Best pro ever invented...

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healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 4, 2016 - 12:31am PT
For most rock types? Hands down and by a long shot I'm calling it for HB Alloy Nuts - pure genius.

I know, I know - all you guys are going to say cam-this and cam-that, but given the choice of leaving the ground without my cams or without my HBs, the cams are getting left in the dirt every single time.

looks easy from here

climber
Ben Lomond, CA
Mar 4, 2016 - 12:41am PT
I have a set of the DMM re-issue. Absolutely love them.
Delhi Dog

climber
Good Question...
Mar 4, 2016 - 01:06am PT
I'm going to have to go with... a kernmantle rope.

I know I know you mean something else as in hardware, but...doesn't a rope technically qualify as pro?

healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2016 - 01:11am PT
Having started on and climbed with goldline for a long time you aren't going to get any argument from me on the kernmantle front.
Stephen McCabe

Trad climber
near Santa Cruz, CA
Mar 4, 2016 - 01:42am PT
Thread slip: Instead of best ever, favorites at the time for me (sequentially):
A small Peck Cracker because it was my most unusual nut when I first started climbing, actually not very useful, but I found a great place for it on Royal Arches.
A Moac that I found, and then was doing that size crack in the valley for a few weeks. Loved it.
Friends when they first came out.
Slung knobs.
HB brass nuts when the back country crack I was doing got too small for the #1 stopper.
The Pink tricam for Power Dome.
X4s are kind of nice now.
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2016 - 02:07am PT
A small Peck Cracker because it was my most unusual nut when I first started climbing, actually not very useful, but I found a great place for it on Royal Arches.

One of those saved my life bigtime on the Bastille long ago. Still get shivers thinking about it.
sangoma

Trad climber
south africa
Mar 4, 2016 - 03:25am PT
As my partner said to me after taking a massive wipper. "I love my rope ". Me I love my small gold Hex , caught my death wipper , still gives me goose bumps thinking of it. Other wise my DMM wallnuts do it for me.
nutstory

climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Mar 4, 2016 - 07:03am PT
Joseph, I have always thought that there was only one generation of HB Aluminium Offsets (these nuts hit the market in 1989)… I was wrong! I have no idea when Hugh Banner redesigned his Aluminium Offsets, but I was delighted to add such a “2nd generation” to the collection a few months ago.
I am most grateful to you for starting such a tribute to Hugh Banner.
couchmaster

climber
Mar 4, 2016 - 07:15am PT

For long routes, they tend to be on the heavy side. I'd say that the little HB's, the brass offsets, would be in there for me as well. In fact, RP's, the early Australian soldered nuts, were the prerunners of those HB's, and totally the stuff when they came out. There was nothing that would protect like they would.

Stephan, is there a difference between the 2 HB versions you note?

Obligatory RP nut photo borrowed from Steve Grossman below:

healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2016 - 08:22am PT
Hmmm, I always carry two sets and guess I've never even thought of their weight. I've cut everything else down with small Petzl Ange biners and ultra-light cams at this point. If I needed to lose any less weight leaving the ground I've got more than enough to lose on most parts of my body than that.

Pretty much the swaging and labelling I think if you compare mine and Stephane's pics.
Tork

climber
Yosemite
Mar 4, 2016 - 08:34am PT
How about this game? You have a rope, binners draws and such plus an endless supply of one piece of gear(that is one size and one type). Pink tricams for me hands down.
nutstory

climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:08am PT
1st and 2nd generation HBs have the same size. The difference is in the manufacturing process. I suspect that HB made a new mould for the hot forging process. You may also note the countersunk holes on the top of the nut. The edges are slightly rounded on the 2nd generation.
Gary

Social climber
Where in the hell is Major Kong?
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:10am PT
That thing between your ears.
Mark Force

Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:12am PT
If it had to be one kind only?


1-11. There's a certain aesthetic and kinesthetic beauty to using these. Then I don't climb sandstone much and when I do all the spring things come out to play.

There is a certain awareness, pace, and craftsmanship associated with passive gear. It's fun to see people appreciate passive pro here.

Gary, yes!

"Technique is your best protection."
~ Chuck Pratt
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:26am PT
Yes, the time I had to fashion a hammock from my rope I was sooo glad it was a kernmantle
rather than a goldline, not that it really mattered once the deluge commenced.
BruceHildenbrand

Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:36am PT
I never liked the HB offset nuts. They had a very major flaw. Because they are tapered in the horizontal plane(AKA offset) you can never really tell how much of the face of the nut contacts the rock. That's bad.

With a conventional stopper you can tell pretty reliably if you have good rock contact or not.
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:45am PT
Having started on and climbed with goldline for a long time you aren't going to get any argument from me on the kernmantle front.

I'm with you on that one, Joseph. I'm not sure how I measure "most important ever," but my criterion is the pro that was most significant in development of modern protection. For me, it's the MOAC, because Stoppers, Rocks, and from them , offsets, all come from the basic MOAC design, namely a wedge threaded through its length, rather than through its width.

Hexcentrics, clever though they were, struck me as evolution from existing hex designs, as did Peck Crackers, but the advent of Stoppers, which were, essentially, taking the MOAC and scaling it up and down, made clean climbing feasible on most climbs without excessive runouts, in a way no pro prior did.

John
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:47am PT
Offsets are incredible but like anything they suit certain rock types. If you climb on granite or anything where pitons have been used they're the best.
nutstory

climber
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Mar 4, 2016 - 09:54am PT
Moof

Big Wall climber
Orygun
Mar 4, 2016 - 10:09am PT
Yellow alien. Can't count the number of times that bugger bailed me out. More recent stuff like the grey X4 is arguably better, but I still have nostalgia for the yellow alien, it was by far the best piece in that size for a good number of years.
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