With all the new gear out there, what climbing item do you personally dislike? What would you have thrown out of the market place if you had your say?

When I started climbing as a professional arborist back in 1978 there were few choices of gear to choose from. We were stuck with a small assortment of pieces- many of which we had to adapt to or modify so we could be safer in the trees and/or more comfortable. Back then I hated twist construction rope (laid construction- three strand) because of the spin it would produce when you hung suspended in air. But times have changed with the large amount of choices a climber must now make regarding gear.

Now it has gone the opposite direction. There are all kinds of stuff, more stuff, and even more stuff! Some gear is straight forward and easy to understand where there is other stuff that takes high levels of skill (and luck) to figure out the application. Some stuff doesn’t seem to work at all, causing frustration which is not a good bed fellow for a climber aloft.

The stakes are high! If you fall from grace (fall out of the tree) you die or worse, spend your life with a terrible injury.

What would you return back to the distributor for a refund? What would you tell a fellow climber NOT to buy? Do you have a gear grudge?

yes. products that have too many moving parts, plastic parts, poor construction.

In my view there is NO PLACE for plastic components in the rope community. Petzls ball lock biners come to mind, as does the plastic handles and components of the Grigri and other devices.

- aluminum rivet axles in pulleys (Petzle FIXE , other brands) - cmon, just put in a stainless steel axle , its actually cheaper _meta_l cost wise, stronger and more durable.

- I cant stand bushings in pulleys instead of sealed bearings. I hate bushings. You can feel the friction compared to a sealed bearing. They are NOT self lubricating, no matter what the manufacturer claims. The pulley also heats up quite hot in a bushing pulley after a long run (but the manufacturers deny this.....) Bearing pulleys run cold in comparision. I would be ecstatic if Petzl put sealed bearings into their FIXE pulley........ that being said, i do quite like the Fixe pulleys, I just feel they could be better. I'll even pay for it, i dont mind!

- plastic pulleys (with aluminum sideplates). CMON!!!! the plastic lasts about three uses in REAL FIELD CONDITIONS and then they crack or chip.....just make them out of aluminum or stainless steel already!

there is more, but thats all i can think of right now.

I wouldn't say throw them all out but tree climbing harnesses are not as good as maybe they could be. If I could combine the best characteristics of a New Tribe, and a few other arborist saddles I might find the ideal. There are some new saddles just out and more to come. I'm settled on my NT Vi's work saddle but it is modified to optimize. NT makes great stuff and I hope to see continuing evolution.

Besides that I never met decent gear that I didn't like (except the Retreever, don't like it at all, used it once, never again). The main thing is how to keep gear to the minimum for the climb. There's definitely more gear out there then needs to be on my harness. It's great to have choices though.
-moss

Petzl Pantin. Used to use it all the time for footlocking the tail on a DdRT climb. It wasn't very stable on the foot, and popped off at awkward moments, but it sped things up a bit and the popping off wasn't dangerous on a DdRT ascent. Then I discovered single footlocking and never looked back. By the time you have enough rope under you to gravity-feed the Pantin, you also have enough to gravity-feed on a single footlock. I'm keeping the thing around in case I want to try to develop a ropewalking system, but it hasn't been in the regular climb bag for a year.

I agree with Mark, the single footlock has made the Pantin mostly irrelevant. After all you can use a single footlock with either foot - unlike the Pantin.
-moss

ive never like how the Pantin pops off the rope either.....great concept, needs work.