Recommendation for small passive pro

Damn these little buggers are expensive. I found myself facing a 50 footer on a slab this weekend. I was not too enamoured with the whole idea. If I had some smaller stoppers I think life would have been easier. I am not interested in anything that cannot handle more than 5kn. I have stoppers down to a BD #4.

Rp's are what you are looking for.

As far as RP's are concerned are there any brands in particular I should lean towards?

I like the Metolius Astronuts. I have fallen repeatedly on the largest two, although they are not that small. If you can get the HB offsets, those are pretty sweet too.

HB Offset Brass Nuts are great thin-crack pro. Their trapezoidal shape is a plus over the rectangular shape of other small nuts (RPs, BD Micro Stoppers), in my opinion. Sizes 2 through 6 are rated 6kN to 10kN.

Also consider adding a Yates Screamer to your rack to increase the security of marginal gear placements.

DMM Peanuts are good also.

BD micros (copper steel) are good- the other one is the HB micros (brass) they are wider and get more seated against the rock ,adn so can be less prone to blow-outs. But hte ratio of thickness of the cable to the nut is higer, and they are wide, so they can be tougher to place.

HB offsets are good where HB offsets are good. What I can never believe is how bad they ususally are while people are calling them good. Since they flare, if you pu then in a flat taiper, or a flare that does not match, they have very little contact- that razor's edge of contact will melt right off in a hard pull. ANd what's more, a flared nut in a flared placement- well, it;s better than a straight nut in a flared placement... but I place 10 flat nuts for every offset, and I climb a LOT of really thin stuff.

In the end, YMMV.

So as far as regular stoppers go I have BD stoppers down to #3 and some HB offsets. I want to beef up what I have from #6 down seeing that I don't have any double sizes from #5 down. What would best compliment my BD's?

Daniel Crescenzo wrote:So as far as regular stoppers go I have BD stoppers down to #3 and some HB offsets. I want to beef up what I have from #6 down seeing that I don't have any double sizes from #5 down. What would best compliment my BD's?

BD copper steel nuts. The largest is about hte size of a #5, but boxy, of course.

Daniel Crescenzo wrote:As far as RP's are concerned are there any brands in particular I should lean towards?

RP is a brand in and of itself. It stands for Roland Pauligk, the Australian gentleman that invented them.

I own several and take them when I climb. I believe Scary Larry can vouch for the #5 RP...

Has anyone ever heard of "crack'em ups" or something like that? I've heard that they are for small cracks. Still, I've never seen one. Does anyone have photos, or experience with them? Are they any good? Why are they not made anymore?

Sergio P wrote:Has anyone ever heard of "crack'em ups" or something like that? I've heard that they are for small cracks. Still, I've never seen one. Does anyone have photos, or experience with them? Are they any good? Why are they not made anymore?

Crack N'Ups I have a set, but rarely use them anymore. I prefer the tiny nuts. I protected parts of 'Ariel Book' and 'Silver Raven' on CNU's though, before having a good selection of tiny nuts. Tiny Ballnuts are also great.

Crack N'Ups are somewhat like a piton or cam-hook and quite similar to a 2-sided "toucan" pin, but very small. The second side makes it so the slight camber in the stem can go either way, into a left or right facing corner and stick. I'd loathe to actually take a lead fall on them. The smallest ones would surely break - they are thin (stamped?) steel and the eyelet for hte cord is pretty fragile looking in the smallest of them. Sorry, no digital camera, so no pics from me.

I don't think they've make them for years anyway. If I didn;t do the occasional clean aid climb, I'd offer to sell you mine...

When you look at the #2 Crack-n-Up, you'll see why they never marketed the #1

Daniel Crescenzo wrote:So as far as regular stoppers go I have BD stoppers down to #3 and some HB offsets. I want to beef up what I have from #6 down seeing that I don't have any double sizes from #5 down. What would best compliment my BD's?

I have been very please with the Wild Country Superlight Rocks.
wildcountry.co.uk/Products/…

Another vote here for the Astro Nuts. I don't place them often, but when I do, they're just the ticket -- fit weird cracks like a glove.

JL

I've been doing some "Death Leads" on Astro Nuts. They tend to fit in crazy places and look good but at 2.5Kn (For #1-#5) they might not hold on a whipper. Has anyone ever fallen on these? They've been psychological pro for me I guess. My plan is that if I need to bail I can down climb a bit and grab the draw. Ha!

Man!

I saw the title to this thread and thought it would be about petite, lazy hookers!

Anyway -

#1 vote - the original RP's
#2 vote - HB offsets - but as mentioned before, they don't work everywhere - but when they do they are the best.
#3 vote - BD steel.

Also, don't discount the ones rated below 5kn. When you are facing that 50 footer, anything is better than nothing. Besides, a slab fall often does not generate much force.

Now, on to the important stuff - when is the next MP beer night at the Yardhouse?

Crack'n'ups were designed to be an aid tool, and have morphed into the BD pecker, check out this link: backcountry.com/store/BLD07…
Using these as pro is probably pretty low percentage!

I use the 3-5 BD steel nuts pretty regularly and like them, I carry some small brass nuts with a cross taper (HB Anchors?) as well on thin routes to have more options.

I highly recommend the Yates Screamers that Ron mentioned for micronuts, manky pins, marginal placements, etc. I have "activated" the stitching a few times on mine.

Mike Storeim wrote: Now, on to the important stuff - when is the next MP beer night at the Yardhouse?

As soon as you can drum up some petite hookers!

We need more drinkers, what the heck is going on with you lazy yahoo's around Dvr????

Rp's

Mike Storeim wrote: Now, on to the important stuff - when is the next MP beer night at the Yardhouse?

How about October 16th?

16th works for me.

Who else is in?

P.S. Mark - I'm on it! No promises though.