UKC

So, a bit of a random one really, and unlikely to draw much knowledge because its such a damn long time ago that these were produced but hoping some people might be able to give me some perspective on how these performed.

I'm not talking about superlights, or superlight offsets - I know plenty about those. But rather the Wild Country Super Rock. They weren't around for very long and I'm wondering why that might have been, whether it was internal reasoning at Wild Country, poor sales, too expensive to produce or whether there was something mechanically inferior about them (getting jammed etc). I know it's a bit of obscure climbing memorabilia but hoping the hivemind has something to offer up?

In reply to beardy mike:

Not claiming any special knowledge, but I have some and I found them much harder to place than current Rocks. Something about the shape just doesn't work well imo. Of course, others will disagree; I remember someone a couple of months back asking if anyone had any for sale, because he loves them so much. But, I think the taper is too extreme.

I have a set (from memory, 1-10 and a couple of doubles?) that I don't use and that I'd sell for £50 if you have a massive interest in obtaining some. Away in the Alps currently, though, and not back until end of the month. Not a plug, just a casual offer.

Hope you've had a good summer of climbing!

In reply to C Rettiw:

No interest in getting some, just interested from a historical design perspective, it's always useful to know why things worked well or didn't especially as in this case the design was supposed to supersede the original design but then was withdrawn from sale, which would suggest something not quite right about them?

Interesting you say about the taper though, it was something I had noticed looking at the pictures... 

In reply to beardy mike:

I have a couple of these from my dad that I still use. While I can't give any concrete reasoning for the discontinuation, I can say from my personal experience that they are really really hard to clean.

In poor placements they feel bomber and hold super well, but this is also to their detriment as the extra little prongs at the end make any rotation in the crack a death knell for removing it. Great for horizontal placements though.

In reply to beardy mike:

Similar to C Rettiw, I had some at some point, just couldn't get used to placing them because of their weird shape, and gave up on them quickly

In reply to beardy mike:

I bought a set of those when I started to find the set of 1-10 standard Rocks I already had weren't enough.  They were marketed as complementary to the Rocks, kind of 'half-sizes' in between the standard ones and with features that would make them a better fit in some placements and I liked the sound of that.

I don't know how representative my experience was, but I found them fiddly to place and they almost never seemed to be quite as good a fit as a bog-standard Rock in the same placement if I still had the right size on in my rack.  When I could afford it I bought a second set of standard Rocks and most of the Super Rocks got relegated to a pile of 'spare' gear and never placed again. 

I think they were the first bit of 'spare' gear I ever owned, I certainly didn't have a lot of spare cash at the time and regretted buying them.

In reply to beardy mike:

I have them and find that they go well in placements (in the mountains) that otherwise will not take any other nut. There were 2 iterations where the shaped changed slightly so maybe WC took notice of some feedback.

In reply to beardy mike:

I have found a few over the years and tried them.

They are just not as good, and don't easily fit into as many places.

I heard, (but didn't experience), that they were notorious for getting jammed in placements.

In reply to beardy mike:

Wow, I'd forgotten all about them. Never owned any myself but used some. Nice idea but they just weren't any good. I don't remember them getting stuck, they just weren't "right".

If you took them and perfected them so they actually feel right not wrong... you'd have a DMM Walnut 🤣

In reply to CantClimbTom:

I mean to be fair wallnuts predated these so I'm assuming this was an attempt to bring rocks up to date that went wrong?

In reply to CantClimbTom:

Sorry, in true forum fashion, I thought Wallnuts were inferior to Rocks.( the ordinary ones anyway). Too much taper, too curved and made of harder, shiny, non-stick metal. They did stay put though; I haven't got any left anyway...

In reply to beardy mike:

Less good for standard placements, often harder to remove, not as good as tricams for weird placements. We still have most of a set that we puchased in a sale and never used again after a few occasions.

In reply to beardy mike:

I had a couple that I liked very much, before I had offsets. Worked well in flared placements. Never lost one, but they did get stolen (in a pack full of gear). Now I've got DMM & WC offsets, so I don't miss them as much

In reply to beardy mike:

I've got a set.  We got them to supplement racks on a trip to Lundy in 1998 and placed them all on almost every pitch.  They really did seem to suit granite.  I've not used them much since, but I'd drag them out if I was heading to a granite destination again. 

In reply to beardy mike: I had some, and still do, but stopped using them. The problem I found was that when placing them they would often seem to initially catch in a crack but not sit properly, so needed to be lifted out for another try, but in do doing they simply became stuck, and you ending up expending an awful lot of energy.

In reply to beardy mike:

Thanks everybody, this has been really useful! I genuinely didn't think I'd get this many responses. Theres definitely a theme going on though! I wrote to Stephane at the Nuts museum who sent me some catalogue information... 

In reply to beardy mike:

Would be interested in seeing the marketing stuff if you don't mind sharing.

My dad had a couple of small ones when I first started climbing, never seen anyone else use them. I remember they locked in quite well.

The other oddities of a similar vintages were Faces nuts - were they called Gems? Or was that the cams they made? They were like a very, very well used and rounded DMM Wallnut. 

In reply to Tom Ripley:

Here you go Tom.

In reply to Tom Ripley:

Yes Faces Gems (were the small ones Jewels?) -- seated well - to the point of no return!

In reply to beardy mike:

I just remember them being a beast to clean. I found a few and only managed to keep them for a few months before they got stuck. Too good?

In reply to Tom Ripley:

So well in fact that for a spell they were probably the most common bit of left gear!