UKC

They look like an interesting piece of pro .

I like how lite they look and simple to use .

Is anyone using them and have a bit to tell about them?

They are cheap and was considering getting a few to fill in the small gap
below my totem black .

In reply to discosucks:






They are pretty good on thin cracks but can be hard to clean if you take a fall onto one.

In reply to discosucks:


Snigger.

In reply to discosucks:

I always assumed they were the kind of specialist kit that people buy or borrow for specific known placements on a route they're eyeing up rather than just part of a general rack.

In reply to discosucks:
I love them. I pretty much always carry the smallest as for the weight and the space they're handy to have. Sure you might not use them every day but you might be surprised how much more you use them than you think you will.

The smallest one (blue) isn't the most robust item though.
I do mainly climb on limestone I should mention.

In reply to discosucks:

They work nicely on thin parallel sided cracks where nothing else works. Good on rock where you get that kind of thing.

I get a lot of mileage out of them around avon.

In reply to discosucks:

I use the two smallest sizes some. I don't always carry them but have them in the pack that goes to the base. They are very fiddly and can't be placed "on the run" with any confidence, but if thin parallel-sided cracks are all there is, ballnuts are the only answer.

The following post from Mountain Project has a lot more info on usage: https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/108819733/ball-nuts#ForumMessag... .

In reply to discosucks:

Just the thing for old peg placements. I think many knifeblade placements from the 80s and earlier on 'no fixed gear' cliffs should be assessed for ballnut use and guidebook notes added accordingly.

In reply to discosucks:

My mate Christian has 3. They're his secret weapons when all else fails. They don't get placed regularly but they are good for those small parallel cracks (around Rock 1 or Rock 2) where my small blue Alien is too big.

In reply to discosucks:

Anybody tried them on winter routes? I've given up using pegs because I find them too difficult to remove them with aggressively angled axes. Would be good to have a substitute other than bulldogs / terriers. I've never used them so not sure how prone to slippage they would be on frosty surfaces. The thing that's always put me off ball nuts is their reported difficulty to be removed.

In reply to discosucks:

You can get a BD X4 and the C3 000 two sizes below the size of the black Totem. It's only below the 000 you would have no option other than a slider IMHO. I guess what I am saying is to my mind a small cam is more useful that the larger sizes of slider nut, however the smallest sliders do go below 000, but this is getting towards being quite marginal. I have the smallest slider and it's hardly used. Of the weird and wonderfull end of gear I probably use the two smallest Tricams more.

Slider nuts are far from quick or simple to place and set correctly. They are relatively cheap and are light.

Wayne

In reply to Mr. Lee:

Another vote for ball nuts being great on thin parallel sided cracks - especially clean fractures in quarried faces - slate, limestone etc - where cams are too big.

Not usually much use on Snowdonia Rhyolite / weathered sea cliffs.

I haven't taken them, but imagine they'd be next to useless in winter - too fiddly to place/remove with gloves on and far too likely to ice up.