Non-Existant Gear / New Gear Ideas or Inventions

Has anyone noticed a climbing-related problem for which there is no gear (or the gear available isn't good enough / causes other problems)?

I'm a mechanical engineering student and will be taking senior design next semester. I would like to solve a climbing problem for my project by inventing/designing new gear. I already have a few ideas, but figured I would put this question out to the climbing community to see what would be most useful.

Examples of problems I am looking for:
1) Lightweight, cheap, auto-locking belay device
2) Trad pro for rock formations that are currently 'unprotectable' (pinches, super tiny cracks...)
3) A safety concern
4) ...

If you have encountered a problem that may be solved by new gear, or if you already have an idea for new gear that you are willing to give me, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks everyone!

The first two have already been invented. Maybe work on refining #2 (google search for the pro that protects flakes/pinches, I can't remember what it was called but it's main problem was weight i think

I was starting up a second pitch today when my partner moved his feet and dropped the rope that was draped over them. It was an uncomfortable couple of minutes while I hung from the bolt and he recoiled the rope. What about something that folds up real small (like a windshield cover) that you can unfold at belays and stash the rope in? I thought about using a laundry hamper that folds up but would prefer something horizontally situated.

For pinches a prototype of the "anti-cam" has been invented yet not refined.

Austin, I haven't used it myself, but I think the Mad Rock rope bucket sort of works like that. I don't know how compact it is, or how well the handles work to hang it at belays, but it uses that hamper idea.

Austin Baird wrote:I was starting up a second pitch today when my partner moved his feet and dropped the rope that was draped over them. It was an uncomfortable couple of minutes while I hung from the bolt and he recoiled the rope. What about something that folds up real small (like a windshield cover) that you can unfold at belays and stash the rope in? I thought about using a laundry hamper that folds up but would prefer something horizontally situated.

Mad Rock has something like that.

Rope Pod


And I want to say I've seen something else similar to this by another company as well...digging time

The thing that I would have said is to figure out a beaner that is "unlocked" until you try to clip then locks when you throw the rope in there. But found out that rock exotica makes something like that now

What about a machine that you put your rope through that bend checks it and checks for soft spots?

DanielS.....you might consider posing these questions to George Lowe, Jeff Lowe, and/or Yvonne Chouinard. All have been at the forefront of climbing equipment innovation and are quite approachable. They shouldn't be too difficult to contact and would likely have a lifetime of ideas and insight regarding your project. Good luck.

cheaper options in the big bro or bd 5 or 6 range.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I need to work on my googling skills

If you can pair up with an electrical/ computer engineer, I've always wanted to see if a mechanical lead auto belay was possible. It would probably be unused by everyone except gyms, but its a cool idea. Also, the basic ascending/jugging design has remained almost unchanged since the Jumars...

How about a climbing knife that actually stays shut without a mechanical lock, opens easily with one hand, is light, is usable for more than cutting fishing line and will clip in with even the fattest carabiners on the market.

You could troll through the Old Mystery Pro thread on Supertopo to find something cool that worked in theory but not practice and refine it. All sorts of fun things in that thread. supertopo.com/climbing/thre…

Another good one is the Misfit Gear article from Gripped. zinio.com/pages/GrippedTheC…

And of course there's Gary Storrick's Vertical Devices page, where he documented just about every belay device ever made. Lots of good ideas to be had there. storrick.cnc.net/VerticalDe…

There was a recent thread where someone was discussing how to deal with missing bolts on a route. So what about a piece of pro for bolt holes? (other than the obvious - a bolt).

Some sort of velcro tape that you can adhere to the rock anywhere to clip into as a piece of fixed pro. You'd have to make "granite velcro", "sandstone velcro" and so on. I'm imagining a 5x5" velcro-ish pad with a clip point in the center. Just slap it on and go. I'm sure this violates many principles of physics, but that's what you guys are for! :)

damn wayne, thats interesting.

How about a cam trigger extender.

Sometimes when a cam is badly placed, it will walk into a crack making it very difficult to reach the trigger. You can try to hook the trigger with a nut tool (although that often causes a lop sided pulling of the trigger, sometimes requiring two nut tools). Even so, you must also push on the back of the cam, so the trigger is actually engaged rather than the tool just yanking on the cam.

Simple solution:
You have a strand of wire with loops on both ends that goes around either end of the trigger. The middle of the strand is attached to a spring loaded device that sits on the back of the cam stem, so that it engages the trigger. Once it is placed on the cam you could just pull the whole thing out.

I seriously doubt there is a real market for this (I have rigged something similar to clean a stuck cam, but don't carry things like this around while climbing unless I know I need it). Cams walking in should not happen too often, and people generally don't want to carry around gear they don't really need.

However, I doubt people are going to suggest million dollar ideas to you here, since if they had them, they would develop them themselves. So, this seems like a simple mechanical engineering problem that would be a good exercise for school.

@austin...just use a sling to hold the rope instead of your feet, or drape it over your tie in point. A rope bucket for short multipitch? really? Metolius makes a rope hook for this purpose but a sling works just as well. To ensure easy rope feeding with this method start your butterfly coil with big loops and then get smaller as you coil towards your partner. If you are swapping leads the rope is ready to go and will feed out easily. start small and get larger with the loops if you are leading all pitches, then flip the rope into the sling and voila you are off to the races.

@wayne Its called a removable bolt. goes into a hole that is drilled for a bolt. Usuallly when you find a "missing" bolt you are missing the hanger or the bolt has been chopped, I rarely just see a hole where a bolt has been pulled out from, but if you do the gear already exists and in several different sizes.

I think an area where there could be some technological advances is in dynamic and cut resistant fibers for rope and runner construction.

Another product I would like to see for ski mountaineering is a collapsible trekking pole/piolet. BD makes a 2 piece pole that does this but it doesn't compact easily. I would like to see one that when collapsed all the way you could remove the snow basket and have a grip on the bottom of the shaft to use as a traditional piolet/tool or expand it all the way for a trekking pole/self arrest ski pole.

fat cow wrote:damn wayne, thats interesting.

been done

crystalcanyons.net/Pages/Te…

@julius
its called a friend of a friend. a nut tool designed for removing cams. The head of the tool is the same as all others, the bottom side or side you usually hit with your palm has two small hooks about 1 inch apart that hooks over both sides of the trigger wire of cams. The booty machine my friend. the cables you describe would be a btich to get over the trigger. (thoughh chouinard did have cordage on the trigger bar of the original camalots that helped achieve this.

Josh Olson wrote:cheaper options in the big bro or bd 5 or 6 range.

+1

A communication wire embedded in the sheath of a rope to allow simple communication. Red led on belay, green led off belay etc. Could have an added feature to notify leader when he hits halfway mark, end of rope etc. I think attempts have already been made to market an electric continuity detector to "check" the integrity of a rope.