Gear you wish you never bought

Hydration bladders. They take way too much maintenance. Get moldy. Leak and lose your water. 

NEW Hexes. My hexes are so infrequently used (solely for easy adventure routes) that I would have done better just bootying or finding cheap used. Also non-guide ATC. 

Yea, it gets in the way. I never use guide mode - ever. 

Hexes are great, just not for climbing pro.

Hydration bladders suck. 

Sometimes new ways are better - sometimes old ways are better.

The simpler things are the less chance of something going wrong.

I've gotten used to rope bags, but I don't like them! Mountaineers coil.

I'm not trolling, I am no dumber than you! But you got one thing right I'm OLD & I have been doing this since before you were born! 

My friend Kathyrn was practicing lead belaying me with a Edelrid Megajul yesterday and she struggled with the thing constantly to feed slack quickly and just operate the stupid POS. By the fifth climb she just switched back to an ATC. I think I convinced her to retire that useless device like I did my own.

This Onion video makes me think of the Megajul.

Tim Stichwrote:

My friend Kathyrn was practicing lead belaying me with a Edelrid Megajul yesterday and she struggled with the thing constantly to feed slack quickly and just operate the stupid POS. By the fifth climb she just switched back to an ATC. I think I convinced her to retire that useless device like I did my own.

The megajul (and jul2) do for climbers and gumbies what beards do for men and boys, I guess... ;) 

Seriously, this thing's learning curve is no fun at all. Learning how to feed slack without constantly shortroping your leader, lower someone without giving them whiplash and rappel without dying of old age before reaching the ground is possible but unnecessarily difficult. 

Still, I'd never go back.   

I don't understand all the hate on the jul, I have multipitch climbing partner who insists on it and found it to be pretty intuitive from the first time I got it in my hands.

That being said when my ATC started nibbling my ropes I bought another ATC style device (mammut bionic, cause' steel>aluminum) and not a jul or alpineup or whatever other packaging and marketing there might be for that same concept.

It's a bit of a gizmo in my book but I find it to be pretty inoffensive.

Tim Stichwrote:

My friend Kathyrn was practicing lead belaying me with a Edelrid Megajul yesterday and she struggled with the thing constantly to feed slack quickly and just operate the stupid POS. By the fifth climb she just switched back to an ATC. I think I convinced her to retire that useless device like I did my own.

Huh! I've used a Megajul a bunch of times and had no problems using it to lead belay, TR belay or rapp. No short roping. What carabiner and dimension of rope did she use? Was she even using it right? It's intended to be hooked with the thumb to pay out slack.

Apart from the Grigri it's my favorite of the assisted breaking devices - much smoother than Mammut Smart, CT Clickup and BD Big Air.

I like how this suddenly turned into a megajul love thread   

Mats Cwrote:

Huh! I've used a Megajul a bunch of times and had no problems using it to lead belay, TR belay or rapp. No short roping. What carabiner and dimension of rope did she use? Was she even using it right? It's intended to be hooked with the thumb to pay out slack.

Yes, she was using it correctly. The problem is that for a shorter person, you really have to raise your arm up a lot higher to use the thumb loop. This gets very tiring. 

How could it matter how tall you are? I understand if she couldnt get a hang of it first try but seems like a weird excuse

Mats Cwrote:

What's RopeX?

https://alpine-climbers.myshopify.com/

I use a giga jul and rope diameter makes a world of difference. I usually use 9.2 with it 

Mike Lofgrenwrote:

https://alpine-climbers.myshopify.com/

Lol no way that's a real thing!

What.

A bought a belay seat...worthless piece of shit that was less comfortable than a hanging belay in your harness. 

Lots of mountaineering stuff I thought I was going to get into. But I hate sufferings, so the mountaineering stuff get sold or given away. Snow pickets, wands, piolet, glacier crampons, superlight half ropes, ascenders....arctic quality camp ware. 

Now the coldest I like to be is skiing in CO/UT in Feb.

Luke Andrakawrote:

How could it matter how tall you are? I understand if she couldnt get a hang of it first try but seems like a weird excuse

The taller you are, the further away your shoulders are from your hips, where the device is going to be. It changes the angle that you have to have your arm at to use the device, and hence the amount of leverage available. You would have to see a short person use one as opposed to a taller person, or someone with a much taller torso. It's not some made up excuse. 

Tim Stichwrote:

The taller you are, the further away your shoulders are from your hips, where the device is going to be. It changes the angle that you have to have your arm at to use the device, and hence the amount of leverage available. You would have to see a short person use one as opposed to a taller person, or someone with a much taller torso. It's not some made up excuse. 

Gri gri man myself, but my wife who is about 155 cm swears by it. Can't quite picture how torso length itself should matter. Surely arm vs torso length would be the reason for a different angle, or am I misunderstanding? 

Either way, although I prefer a different device I don't get the mega jul hate. With the right sized biner it is more or less as smooth as a gri gri and as light as an atc... 

Sticking with the topic, I regret buying tri-cams when building a rack. Or regret is a bit much, but they are never on my rack anymore. 

I regret buying one of those Petzl Ultra Legere pulleys. I regret it because I actually believed that It could have been useful lol