eBay My World: rock_monkee( 959)

We love Climbing!

Climbing Holds, Climbing Wall Panels, t-nuts for climbing holds

English

Climbing, Martial Arts, Juggling

Without being aware of it, Three Ball Climbing began a long time ago. (Mid 1990's) Steve Dison lived in his mothers' townhouse in Albuquerque N.M.. He rode his bike to work at his insurance job and to the local Martial Arts School where he worked as an instructor. Bicycles are fun and all, but they aren't that great for climbing trips. Everything changed when got a raise ($7 per hour). He spent $300 on a 1985 Buick Skylark (The best car ever made...According to Steve.) and went climbing with Andrew. Whenever the phone stopped ringing for a while, Steve took the Skylark and went climbing in the Sandia Mountains, or the small limestone crag called 'Big Block'. While these crags were fun, Steve felt he needed something more to become a better climber. A climbing wall in the garage was the answer. All he needed was some climbing holds. Unfortunately that $7 an hour wasn't quite enough to feel comfortable buying climbing holds that were being manufactured at the time.

The solution....he would make the holds himself. He purchased a 50lb bag of cement mix and went to work. Andrew and Steve free-formed jugs crimps and slopers. 'Now that was some scary climbing. We never knew when one of the holds was just going to crumble. We had to climb very slowly and carefully.' --Steve While they didn't see significant strength gains, it was a start! Several years later Steve moved to Tempe, AZ because of the abundant rock throughout the state. Still too poor to buy climbing holds, he began experimenting with polyester resin. He shaped holds out of potting clay and molded them with latex. These holds made for some interesting climbing, but they were far from good.

Eventually Steve started shaping holds out of floral foam and making silicone rubber molds. The intention never was to start a business, but when the Phoenix Rock Gym made a $600 dollar order Three Ball Climbing was born! Steve quit his warehouse job and began experimenting with different types of plastic. First he tried all kinds of polyester resin, but it was extremely toxic and still too brittle like the other holds already on the market. Next he tried Epoxy and many types of Polyurethane. After several months of research he found a polyurethane mix that was compatible with his molds and was far stronger than the other holds on the market. In April of 2004 Steve and his business partner Keeley formed Three Ball Climbing LLC. and went to work. They designed the logo, built a website and continued shaping holds. Today Steve, Keeley, Chris, and Ben constantly strive to improve the website, products and customer service. threeballclimbing@yahoo.com 480-334-4646