GearFlogger

DMM Wallnuts passive pro

The name Wallnuts reminds me of a drinking game in college where you face a wall while holding a ping pong ball above your head. Upon dropping said ball you attempt to pin it to the wall with your forehead. If you miss you drink. Ah, good times.

DMM's Wallnuts are a considerably smarter investment, especially by the set. Every rack needs some good old-fashioned passive pro, and every climber should know how to place nuts and hexes. The Wallnuts are lightweight, inexpensive and work like champs. They have a concave taper on the sides and the front is convex with a little trough running top to bottom. This complex (for a nut) shape makes the Wallnuts work better than anything else in irregular slots.

The color coded heads make it easier to grab the right size with a little experience, and anything that helps with efficiency of placement on the sharp end is allright by me. At under a Benjamin for a full set #1 to 10 you just can't go wrong. As with all nuts, make sure you have a nut tool to extract after loading.

$89.96 (on sale from $99.95) at Backcountry

DMM Revolver Screwgate carabiner pulley

Introducing the ayatollah of lock-and-rollah! DMM has had their kick-butt Revolver wiregate pulley carabiner out for a few years now and it has proven itself in the field. See that review for how to put together an ultralight crevasse rescue hauling system. Now our fine Welsh friends have done it again, this time with lockability.

Available in three different locking formats, climbers will want the screwgate. The action on the screwgate is buttah smooth, and unlike the wiregate it's a keylock nose for snag-free unclipping. The screwgate adds minimally to weight for a total of 2.2oz. The gate opening is a little tight but workable at 16mm.

The Revolver is fully certified as both a carabiner and as a pulley. The pulley makes wandering ropelines pull smoothly for less leader effort, and the ease of lowering saves wear on your 'spensive thread for top-roping. If you're still wandering the icefields with old-school pulleys, do yourself a big favor and chamber some Revolvers.

$34.95 at Mountaingear

The Mark gear-marking epoxy

There are a few products that are just insanely useful, and The Mark epoxy is squarely one of them. It's pretty basic: a special epoxy that you can use to mark your metal gear with the pattern and color of your choice so you always know what's what.

With cams, screws and other shiny objects going for $50 and up a pop, The Mark is like a condom for your gear: a prophylactic to prevent that expensive piece from walking away, accidentally or otherwise. Just mix the two ingredients and have about a 30 minute working time to apply to gear. 24 hours later it's bombproof. literally: there may be some chemical to get it off but there's no way mechanical friction or impact will do it.

The Mark comes in red, yellow, green and blue and one package will make about 250 marks. Even better, they thoughtfully include a small and a large application in each package: use the large one to mark your full rack and the small one for pieces you add later. Any way you look at it this is way better than colored tape.

$14.95 at Boulder Based Designs

Petzl Reversino belay/rappel device

Not exactly the discovery of a new fundamental particle but far more relevant to having fun, the Petzl Reversino is a tub-style belay/rappel device with a self-locking feature that makes it convenient to belay from the anchor.

The 2oz Reversino works with ropes 7.5 to 8.2mm, perfect for double ropes and smaller single ropes commonly used for glacier travel rigging. For 8-9mm double ropes and 10-11mm single ropes you can step up to its big brother the Reverso. Both are similar to, and lighter than, the Black Diamond ATC Guide, although the BD device uses its extra material to good effect and is really smooth.

I use the 3.6oz ATC Guide for general belaying duty and the 1oz DMM Bugette for low-angle glacier work. I picked up a Reversino for high-angle alpine routes where some pitches might be better belayed from the anchor.

$27.95 at REI

Black Diamond Ice Clipper

The Black Diamond Ice Clipper is their retort to the Petzl Caritool: a nifty little plastic (i.e. non-load-bearing) carabiner that is designed to rack ice screws (about six of 'em) and tools (one).

The big difference between this and the Petzl model is the Petzl has an integrated clip to secure it to a harness or pack strap. The BD either fits into small loops designed to accomodate it on BD harnesses such as the Blizzard, or you can use the included rubber keeper thingy to attach it to a non-Clipper compatible harness (i.e. almost every other one out there).

Another difference is the BD Clipper wiregate is designed to stay open when you move it all the way back. In practice this sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Pluses and minuses: when it stays open it's easier to manage your screws, but don't forget to close it! If you have a BD harness, get this one. If not, look at the Petzl.

$6.95 at REI

CAMP Joker v-thread tool

Yes, you can make a v-thread hook yourself out of a spare coat hanger. Go for it, McGyver. Just don't come whining to me when it straightens out on you three pitches up your worst frozen nightmare. Or you can buy a Camp Joker v-thread tool for the cost of a six-pack of good beer.

The Joker is an improvement over other abalakov hooks because it has a rigid stem instead of a flexible one. Also, the hook itself is nice and beefy so you can really crank on it. I usually run the rope itself through the v-thread rather than using cordelette, and I've had other hooks straighten out on me under the increased force required to snag a 10mm line. The Joker had no problem at all.

The hook was not very sharp from the factory, but a few seconds with a file solved that. A handy coil at the end clips into a 'biner and you're good to go.

$9.95 at Boulder Mountaineering

Metolius Freenut Nut Tool

En Vogue says, "free your mind, and the rest will follow." Funkadelic says, "free your mind, and your ass will follow." Metolius says, "free your nut, and you won't have to buy a replacement."

The Metolius Freenut is a "nut tool," which is at least twice redundant in my admittedly limited and gutter-friendly lexicon. Crotch jokes aside, it's something every climber should have on their rack unless they like leaving behind $70 cams for the next guy to extract.

The Freenut has a mushroomed end to smash in frustration without bloodying your palm, and a built in clip to save a 'biner. The curve allows you to more easily get behind a difficult piece, and that's not a crotch joke, I swear. Other than that, not much else to say. It's a simple but useful tool, much like my climbing partner.

$19.95 at REI

Glacier Plastics Abalakov Hooker

When the V-thread was invented it was considered by all to be a major improvement over its predecessor, the I-thread, bane of many an unwary climber.

Yet the masses were restless. How to thread that pesky rope through the hole? Sharp wire thingy to the the rescue! There are a number of these on the market, however this particular model is not quite enough gun.

The problem is the hook itself is shallow and, in my experience, prone to straightening if you pull on the rope too hard. Which you're not supposed to do. But you will. Just be careful, 'cause you don't want to be stuck in the dark 1,000 feet up some gnarly icicle with no way to get down except by using a $50 ice screw every pitch.

Hey, how about that; I avoided any Russion prostitute jokes!

$11.50 CAD at Mountain Equipment Co-op

Trango Rack Tags

More than just a nipple tassel, Trango Rack Tags make the inevitable sorting of the gear at the end of a climb relatively painless, cutting down on baseless accusations and the inevitable fisticuffs. Or is that just me?

Getting your own gear back isn't just for paranoiacs. You're the only one who knows where your gear has been and how much you have or have not abused it, and as a result you know just when to retire a piece.

Not a bad deal for 100 tags per pack; just don't use blue. That's my color, you thieving bastards.

$5.95 at REI

Epic Sport Stick Clip

Here's a little something for your pole: the Epic Sport Stick Clip is an inexpensive and practical solution to reaching that first anchor when your hangover has sapped your confidence.

Grab a tree branch, trekking pole, seal club or whatever, attach device, seat carabiner and viola: you're protected off the deck. Not for use with locking 'biners, although we really shouldn't need to tell you that.

$9.50 at REI