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

Black Diamond Camalot C3 cams

Black Diamond has been doing cams since Christ was a private, but the C3 is relatively new for them: a three-lobe cam to complement the recently redesigned C4 that has - wait for it - four lobes.

The C3 comes in five small sizes, 000 to 2, each color coded. They extend the size range of the C4s perfectly, and feel similar: slightly stiffer than some other models, but a nice feel when placing. The integrated webbing goes through a wire loop that provides great purchase for your thumb. The action is a little stiff, but on the plus side they don't walk much.

They're a little bit pricey, but I can tell you from experience BD cams last forever. I've still got plenty of my original double-stem Camalots around and they work great.

$62.91 (on sale from $69.90) at Backcountry

Black Diamond Camalot C4 cams

Camalots (Ha! Get it?) have been around forever. I have a full set from the halcyon years of the early 1990s with "Chouinard" stamped on them. I am just that old-school.

The new ones are just as great as the old model, with a few improvements even. They have a single stem now, an integrated sling, are a bit lighter and the cam lobes themselves are a bit thicker. Otherwise, the new boss is pretty much the same as the old boss. Except... wait for it... you can now get matching anodized carabiners! Omigawd! Oh yeah, and they come in sets.

$275 set of five (on sale from $313) at Backcountry.com