We are now the proud parents of a Beastmaker 2000 Series hangboard. I, for one, am excited, and in the finest British tradition, I will hole myself in my basement on a nice day to hang from my fingertips.

I’m pleasantly surprised by the selection of grips on the board. I’ll probably still re-hang the Metoluis Simulator for warming up and core workouts, but the Beastmaker has a few nice edges and slopers for warming up, too. The board does, however, have several grips that are beyond my comprehension at this point: the 45 degree sloper and the nasty, tiny, sloping two finger pockets. The wood is shiny, and I reckon a workout could be done with a minimal amount of chalk on the fingers. The slopers, in fact, seem to be a bit easier to hang with a bit of moisture on the fingers.

My workouts will need to change, too. I suspect I may focus on encores/dead hangs for a few weeks to break in the new grips, then shift to repeaters once I feel comfortable. Then, perhaps, I can work my way up to this.

Also, for the geeks out there, it’s worth checking out the Beastmaker blog’s archive to see how these young English gents put together their operation. Home-brewed CNC machine, anyone?

Posted on 11 September 2010