Favorite Piece of Trad Gear

Has to be a black totem for me. Close second is basically any ball nut. The totem comes with me on Mose every lead after I bought my rack of them. It's my good luck charm. I might even start carrying it on sport climbs just in case.

Thomas Worsham wrote:

When looking into some of the older gear mentioned on this thread, I came across this website. Looks like they sell vintage climbing gear for any of you who want a nostalgia trip.

VintageClimbing.com

Their prices are, shall we say, remarkable… 699 euro for a set of saddlewedges, 79 for a Chouinard LA pin, 3999 for an old HE ice axe?  1999 euro for a single #3 plastic Forrest foxhead???

Forget crypto; invest in climbing gear. Get some "Retirement Investment" stickers for your gear bins and roll your 401K over into a new rack...

My favorite is pulling out, always exhilarating 

Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

My favorite is pulling out, always exhilarating 

None of my friends ever pull out. 

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I still rack c4s and totems alongside tho. 

I only bring it out every once in a while when I need triples or something like that. But my old 2.5 rigid stem original friend was my “lucky” cam for just about forever. Wasn’t sure why, then one day realized it fit perfectly in the same size crack in which I could get a perfect hand jam. This was my favorite kind of climbing, so therefore my favorite cam.

Lucky socks

The 9" Merlin. Best big cam in my opinion. Feels much more stable than a VG or BD #7, easier to bump, lighter, and better looking.

Yellow totem.

My earlier answer of Totems still holds. I'm guilty as a techy and the latest gear innovation is cool, 20 years ago it was Aliens.

But it's really a tie with

• 0.75 camalots, for some reason I always find a bomber, full trustworthy placement for them
• 1.0 camalot just seems like the perfect size for a cam, not too big, not too small, not for where it fits, the 0.75 is best for that, but just to look at and play with. 
• A bomber threaded #6 or bigger nut placement is the most confidence inspiring of all, knowing it will hold 2,500 lbs and never fail is sublime. 
• The rope is perhaps the most important thing. Knowing it will never break, and stretch to absorb a fall's shock, makes climbing possible.