Absurd or strange pieces of kit

In the parking lot packing to up to climb the WR Stuart in the Cascades, My partner hands me a half dozen pieces of gear and says "You got the rack, I'll carry the rope."  That seems awesome to me so I quickly grab the cams and nuts and some slings and quickly stow them in my pack.  4 or 5 hours later we get up to the good stuff, I turn to him and he pulls what looked like a ball of yarn out of his pack and asks if I mind if he leads the first pitch!

Gum Bwrote:

That's a bit excessive, but I recall seeing a similar commercial product at Desert Rock Sports. It was a small, laminated card with holes for attaching a carabiner or something, with topos and approach/descent beta for classic multi-pitch climbs. Like they had one for like Epinephrine, Birdland, Solar Slab, etc. I mean you can just take a photo with your phone these days, but honestly it's not the worst idea in the world.

http://www.gearlooptopo.com/gearLoopTopoIntro.html
We sell ones for Red Rock for $2.99 / ea. (+tax). It seems like its about 50/50 on people who buy them before the route and people who buy them after as a memento.

Some of my friends bring an excessively long stiff wire to fish gear out of cracks. Must seem strange to some who are not into picking up trash and abandoned gear.

georockswrote:

I don't think they knew a method to clean without untying. 

How do you clean without untying?  

Todd Jenkinswrote:

How do you clean without untying?  

I think what he meant is he didn’t know how to prevent dropping the rope when cleaning. Like tying a knot on a bight and clipping it to your harness, or feeding a bight through the chains and tying a knot and clipping to your harness before untying.

Sounds like he would just untie right off the bat and possibly drop the rope. 

Todd Jenkinswrote:

How do you clean without untying?  

I am going to expand a bit more on the above answer -

"The good old" way was exactly that - tie a bight of rope to the harness.

There are a couple of safer and quicker variations for clean-and-lower - OP did mention sport climbing. This assumes that local ethic is lower through anchors, not rappel. 

1. If rap rings/whatever is large enough, you can  push a bight of rope from anchor to belayer side through rap rings, tie some knot on a bight, clip this to your belay loop using a locker, deconstruct the anchor and lower. Safety checks were performed, of course.
2. When you can't push the bight through - take extra rope between your harness and anchor, form a bight, tie some knot on a bight, clip that to your belay loop. At this point, when you untie the rope, you are still secured - rope is clipped to your belay loop. Untie the rope, thread through anchor, retie. Deconstruct your anchor and lower. Safety checks were performed, of course.

Link to youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzmbTHe_ql0

georockswrote:

Last post got some good traction, let's try another. What's the weirdest thing you've seen on someone's rack or harness that was 100% unironic.

Mine would be a sport climber with 300+ ft of thin paracord (not accessory cord) on their harness to emergency rap with if they dropped the rope cleaning an anchor, on a 40ft crag with lowering hardware and a walkoff. The bundle was about the size of a football. While toproping. I don't think they knew a method to clean without untying. 

Personal confession to show that I'm not trying to poke too much fun, way early on I would take 2 tube devices up multipitches being terrified I would drop one, not knowing an alternative. If you're up to it, confess some gumby stuff of your own so this doesn't turn into a gatekeeping session.

What's wrong with bringing two tube devices up on multipitches? I know how to improvise a belay device, never dropped one but I carry a second Reverso on my rack for convenience. Honestly the weight increment is so small that I don't mind.

A weird bit of kit that I've seen a couple of times from two different climbers - a stuffed mascot animal that they would clip to the gear loops or their chalk bag. They would take it off, place it somewhere on the route with a vista and photograph it for Instagram. Bear in mind these two climbers did not know each other. Not sure where they got it from.

My old buddy used to carry a white, sun-bleached animal bone carefully stuck into the lobes of his #5 cam to make it smaller on the rack.

You guys may have missed the “20 pound weight difference” I mentioned. As somebody who weighs 40 pounds more than my wife, never used an Ohm, and never cratered, despite climbing and falling on many routes in dangerous groundfall territory, what makes that a Gumby move is the misapplication of the device.

Of course, you’re free to climb however you want, but I’m free to laugh at all 22 gumbies that liked the post after mine who spent $140 on a device for a 20 pound weight difference. Might as well reduce it pound to pound, and if you’re only a pound heavier than your partner, bring an ohm for safety. 

Eric Marxwrote:

You guys may have missed the “20 pound weight difference” I mentioned. As somebody who weighs 40 pounds more than my wife, never used an Ohm, and never cratered, despite climbing and falling on many routes in dangerous groundfall territory, what makes that a Gumby move is the misapplication of the device.

Of course, you’re free to climb however you want, but I’m free to laugh at all 22 gumbies that liked the post after mine who spent $140 on a device for a 20 pound weight difference. Might as well reduce it pound to pound, and if you’re only a pound heavier than your partner, bring an ohm for safety. 

The German Alpine Club (DAV) recommends that a lead climber should weigh a maximum of 10 kg more than the belayer (for example, belayer 60 kg/climber maximum weight 70 kg). If the lead climber is more than 10 kg heavier than the belayer, then weight or friction-enhancing measures are recommended. 

Did you weigh these alleged Gumbies?  Or did you used to work at the circus guessing people's weights?  Or do you still work at the circus?

23

I actually died a long time ago because I didn’t use an ohm in the gym, so rational thought is beyond my comprehension. 

Ian Dorkowrote:

I haven't seen it in a while, but guidebook w/ a hole drilled through it for a clip in loop

I feel attacked. 

another one I just remembered reading through this was someone at a roadside crag top roping with a handgun in a thigh holster

Henrique Vermelhowrote:

A weird bit of kit that I've seen a couple of times from two different climbers - a stuffed mascot animal that they would clip to the gear loops or their chalk bag. They would take it off, place it somewhere on the route with a vista and photograph it for Instagram. Bear in mind these two climbers did not know each other. Not sure where they got it from.

I've seen something very similar more than a couple of times. It is absolutely a good example of 'absurd or strange piece of kit' (using the word 'kit' in the broadest sense possible).

How about a cat ? a real cat , alive in a front pack?

june mwrote:

How about a cat ? a real cat , alive in a front pack?

Idk sounds like a reasonable piece of kit, but I'd probably put the cat on the back with paws facing outwards. That way the climber will always have a clean fall with their back towards the ground.