New 2026 climbing gear

K Gowrote:

You mean in their regular friend line? Are any of you actually using regular head width cams in the 0.3 size like the C4 or Dragon? From 0.5 and down I pretty much only use micro bendy cams nowadays.
Kinda doubt they will since they have the zero friends already, which they used a larger camming angle to get more range out of. Plus the dual axle 0.3 size is where BD has seen a bunch of failures from the tiny bit of metal leftover. 

Yes, I still prefer a standard 4cu in the 0.3 size (or often a Metolius tcu).  I find the bendy ones, especially zero friends to be.... squishy?

I remember the BD 0.4 z4 had some problems with lobes collapsing by the axel cutouts.  Don't remember any problems with 0.3s.  Any documentation on the "metal left over" you're referring to or these 0.3 failures? 

*Edit: it was the 0.4 UL camalot, not the Z4 which had this issue.  

I believe it was both the UL C4 and the Z4 that had denting issues on the 0.3 and 0.4, and I know people who have trashed those sizes in Z4 from a single fall, often in coarse rock but not always. I believe that BD designed and almost released a 0.3 UL C4 as well but didn't for some reason. DMM also decided that their dragonfly would only go up to purple / BD 0.5 size. I'd like to know all their reasons, plus why WC didn't put out a 0.3 regular Friend, but at this point I'm not holding my breath. 

I haven't used the Zero Friend in sizes 0.3 and up but the 0.1 & 0.2 are pretty floppy and get kinked easily so if they are similar then I get ya. Totem is still king in finger sizes IMO, but I'm still a big fan of Z4s too despite the reputation to break. 

Anyone have any updated knowledge of when the new 2026 BD solution harness is coming out?  I think it was just announced as Spring 2026 but no specific date

Bryan Kwrote:

Anyone have any updated knowledge of when the new 2026 BD solution harness is coming out?  I think it was just announced as Spring 2026 but no specific date

Apparently right about now!

https://blackdiamondequipment.com/products/womens-solution-harness

https://blackdiamondequipment.com/products/mens-solution-harness

And on sale for 75$ USD too :) 

K Gowrote:

I'm interested to see what BD did differently on the C4 to allow extendable slings. There's an old QC lab article discussing how anything but their current double-layer super wide nylon sling will dramatically weaken it by deforming the thumb loop and/or cutting the sling. Maybe they changed the steel cable inside the thumb loop? Assuming they will have the same hardware for both sling options. The dyneema sling they showed looked super fat, like 12-14mm wide, almost as wide as nylon. 

The current WC Friends have a narrow extendable sling and they rate it 2kN less with it extended. Maybe BD will do the same? 

Also stoked to see the trigger keeper come to the WC Friend #4. I have the current one and used to love it but once I started using the BD #4 with a trigger keeper I couldn't go back... Maybe WC will make a #5 & 6 again too? 

Also also, it's not in the YT video but if any of you are considering an Ohm or Ohmega, look at the new versions of the Zaed. I bought the original and it rocks, and now they made it 1/3 the weight for one option and half the weight with a clamp so you can fall on the first bolt with the other option. Assuming they both work as well as the original...

I’m sorry, maybe I’ve been living under a rock but did you say that BD is making extendable slings? 

Caleb Hilswrote:

I’m sorry, maybe I’ve been living under a rock but did you say that BD is making extendable slings? 

Yup, that surprised me too. I find the WC cams a pita to extend and the extension to rarely be enough for my needs. Nevertheless BD must have felt they were missing out on a piece of the pie. 

https://www.rei.com/product/C02396/black-diamond-camalot-c4-extendable-sling-cam

New wild country cams are up (but not available to order yet) on WC website.  Seems the 0.3/#5/#6 are confirmed based on the product page! Finally, WC enthusiasts will no longer have to sully their rack with sub par black diamond equipment in the big sizes.

Dan Smeewrote:

New wild country cams are up (but not available to order yet) on WC website.  Seems the 0.3/#5/#6 are confirmed based on the product page! Finally, WC enthusiasts will no longer have to sully their rack with sub par black diamond equipment in the big sizes.

Do you have a link? I was not seeing them on the US or UK site. 

Sam Ehmannwrote:

Do you have a link? I was not seeing them on the US or UK site. 

Did you look...?

https://www.wildcountry.com/en-us/friend-40-0000003005

whoa didn't know this was a thing, kinda cool for stuck cams

Gold Plated Rocket Ponywrote:

whoa didn't know this was a thing, kinda cool for stuck cams

Yea I'm guessing that's some new proprietary nut tool they're teasing as well.  Didn't see that on the site yet...

Dan Smeewrote:

Yea I'm guessing that's some new proprietary nut tool they're teasing as well.  Didn't see that on the site yet...

https://www.wildcountry.com/en-us/pro-key-light-with-leash-40-0000010059

This thing looks sweet, definitely gonna need to get this for my partners (for no particular reason obviously)

Camp is bringing ropes to US, hopefully more info soon

BD’s sling design is the best on the market imo. I vastly prefer it over ones that flop all around the thumb loop. That, and I’m somewhere between ambivalent and hostile when it comes to extendable cam slings. I love my dragonflies but I capture both strands with Avant flip stops. It takes away the extendo capability entirely and I’m here for it.

If you clip a draw to an extended sling such that the racking biner gets pulled tight to the thumb loop but is still capturing both strands, I can abide that. But unclip the racker from both strands and reclip to one in order to get 4 measley inches of extension, and then I’ve got to fuck around with that in reverse to re-rack the thing on follow? I’ll hate you for at least a moment. 

Slim Pickenswrote:

BD’s sling design is the best on the market imo. I vastly prefer it over ones that flop all around the thumb loop. That, and I’m somewhere between ambivalent and hostile when it comes to extendable cam slings. I love my dragonflies but I capture both strands with Avant flip stops. It takes away the extendo capability entirely and I’m here for it.

If you clip a draw to an extended sling such that the racking biner gets pulled tight to the thumb loop but is still capturing both strands, I can abide that. But unclip the racker from both strands and reclip to one in order to get 4 measley inches of extension, and then I’ve got to fuck around with that in reverse to re-rack the thing on follow? I’ll hate you for at least a moment. 

I find the extendable slings helpful for instances when your biner would otherwise be in a compromised position (on an edge is the most common one I’ve noticed). That’s where an alpine draw wouldn’t help you if you had a non-extendable sling.

I have a double rack of friends and agree with you that I hate re-racking them when I extend them lol

WadeMwrote:

Camp is bringing ropes to US, hopefully more info soon

I wish they would offer their cams in the US. That is if they still make em'....
I cant find any info in the webs about em, but I know they are real as I have handled one not more than 2 years ago.
The old cams they used to make were the Air-cam and Jet-cam. The one I handled is more akin to the air-cam.

Jesse Nealwrote:

I find the extendable slings helpful for instances when your biner would otherwise be in a compromised position (on an edge is the most common one I’ve noticed). That’s where an alpine draw wouldn’t help you if you had a non-extendable sling.

I have a double rack of friends and agree with you that I hate re-racking them when I extend them lol

If I could trade my dragons for ones with fixed length slings I would, tbh. As others have pointed out the extensions rarely make the difference, but add significant faff to your follower. To me it kinda feels like the 3d TV fad. Once it became a "marketable" feature, seems like all the brands felt compelled to match it regardless of merit. I basically just clip mine as a fixed sling and consider it a "just in case" feature. 

You know you don't have to extend the slings on every placement. 

that guy named sebwrote:

You know you don't have to extend the slings on every placement. 

True, but it's also the case that the dynema slings fuzz up more quickly and are less durable than the nylon ones. I have one set of WC friends and one set of BD cams, and I prefer the nylon slings on the BD for this reason.

Extendable slings on cams have a loyal following in the UK... where dinking with gear and ropes is the highest form of expression and multipitches don't exist.