Overview

"You bought another piece of gear?" I hear that question from my friends, coworkers, and spouse. The statement is in reference to my apparent need to acquire more protection. What is it about cams, nuts, carabiners and slings that hold so much wonder and attraction? We desire to have more gear at home but carry less on our climbs. This yin and yang is what inspired me to take ownership of this page.

Hopefully as this page grows it will become a source of information. A SP page that operates like a FAQ but specifically driven toward rock protection. A point of reference that someone can consult to get a general idea about rock protection. There are already many product reviews attached to this page and it is my hope more continue to be added allowing the information to grow.

Ideally the page will be organized between passive and active protection. This will obviously be blurred by pieces like tri-cams and hexes as they are used as both passive and active. To this end, active protection will refer to SCLD's as I have yet to ever intentionally use, or see a Camalot used as a passive piece. I've started each section with Wild Country and progressed from there. To avoid repeatedly stating what makes a Wild Country Rock different from a BD Stopper or different from a DMM Wallnut I have chosen to include links to each manufactures web sites which can explain the differences better than I ever could. The web pages also will have the "how to" manuals, and product specs. If a person needs further clarifications PM me and I can give my personal opinion based on my experience, however I feel that if need be, differences can better be explained in a gear review.

Initially I am including a picture taken from the manufacturers web site, of a chosen piece to add some color to the page. I would like to include a section with pictures showing a well placed piece as they look cool and because everyone can relate to real world pictures. I also plan to include a reference section on books that a person can consult for further learning. I have no alliance with any particular gear company. The pictures were chosen based on how they fill the page. I welcome your questions, comments and criticisms as I think the page will only be better because of them.

Passive Protection

Wild Country Superlight Rocks

Rocks, Nuts, Stoppers, Chocks, these are synonyms that all refer to a small or large piece of metal alloy wedged into a rock constriction, followed by a sigh of relief, with the sole purpose of keeping you off the deck. Almost all major climbing gear manufactures make a �stopper�. Wild Country, BD, DMM and Metolius have a line of wired wedges with subtle differences that make them useful and unique. Some climbers like the versatility of CAMP Tri-Cams, others find them a hassle. What ever your choice, passive protection is foundation of most trad racks and which make or model one owns is based on the area one climbs i.e. type of rock, personal preference i.e how the piece feels in your hands while placing, and to a certain degree cost. My personal opinion is that becoming competent in placing passive gear makes one better at placing active protection. Listed below, and probably under constant editing constraint are the major manufactures of passive protection.

Wild Countrys' product time line and history is located HERE.
Wild Country makes Rocks, which were designed in 1979 and considered to be the first stopper.
To compliment the standard rocks Wild Country recently introduced Superlight Rocks.
Rockcentrics are a larger version of the Rock. The Rockcentric is an expanded version of the hex design.

BD Hexcentrics

BD Micro Stoppers

Black Diamond, some people hate them others swear by them. What ever your particular bias may be you have to admit (or not) they make some really nice gear. I doubt that when Yvon Chouinard started selling pitons and biners out of his car in the late 50's he could have seen where the sport of climbing or his climbing gear "company" would be 40 years later. For a complete history of Black Diamond see HERE

Black Diamond Equipment Products Links:

Micro Stoppers
Stoppers
Hexcentrics

Metolius
Metolius is located just north of Bend, OR in an assuming building off the main drag. They were founded in 1983 by Doug Phillips who started manufacturing gear to use at Smith Rock State Park.

Metolius Ultralight Cure Nuts

Trango makes two types of passive protection, NUTZ, and Brassies. Omega Pacific maker and distributor of the Wedgies

There are several companies that have quality products that I was not able to find a web page URL. These include, but are not limited to CAMP, Advanced Base Camp (ABC) and DMM. For information on their products please see the gear review links in the left hand margin. I will eventually scan in some pictures of these items and post in this section.

Active Protection

Flex Cam

Ball Nutz

Friends, Camalots, Power Cams, TCU's, Aliens, Flex Cams. Cams rock! Who among us would not like to have more camming power in our hands, gear closets, and backpacks. Cost aside, what type of cam you buy, like all gear, is a personal decision. I have Friends, Camalots, Aliens, Power Cams, and Trango TCU's, they all get used at one time or another and I place them with the same amount of confidence.

Wild Country had published a pamphlet entitled "The Cam Book". It is in one form or another HERE.

It has a nice overview with some cool technical information. Many green trad climbers (myself included) initally do not trust cams, or gear in general. Questions such as, "..ever fallen on a cam", or "do those things work?" Are heard often in gyms as well as around the crags. Safe to say, that once you get that nice soft catch on a #1 Metolius in a horizontal, a whole new world opens up.
Cams amaze me with what appears to be a simple design that hides an engineering marvel. I like the way they work, how they feel and the amazing beauty they embody.

Below are the links to the cam section on the manufactures web pages.

Wild Country, makers of Forged Friends, Technical Friends, and Zeros. Black Diamond, C4 Camalot, Metolius, products include TCU's, Power Cam, and SUPER CAM! Aliens, Trango, Ball Nutz, Max Cams, Flex Cams, and Big Bros, Omega Pacific and their Link Cams.

3/4 Inch Alien

Reference

1. Mountaineering:The Freedom of the Hills, 6th Edition, Mountaineers, 1997
2. Long, John. Climbing Anchors, The Globe Pequot Press, 1993.
3. Fasulo, David J. Self Rescue, The Globe Pequot Press, 1996.
4. The Cam Book Wild Country, Derbyshire, England.

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