertical position.

SIZE: On average, measures 2" wide x 4-1/4" tall x 1-1/4" standing off the wall.
V2 on vertical walls.
V4 on 25-degree walls
V7 on 45-degree walls
TEXTURE: The texture offers a skin-friendly grip that feels like natural rock.

Good footholds on my wall

My wall is too steep for me to use these, but they do make great feet!

Date: 12/15/2012 11:02 AM

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Versatile and comfy

Have had these on walls from 15 to 50 degrees overhung. They all have a good(ish) and bad(ish) side so setting for intended sequences can be a challenge with these. The orange hold in the top right of the current pic (4/25/14) is the only one that is a little sharp (decent roundover but the direct change in shape is too drastic). Probably best for V3/4 and up on anything over 35-40 degrees overhung.

Date: 4/25/2014 3:12 PM

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Just as describe (which is perfect)

Got these as an impulse buy and I'm so glad I did. Setting with these is so fun and they'll make you a much better pincher :)

Date: 11/1/2015 2:04 PM

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Yep, Small Simple Pinches

You're going to get a full finger pad from all 4 fingers on each of these with a really good thumb on the other side. I think that is the quintessential (I love that word) definition of "small simple pinch". I agree on any steep (even moderate) overhang you're going to really struggle with these as a pinch. Here's the good news: pinch them on vertical but side pull them elsewhere. These are great for really strong side pull problems because of the incut and as another reviewer mentioned, really good for your feet also. I have one that I use as a starting hold for the beginning of a route which then becomes a "foot" as I move further up. Overall, a really nice little set of basic holds.

Date: 1/5/2020 2:53 PM

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great addition

These holds are bigger than I thought they would be. I am 6' and have big hands and I am able to get four fingers around them. Great addition to a wall. I have a 30 degree section that they are great on and really make you squeeze. I am glad I got these.

Date: 3/19/2020 11:11 AM

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Awesome Pinches

These pinches are a must have for any home wall.   I have a pretty large home climbing area (20 sheets of plywood) with 70 degree, 45 degrees, as well as flat walls, and the pinches are super fun.

The quality and texture of the Atomik holds are outstanding.  I wish I would have bought 30-40 more of these pinches because they work on all angles.

Atomik made and shipped the order in a week.  I would highly recommend Atomik holds.  Of the 1400 I've purchased (so far), Atomik are the best.

Date: 4/2/2020 6:45 PM

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Varied

Positive varied sizes. Great for small hands. Good thumb purchase.

Date: 4/7/2020 4:59 PM

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Pinchy Pinch

These were a great addition to my 30 degree wall. I have a variety of sizes of pinches now from 2x4 blocks, to medium and large Atomik pinches as well. It was great to be able to throw some small ones into the mix as well. These can be very challenging to hold onto when pumped during PE training. They make great start holds, and holds for mid route. However, they do require a substantial amount of finger strength whenever you put them on an overhanging wall. I have decent sized hands and I can get all four fingers on with some room to spare and the thumb catches are good too. Overall, nice little holds.

Date: 4/24/2020 1:30 PM

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Variety leaves something to be desired

While these holds aren't bad, it would have been nice to have a bit more variety - perhaps one flat hold, or one with more incut. As it is, all of them are slightly incut and roughly the same difficulty to grab. The shape isn't bad, just a bit redundant. Yes, each hold comes from a different mold, but the difference when climbing on them is really negligible, especially compared to the variety that most other Atomik sets provide.

Date: 5/19/2020 5:46 PM

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WYSIWYG

What you see is what you get...5 simple pinches (although I use them for side pulls and gastons too). Giving these a 5-star rating because they get a lot of use on my wall.

Date: 6/2/2020 12:08 AM

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Great for training

These things are pretty small, but pretty good. Depending on how you angle them, you can get a lot of variety. I've used them on my 30* for as low as V3 to as high as V7.

Date: 6/3/2020 7:24 PM

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Nice set of pinches

These pinches give you a good challenge. On my 30 degree wall setting a route with these and some small jugs makes for a fun challenging route. The texture on them is awesome too

Date: 6/18/2020 8:26 AM

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very versatile

(set these on ~37 degree home wall)

comfy small crimpy pinches! these see a lot of use currently, may have to get some more soon. really gets all five fingers engaged when used as a pinch, also make pretty positive crimps/sidepulls/underclings depending on the set

Date: 6/24/2020 1:31 PM

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Great pinches for training

Love these pinches and I have big hands. I set these vertically on the overhang wall and if you come straight at them there tough! Horizontally they are challenging as well. I have one on my vertical portion and it can substitute as a small edge / crimp.

Wall stats - 20 degree overhang top with vertical portion and 10 degree overhang below.
Climber stats - solid V5 to V6

Date: 7/1/2020 8:14 AM

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who doesnt love incut pinches

Not much to say. Incut. Textured. Pinchy. Yard from one to the other and feel like a hero! They are rather small and not large enough to match on.

Date: 7/3/2020 12:42 PM

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Nice basic thin pinches

These things are perfect for any home wall lacking in the pinch department. If I set these horizontally on my 40 degree wall, I often will end up just crimping them, as they are relatively positive, so I generally set em at some angle. While they are pretty similar to each other, some are slightly thinner and wider. When I really want to make these challenging (v7+) I set them almost vertically, or use them as a sidepull/undercling for compression moves, which is a ton of fun. For anyone looking for slightly more interesting pinches, I'd recommend "5 Medium Dripstone Pinches/Pockets" which I love as well.

Date: 7/22/2020 8:05 PM

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Fun, fun, fun

These pinches were a great addition to my home wall. There is a clear good and bad side on each hold and are very incut (about a pad on each finger). At 20 degrees they are very easy (v1), at 30 degrees they are fairly challenging (maybe v3 or v4), and at 50 degrees they are impossible for me but I will work up to them eventually!

These are a must have for any home wall.

Date: 7/31/2020 7:42 AM

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Really good for training pinch strength

These holds are a great size and shape to train pinch strength. You have to really pinch down on them hard to stay on (especially if you're on an overhung wall). I dig em!

Date: 8/5/2020 9:52 AM

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Nice and small pinches

These just arrived today. I bought 2 sets and haven't yet placed them on the wall yet. If you flip one set upside down, they are not quite mirror images of the other set...but for the most part they feel the same when pinching across the bolt hole. Can't wait to put these in action and see how they feel!

Date: 8/7/2020 9:52 AM

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These are great

They work as a great tool for strengthening. I like them, of course a deeper one would be easier. They have an incut but still super challenging. Five stars

Date: 8/23/2020 12:11 AM

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Solid grip

Nice, solid holds. Very easy on my flat wall (probably 5.8 or 5.9) so would recommend for a negative wall maybe 15 degrees or more. Great texture though.

Date: 8/23/2020 8:17 AM

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Great set of pinches!

Have these set on my 45 degree wall, have been out of climbing for a bit, and they seem great for training pinches.

Date: 8/31/2020 7:54 PM

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Love these!

These work great on my 30 degree wall! Aside from minor width and in-cut variation they're all pretty similar in size, shape, and ease of grip, but the texture is awesome and they're high quality. They were packaged and shipped super fast and all came in safe and sound.

Date: 8/31/2020 8:13 PM

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quite difficult on 45 degree

I bought these for my 45 degree homewall because of the great price. When set vertically they are quite difficult to hold onto (maybe V6+), even with good feet. I have learned to like them more when set horizontally as rails, mixing them in with foot holds that allow for heel hooks. In that setting, I'd place them more around V4.

Date: 9/4/2020 8:55 AM

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Lovely pinches

Love these small pinches. I set them vertically on my 40 wall and they work great for intermediate/hard routes. I climb around V4 on the moonboard and outdoors, V5/6 in gyms. The only other pinches I've tried are the 2 wide pinches from the Teknik Zipgrip Starter set - those were almost unusable for me except as low percentage intermediates to bump to better holds. These small pinches are not easy but they are much more usable and settable. They are incut on both sides with a narrow width, and feel great to pinch. Not easy enough to use for power endurance - I've incorporated them into some limit boulder routes. Very happy with them.

Reference:
-Wall angle: 40 degrees
-Climb: V4 on moonboard/outdoors, V5/6 in gyms
-Find them to be much more usable and versatile than the wide pinches found in the Teknik Zip Grip Starter Set

Date: 9/12/2020 7:44 PM

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Pinches or crimps!

Great pinches for angle walls, and can be rotated for pinches/underclings to add more fun to the routes.
Definitely help add some pumpines to any boulders set in 10+ Angle walls.

Date: 9/16/2020 1:55 PM

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Great to train pinch accuracy

I have these holds on a 30 degree overhang and they work great on higher intensity circuits. Really good to develop pinch accuracy so I enjoy setting them as reachy dead-points. The set is diverse and has symmetrical "bowtie" pinches as well as some that definitely have more incut on one side than the other.

Date: 10/4/2020 4:28 PM

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Pinch POWER!

These are perfect narrow-grip pinches. The shape and texture feel perfect between my fingers and I can really engage my thumb. These are on my 40 deg wall and I like setting these in every angle as different catches and direction of pull. I really love these little things!

Date: 10/6/2020 9:59 AM

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great pinches

Got these in earth tone and they are a great addition. We have a small steep wall and they're getting a lot of use. Great texture.

Date: 10/9/2020 6:28 PM

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Great Compliment to Xl Simple Pinches

Had the 5 XL simple pinches and needed something to complement them. These were perfect for the price, though I would really love to have the set of large ones to, just to really round out our pinching prowess. So far just used them on the 45, but they will definitely be going in the 60 soon. I find these almost more relatable to pinching outdoors than fatter ones oftentimes, which are tight, small and narrow in my experience. These on their own could clock in at V3/4 or up to double digits on a variety of angles. Love them!

Date: 10/26/2020 8:22 PM

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Great, narrow pinches

These small pinches are quite narrow -- perhaps a 1.5" pinch width. That makes these a very fingery pinch, as opposed to a wider open-hand forearm-y pinch. They probably make for a V3+ on a 40 degree wall.

Date: 11/12/2020 1:39 PM

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Great Feel, Hard Moves

Love the feel of these! I use these as part of a crux move on a 22° wall (V2-V3ish) as a pincher but they also work well as a solid crimp (when placed sideways) on a vertical wall. The colors are great and go with all my other Atomik holds.

Date: 11/24/2020 1:52 PM

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Awesome, as always

Why would I expect these to be anything but great? Atomik continually impresses me both with the products that they produce, and their outstanding service.

Theses pinches are yet another testament to the quality that I have come to expect from Atomik. I have them on my home wall and they are great additions to both the vertical and overhanging sections.

Can be used as side pulls, horizontal or vertical pinches, or big footholds.

I have very big hands and although theses are "small," pinches- they still allow me to get a good, full grip and are just the right size for building up pinch-strength.

Thank you again to Atomik for another fantastic product- made better, shipped faster than any of their "competitors."

Date: 12/22/2020 2:14 PM

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Great skinny pinches

This is a great set of small pinches that are tougher than you might think. Incut but not very deep, they provide a nice challenge on more overhanging terrain. On vert they'd probably be V1/2, on 25° V3/4, and on 35°+ they're likely V5+.

Date: 2/18/2021 12:24 PM

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Simple Fun

These are great holds to add variety to a route. They have a great incut and are large enough to match on a vertical wall. Can change the angles to make them easier or more difficult.

Date: 2/23/2021 11:46 AM

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Nice pinches

Have these on a 20 degree wall and they are a workout for the forearms. All are pretty similar shape with a slight incut to give you a bit of help. I typically set these such that both hands are not holding one of these at the same time as the kids really struggle with it. Turning these horizontal makes a pretty good crimp and a great foot. These also work well for side pulls. My one complaint is I wish there was a little more variation to the depth of incut on these.

Date: 4/3/2021 7:03 PM

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Comfy, great for simulation!

I've been climbing with these pinches for a couple months on a 45° wall and I really enjoy them for setting medium/hard problems, and for simulating a few of my outdoor projects! There are a couple that are definitely more positive, but all of them make you grip HARD on steeper setups. They work well for feet too!

Date: 6/24/2021 7:09 AM

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When setting with this set and you orient them vertically, on a vertical wall, you can expect V1/2. On a 25-degree overhanging wall, expect V3/4, and on a 45-degree overhanging wall, expect V6/7.

SIZE: On average, measures 2" wide x 4-1/4" tall x 1-1/4" standing off the wall.
V2 on vertical walls.
V4 on 25-degree walls
V7 on 45-degree walls
TEXTURE: The texture offers a skin-friendly grip that feels like natural rock.

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