New Carbon Fiber Stick Clip with Custom Head

I am super excited to share the Spire Clip, a project that I’ve been working on for the last 3 years. I’ve always been disappointed with the stick clips available on the market; they are generally either flimsy and fragile or beefy and quite heavy. Yes, there is the painter’s pole option, but I'm not Gandalf and I fancy something that fits in my pack. So three years ago I figured, how hard can it be? I'll just make one. Turns out a lot harder than I thought, especially if you want it to be really good. But after countless hours refining and sourcing components, the Spire Clip is finally ready for sale! No kickstarter, you can actually just buy it now at spireclimbingequipment.com. For the first limited quanity batch I am offering $25 off. 

Starting this project, my goal was to make a stick clip that lasts longer, works better, and weighs less than similar sized clips. After a ton of iterations, I believe the Spire Clip achieves these goals, and I am psyched to share it with the climbing community.

Some details:

The head is my patent-pending, custom design. In addition to hanging draws, its unique design makes it much easier to clip an already hanging draw. Just make a loop, drop it between the lower section of the prongs and you're ready to clip. The head holds the loop of rope so you can place it around the carabiner, then just pull the lower free strand to clip. Additionally, there is a hook on the back of the head for pulling the rope while keeping a draw or two pre-clipped. And the same features make it easy to remove a draw - you can check out the full user guide here. 

The pole is made from carbon fiber, so it won’t dent or bend like aluminum poles. Its also exceptionally rigid and doesn't sway or deflect (See a couple posts down for a photo comparison with a popular aluminum pole). The locks are aluminum twist locks. I wanted something that wouldn’t wear down and start slipping, which has been a failure point with every flip lock pole I have used. While the aluminum twist locks are a tiny bit slower than flip locks, I spent a lot of time sourcing ones that worked quickly and I’m pleased with the result. They go from locked to unlocked in about half a turn, and I think the durability more than makes up for any inconvenience.

Finally, the bottom end cap of the pole unscrews. This was paramount to my goal of making the pole last a long time. When sand, dirt, chalk, etc. inevitably make their way into the pole, you can rinse it out to keep it working smoothly.

Total weight of the pole is 1lb 3oz and it extends to 10’10”

I have a limited stock of Spire Clips available now. Get yours today at spireclimbingequipment.com.

Happy to answer any questions anyone has. Thanks!

Blake Mwrote:

Some details:

The head is my patent-pending, custom design. In addition to hanging draws, its unique design makes it much easier to clip an already hanging draw. Just make a loop, drop it between the lower section of the prongs and you're ready to clip. The head holds the loop of rope so you can place it around the carabiner, then just pull the lower free strand to clip. Additionally, there is a hook on the back of the head for pulling the rope while keeping a draw or two pre-clipped. And the same features make it easy to remove a draw - you can check out the full user guide here. 

Love this clipper head design, would definitely purchase it if you were to sell it as a stand alone product, perhaps with added adapter to the painter pole screw 

Very cool. Looks like you've iterated to resolve a lot of my complaints with other products. Price is fine as well (at least with the discount). 

I’m interested, but I would like to see the product in action, especially compared to the Trango stick and a painters pole. If you have that handy already somewhere, I wasn’t able to find it while browsing. Size comparison photos would be nice too!

amariuswrote:

Love this clipper head design, would definitely purchase it if you were to sell it as a stand alone product, perhaps with added adapter to the painter pole screw 

I thought about it but struggled to come up with any benefits to a different pole. What kind of pole would you want to put it on? And what does that pole offer that this one doesn't?

Blake Mwrote:

I thought about it but struggled to come up with any benefits to a different pole. What kind of pole would you want to put it on? And what does that pole offer that this one doesn't?

My personal take is three use cases:

1. I'm ok with extra weight and don't want to spend nearly $200 on a stick clip. 

2. I already have a stick clip+painters pole, I just want to upgrade.

3. I am a barbarian that mangles things, so I don't want a high zoot pole that I have to replace through one spot and worry about their turnaround times etc. 

Blake Mwrote:

I thought about it but struggled to come up with any benefits to a different pole. What kind of pole would you want to put it on? And what does that pole offer that this one doesn't?

I have the roll up stick clip. Clearly I’m not going to buy another expensive stick but could theoretically be swayed to upgrade the head. For example. 

Added to the Stick Clip Master Thread.

Can this be used as a walking stick? Also is the top clip able to be removed without a tool? 

I also love the clip, but don't need the pole.

My 2cents 

You’ve priced yourself at the premium price bracket and thusly you’ve got to outperform the pongoose. If you’re not a cost effective design (ie - you’re requiring people to be upsold by buying the carbon fiber monopod even though your invention is the head), you’ve got to be the best performing - point blank. Show people why that is with videos. $180 is a lot to swallow for a monopod with a wire attachment at the top no matter how difficult it was to achieve the design.

Show videos of the following:

hanging a full sized wire gate 

Hanging a full sized solid gate

Hanging an ohm (how does your product perform with weight)

Hanging a medium wire gate (Trango phase…etc)

Removing all of those items 

The pongoose can attach a brush and has an articulating head to work with different contours of walls. Can you outperform this? 

Also if you’re going to require folks to buy the monopod with it, you may want to source an aluminum version to be able to cut the price down. The amount of people who would spend more money for carbon fiber presumably because they’re weight  conscientious versus folks who’d rather save money…I’m going to guess your already cutting yourself off from a large share of your potential customer base - which is already a smaller percentage of total outdoor climbers since a stick clip is seen as sort of an ultra luxury piece of climbing gear (ie - it’s a want, not need).

(I love product design…)

Chris Outingswrote:

My 2cents 

You’ve priced yourself at the premium price bracket and thusly you’ve got to outperform the pongoose. If you’re not a cost effective design (ie - you’re requiring people to be upsold by buying the carbon fiber monopod even though your invention is the head), you’ve got to be the best performing - point blank. Show people why that is with videos. $180 is a lot to swallow for a monopod with a wire attachment at the top no matter how difficult it was to achieve the design.

Show videos of the following:

hanging a full sized wire gate 

Hanging a full sized solid gate

Hanging an ohm (how does your product perform with weight)

Hanging a medium wire gate (Trango phase…etc)

Removing all of those items 

The pongoose can attach a brush and has an articulating head to work with different contours of walls. Can you outperform this? 

Also if you’re going to require folks to buy the monopod with it, you may want to source an aluminum version to be able to cut the price down. The amount of people who would spend more money for carbon fiber presumably because they’re weight  conscientious versus folks who’d rather save money…I’m going to guess your already cutting yourself off from a large share of your potential customer base - which is already a smaller percentage of total outdoor climbers since a stick clip is seen as sort of an ultra luxury piece of climbing gear (ie - it’s a want, not need).

(I love product design…)

Ooo and an Ange!

Chris Outingswrote:

My 2cents 

You’ve priced yourself at the premium price bracket and thusly you’ve got to outperform the pongoose. If you’re not a cost effective design (ie - you’re requiring people to be upsold by buying the carbon fiber monopod even though your invention is the head), you’ve got to be the best performing - point blank. Show people why that is with videos. $180 is a lot to swallow for a monopod with a wire attachment at the top no matter how difficult it was to achieve the design.

Show videos of the following:

hanging a full sized wire gate 

Hanging a full sized solid gate

Hanging an ohm (how does your product perform with weight)

Hanging a medium wire gate (Trango phase…etc)

Removing all of those items 

The pongoose can attach a brush and has an articulating head to work with different contours of walls. Can you outperform this? 

Also if you’re going to require folks to buy the monopod with it, you may want to source an aluminum version to be able to cut the price down. The amount of people who would spend more money for carbon fiber presumably because they’re weight  conscientious versus folks who’d rather save money…I’m going to guess your already cutting yourself off from a large share of your potential customer base - which is already a smaller percentage of total outdoor climbers since a stick clip is seen as sort of an ultra luxury piece of climbing gear (ie - it’s a want, not need).

(I love product design…)

Yes visually the head is the biggest improvement over the currently available stick clips. However, I believe the pole is just as much an improvement. While the carbon fiber does make the pole lighter, to me the bigger selling points of it are is exceptional rigidity and durability, both aspects aluminum can't hold a candle to. The carbon fiber won't bend or dent, I have seen countless aluminum sticks and painters poles stop working as a result of a small dent often just from falling over. This just is not a problem with the carbon. Here is a example of the deflection when held horizontally of the Super Clip vs a popular aluminum pole.

I am not out at the crag today to shoot some videos but here a some photos of different biners in the head. I'll make some videos soon.

Here is a wire gate

I don't have that specific Trango biner, but this BD biner is the same size per online specs.

And here is the biggest biner I could finder in my gear      

"to me the bigger selling points of it are is exceptional rigidity and durability"

great photo showing the flex/wobbliness - id play this up! great point. wonkiness from a super extended pole makes it far more difficult to clip sometimes. makes sense now. play this design element up more!

Blake Mwrote:

While the carbon fiber does make the pole lighter, to me the bigger selling points of it are is exceptional rigidity and durability, both aspects aluminum can't hold a candle to. The carbon fiber won't bend or dent, I have seen countless aluminum sticks and painters poles stop working as a result of a small dent often just from falling over. This just is not a problem with the carbon. Here is a example of the deflection when held horizontally of the Super Clip vs a popular aluminum pole.

You make a valid point that CF pole is going to be lighter and stiffer than aluminum equivalent. However, it is significantly more expensive.

Let's take a look what Amazon sells -
12ft aluminum pole - 36USD
12ft CF pole - 60USD
Both of these have flipper collars.

SuperClip sells for 30USD.
Metolius 12ft stick clip with superclip sells for 95USD. Aluminum with flipper collars.
As a side comment - if I have superclip, I can can fly anywhere and purchase the cheapest painter pole at a local hardware store and not worry about bringing it back. If I am so inclined, I'll bring adapter for superclip and use whatever stick is there.

Aluminum pole+superclip - from 66USD to 95USd
CF pole+superclip - from 90USD.

Here is what you are offering -

An improved clipper head design, unfortunately it appears to require specific attachment to your pole, or any pole
An improved extension pole design, roughly 11ft. It is lighter and stiffer.
Cost ~180USD?

I am quite sure that there will be climbers who are willing to pay for lightness and stiffness, but I doubt there will be many. As a matter of fact, feedback in this thread appears to indicate that respondents like clipper head design, but have reservations about the cost of the package.

Where I climb - RRG and NRG, 12ft stick does not always reach the 1st bolt.  Most people use longer poles. Yes they do break, and they are heavy and floppy, but I yet have to see someone fail to clip the 1st bolt. I have seen weight/cost conscious climbers use golf ball retrievers as stick clips, these are even more floppy, but they work.

The way I see it - you innovated clipper head, looks like nice improvement over superclip. And, I have been using superclip for years - I can clip 1st bolt, clip the rope to the 1st draw, remove the draw, etc. I would suggest you tweak your clipper head design so it can be attached to any painter pole and make it available for purchase

To add on - Would you be excited for the head to be a success? For the pole? Or only both together?

Right now you're going "both together", but there's clear potential for both just the head and just the stick. Consider offering separately and track sales/engagement. While ideally you've done all the things to ensure a complete product/market fit, it's rare for people to nail that first try. 

I was all ready to order, but 10ft won't cut it.  NRG - RRG - NC climber here as well. 

Brad Johnsonwrote:

I was all ready to order, but 10ft won't cut it.  NRG - RRG - NC climber here as well. 

Planning to make a longer version soon so keep an eye out. Started with 10 ft as that's the most popular size.

What would be your ideal length?

I love my smith stick clip and it gets almost every bolt I need so whatever that length is.  However, it is not very compact at all.  If this was shorter when collapsed I would buy in a second. 

Ordered. 

This looks like a good product. On sale it's $155... And 11 feet is long enough for where I typically climb. I'm happy to pay a few extra dollars to support an independent small company/person who is making innovations, probably without making much profit. 

Ira OMCwrote:

Ordered. 

This looks like a good product. On sale it's $155... And 11 feet is long enough for where I typically climb. I'm happy to pay a few extra dollars to support an independent small company/person who is making innovations, probably without making much profit. 

Thanks Ira, I'll get it shipped out today!

I'm not sure who designed the website or what you are supposed to view it on but looking at it on a Windows computer and Chrome browser your website it just a jumbled pile of weird symbols and things because it doesn't display properly.

Ira OMCwrote:

I'm happy to pay a few extra dollars to support an independent small company/person who is making innovations, probably without making much profit. 

This attitude is the reason we have nice things from people/companies like Skot, Avant, AMG, etc. More of this, please.

Blake, really nice, clean looking product, well done.