Bolts that are less obtrusive would be nice. I would imagine either a glue in, or expansion that would be a flush mounted receptacle as opposed to a hanger which protrudes, then you would have a quickdraw which would "plug-in" to the receptacle, and a quick release button of some kid that would release the quickdraw when cleaning. To me that would be a doable and interesting engineering design exercise.

Yes I know there are all sorts of technical issues with this.

To date its seems that all pro is made to fit inside concavities/cracks. I've always thought that some sort of caliper device that locks around tufas or projections would be a nice addtition to the rack. Perhaps something similar to a c-clamp

id like to see something the protects pockets (that tricams won't fit well in) something like a 4 sided spring loaded set of tongs that push outward instead of inward...similar action as a cam....but with standard and offset arms of all different lengths to fit in weird sandstone holes (monodigit and such)

or maybe a skyhook that has very small lobes on the front and back of the tip so when you place it in an incut crimp you can cam it and make it stick better (maybe not bomber, but it won't be as likey to fall off from rope drag...potentially better than duct tape?)

I give these million dollar ideas away all the time. I have designed two pieces of gear I'll describe here.
The first is for increasing power on hard climbs. It's called the Sandbagger. Ever pick apples? You wear a bag that folds from the bottom and hooks near the top. When the bag is full, you un-hook the bottom and the apples fall out. The Sandbagger is based on this design. You would use two, to even out the weight, one on each side of your harness. (perhaps more for harder climbs) At the base of the climb, both Sandbags would be filled with sand. (dirt would also work, though be of less weight, thus lessening the effectiveness). When the climber reaches the crux, he/she would cut loose the contents, reducing their weight and giving the sense of increased power! (belayer beware)
The second devise is used to collect all the spilled chalk commonly found at the top of most climbs, and at rap stations. It is based on the design of a turkey baster. One would simply suck the chalk dust from the crack or slab, and deposit the 'chalk booty' into their chalkbag! I call this devise the Chalk Booty Baster! It would of course include a clip in loop.
I hope you find these devises helpful for your project, and if you EVER make a DIME from them, KNOW, they are described here by ME for use in my lawsuit. ;)~

How about a releasable stop on a cam axle to prevent cam from getting stuck, ie cam gets stuck then you "unscrew" to allow further compression of trigger wire to get it a little bit looser. Could alternatively use a malleable metal to "bend" when you really crank on the trigger Would lose a little range perhaps but would be something to explore.

Jeez.... How could we all miss the obvious one? Find a solution to the MaxCam trigger that fixes the issue with the one-way ratchet/head flop. Trango spent ages on it with no success, ultimately ceasing production because of it. Analyzing the forces that cause the flop and finding a solution for it would make quite a nice project (and hopefully bring them back on the market).

how about a "crack gauge" which can be used to assess the size of a crack from the ground? you would basically use it like a little telescope, look up at the crack, and a laser measuring device would use the distance to calculate the width of the crack. seems pretty do-able, and would be handy for the creek.

mr handy?

Something like this would be pretty cool.

www.yankodesign.com/2011/05/24/simple-safety-for-mountain-climbers/

It looks like it's already been designed though. Obv.

^^^^
Science. Nice.





Well this isn't very funny on the next page.

- auto/solo belay device that belays a leader just like a person, and actually works.

- auto jumar/ powered rope climbing device...would need a high energy density power source. (along these lines, I saw an ME design project once that was working on a leg-powered jumar device.)

- a device for drilling bolt ladders at an extended reach. Currently, if you were going to drill a bolt ladder, you would be lucky to get away with one bolt every 5 feet. What if you only had to drill one every 10 feet? I've been envisioning a stiff cantilever that you could attach to the current bolt, then climb up to get in position to drill the next one. Would need to be light weight and strong.

The million dolar idea:
-a way to recondition worn out climbing holds that would return the texture of a like-new hold. I've been envisioning a chemical etching process of some kind.

a way to recondition worn out climbing holds that would return the texture of a like-new hold. I've been envisioning a chemical etching process of some kind

Can't holds be treated with some sort of a sandblasting process?

www.routesetter.com/2007/09/06/dropping-acid-muriatic-hold-c>>>

IS that what you're referring to? Gets holds back to their original texture. What happens to any climbing hold is as it gets used, the texture is worn away. Seeing as how that texture is usually imprinted by a machine, i cant imagine anything that could recreate that texture...but the acid gives the hold a noticeably more tactile feeling.

mr hands, some dude who fucked horses in enumclaw WA until, while taking a massive horse penis in his ass, ruptured his lower intestine. Didn't go to the ER cause beastiality is illegal and jail sucks, although he might have loved it there... anyway he eventually died. wikipedia it. the story there has no pictures so yer in the clear!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case