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Ok, so I've been out of the sport for a few years while I lives in the flatlands, but I'm home now and back to leading trad. I'm looking to augment my rack, but the companies seem to have gone through some kind of chucklehead flux or something.

I don't trust Black Diamond anymore since they manufacture in China (even though they claimed to be keeping technical pro in USA) and one of my partners had a friend chewed up in first placement.
I don't want to give money to Mad Rocks or Climb X after a short review of the history of those two companies.

Is C.A.M.P. still reputable? Wild Country? Petzl?

What about Metolius, DMM, and Omega? These are also new since I've bought gear. Metolius looks good, but what is the quality?

Anyone else? Bueller? Bueller?

Thanks

You could follow the adds in u tube. Leo Houlding advertises for DMM and demos their stuff on Suicide Wall. It has a nice belay in the middle of a Robin Hood oak. Slaid Cleaves' New Years Day provides the music. Arnaud Petit climbs Black Bean at Ceuse with Totem cams but throws in a couple of Black Diamonds for good measure. Totems are made in the Pyrenees as are Aliens I think. Wired Bliss is still on the market - I thought they were made in Arizona at one time. My $.02

Wild Country Friends and wired rocks are great. Metolious gear is excellent as well. Fixe makes Aliens now, so they are trustworthy. I haven't used DMM Dragon cams, but they have a similar expansion range as Camalots and are lighter. DMM makes nice stuff, their offset nuts are great.

I have one Wild Country nut that slides in snug where others pop out, but it looks like they've gone away from that design. Still would invest in their gear, though.

Most of my rack is Black Diamond from before the change of guard, CAMP, and Misty Mountain. The main thing I've had to replace over the years is ropes and webbing. It still feels weird buying gear online instead of handling it and doing my own QA at the store, but BD seems to have cornered the market in Asheville, so I'm left with virtual shopping.

Wow dude.. if you've been out of the game since DMM and Metolius came in, you're way too old to climb. Both these companies have been making rock pro for almost 30 years

I guess I never heard of them. I was out of it for the most part the last 15 years, living in hot flat areas.

for the record, I have every intention to still be hanging off cliffs when I'm in my 80s. You are only as old as you let yourself act.

I'm a pretty big fan of Metolius Mastercams in the small sizes. I go with BD camalots in the larger sizes, but DMM makes an almost identical product too. All of these companies have excellent quality.

Well welcome back, either way. I figure I'll go in my 70s, attempting some crazy FA on Mars.

Petzl, DMM, Metolius, Omega, and CAMP all make legit kit. And screw BD.

Ben, when I get to Oregon, I'm looking you up. We obviously need to climb together.

Ben Beckerich wrote:Wow dude.. if you've been out of the game since DMM and Metolius came in, you're way too old to climb. Both these companies have been making rock pro for almost 30 years

I was going to say that. I'm 36 and had Metolius cams at the age of 13.....they're not exactly newcomers to the pro world. CAMP makes good gear, and my rack is still loaded with BD Camalots. I have some smaller Rock Empire cams and they aren't terrible either....although they tend to get a sticky mechanism and need maintained a bit more.