Climbing Gear Log

Excellent nuts. These things are just easy to place in most cases, and I like the fact that they are tapered like offset nuts for transverse placements.

Items:

• Black Diamond Stopper, #1 (red)
  • Received: Friday, December 24, 2004
    I got the last two stoppers from the family for Christmas.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #2 (gold)
  • Received: Friday, December 24, 2004
    I got the last two stoppers from the family for Christmas.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #3 (blue)
  • Received: Around Thursday, September 30, 2004
    Aaron gave this to me, just out of the kindness of his heart.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #4 (black)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Left behind: Sunday, July 18, 2004
    Corinne placed this way off route while climbing White Maiden's Walkaway and couldn't get it out. Grrr. She finally replaced it a few months later with a non-anodized one.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #4 (black)
  • Bootied: Saturday, March 31, 2007
    I scarfed this from a crack way inside the squeeze chimney on pitch 3 of the Kor-Ingalls route on Castleton Tower. I've inspected it, and it appears to be in good condition, so I'll keep it on my rack. It was originally marked with brown and blue tape.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #4 (non-anodized)
  • Received: Wednesday, September 17, 2003
    Corinne replaced the nut she left behind at Tahquitz.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #5 (purple)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Lost: Around Sunday, December 12, 2004
    Apparently I lost this on (or shortly before or after) Moonlight Buttress, but I don't know how or when.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #5 (purple)
  • Purchased: Saturday, January 22, 2005
    I replaced the nut I apparently lost on Moonlight Buttress with a new one, purchased at Nomad Ventures in Joshua Tree.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #5 (non-anodized)
  • Bootied: Sunday, August 28, 2005
    I cleaned this right at the crux of Super Pooper at Tahquitz. It came out easily, and it appears to be in near perfect condition, though it's slightly old. I'll certainly keep it.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #6 (green)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Lost: Around Friday, April 2, 2004
    Apparently I lost this on (or before) Sour Mash, but I don't know how or when.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #6 (non-anodized)
  • Purchased: Thursday, April 22, 2004
    I bought this at Adventure 16, to replace the one I lost on Sour Mash.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #6 (non-anodized)
  • Bootied: Saturday, July 2, 2005
    I found this at the end of the second pitch of the Long Climb at Tahquitz. Actually, the last part of that pitch was littered with booty: a pink tricam and a blue #9 stopper were stuck just below this. I messed with them for a good little while, and although I could wiggle them a bit, I couldn't get them out. This one, on the other hand, was just lying on the belay ledge, probably dropped by a party higher up. It's in perfect condition, so I'll certainly keep it on my rack.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #7 (red)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Dropped: Sunday, August 16, 2009
    DAMMIT! I was pretty bummed that I dropped this, because I almost never have dropped anything off a climb. And yet, somehow, this nut was one of the last four remaining from the original set of stoppers that I purchased in 2004! The way this happened was also just bad luck: I tried placing it, decided I didn't like it, and wiggled it back out of the crack; just as I gave it one last tug to free it, I apparently opened the gate of the biner it was on just a little bit, and it just happened to sail right off into the void. Fortunately, the booty gods were smiling on me that day, as I had already found a similar-sized Wild Country Rock, and even better, I would later that day find a stopper of the exact same size to replace this one.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #7 (red)
  • Bootied: Sunday, September 6, 2015
    I found this nut, along with a large Metolius Curve Nut, a sling, and a locker, while rappelling off of Geronimo at Red Rocks. It seemed pretty clear that someone had to set a somewhat minimalist gear anchor in the middle of the second to last rappel. (Perhaps they had not brought a second rope for the descent.) Both nuts came out easily, and this one looks quite shiny and new, so I won't hesitate to add it to my rack.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #7 (non-anodized)
  • Bootied: Sunday, August 16, 2009
    I scarfed this nut, a perfectly good replacement for the one I had just lost earlier in the day, from the last pitch of the Long Climb at Tahquitz. It was placed right below the final crux of that route (the really cool side-step move), and came out quite easily with one or two taps from my nut tool. It's clearly quite old (marked with a ‘C’ instead of the newer Black Diamond logo), but appears to be in excellent condition, so I have no problem adding it to my rack. It was originally marked with blue tape.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #8 (gold)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Left behind: Monday, September 5, 2005
    I placed this on the third pitch of The Nose, and aided off it, one of the most solid placements I got on the whole pitch. Unfortunately, the next placement was sketchy. I placed a red alien, which blew while I still had one knee on this nut, causing a small shock-load on it. This apparently wedged the nut in pretty bad, because Aaron wasn't able to clean it, even after about five minutes of effort. Fortunately this was just the third pitch, which we were fixing lines on anyway, so we were able to replace the nut before beginning the actual climb.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #8 (gold)
  • Received: Tuesday, September 6, 2005
    Aaron's parents kindly replaced the nut that got stuck on pitch three of The Nose, the day before we blasted off.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #9 (blue)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #9 (blue)
  • Bootied: Monday, August 31, 2015
    I bootied this on the second-to-last pitch of The Bastille Crack in Eldorado Canyon, while climbing with Aaron (just after the conclusion of “Mancation I”). It was in unbelievably pristine condition, the shiniest, newest-looking piece that I have scarfed since my very first piece of booty* over ten years ago. It also (like that first booty) came out ridiculously easily, so I have no idea why it was left behind.
    *Ironically, that piece, a Rock Empire Robot cam, would get badly stuck in a crack at Red Rocks and left behind less than a week after this, while climbing with Ivy. Fortunately, it had far more scratches on it then than when I first found it. :-)
• Black Diamond Stopper, #10 (black)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Damaged: Sunday, May 9, 2004
    Dropped by Erwin while climbing Fingertrip at Tahquitz. I've inspected it, and it seems fine.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #11 (purple)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Dropped: Monday, September 13, 2004
    Aaron dropped this along with the DMM Wallnut I had just bootied. Apparently, that Wallnut had a secret desire to be free, and it took one of my stoppers with it. It almost took another one too, the #12, but fortunately that one only fell a little ways, and Aaron retrieved it.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #11 (purple)
  • Received: Monday, September 13, 2004
    Aaron promptly replaced the one he dropped from East Buttress of Middle Cathedral with a new one from the Yosemite Mountain Shop.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #11 (non-anodized)
  • Bootied: Sunday, December 12, 2004
    I bootied this from the beautiful “yellow alien pitch” (pitch 4) of Moonlight Buttress. It was in pretty good condition, although it had clearly at one time been spray-painted green.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #12 (green)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #12 (green)
  • Found: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
    I just happened to find this on the ground while searching for my Trango Jaws belay device, which I had dropped from Dappled Mare at Joshua Tree. I've inspected it, and it's clearly newer than my own #12 stopper and is in near perfect condition, except for a sizable ding, no doubt from when it was dropped. The booty gods must have been on my side today! (Perhaps this is to make up for the lack of any other booty in my life.)
• Black Diamond Stopper, #13 (red)
  • Purchased: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
    I bought a set of anodized stoppers (#4 - #13) from Adventure 16.
  • Left behind: Friday, April 1, 2005
    BWAAAAAAAAH! This is the first entry of this type in my log file, as this was the first time I have ever left a piece behind on a climb. This lovely red #13 stopper now resides near the end of the sixth pitch of Spaceshot in Zion. The irony is that Aaron didn't even need to put in that piece; he left it behind to make cleaning easier for me, because the pitch traverses quite a bit (and I'm pretty sure I could have done without it). So he never even weighted it! I probably torqued it sideways a lot while jugging up to it, but I never would have thought it would be so impossible to clean. It was hard to get into a good position from which to clean it, so I eventually had to put in a 0.75 Camalot above it (fortunately the only other piece I had with me at that point) and stand on that. I stood there for five or ten minutes and pulled and hammered with all my might, but she wouldn't budge. Poor baby. I almost pulled a bicep working on that thing. Finally, I resigned myself to leaving her behind. Sob.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #13 (red)
  • Purchased: Sunday, May 1, 2005
    I replaced my #13 stopper (left behind on Spaceshot... grrr!) with a new one, purchased at Nomad Ventures in Joshua Tree.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #13 (red)
  • Found: Saturday, June 3, 2006
    I found this, along with a BD Enduro biner, at the top of Movie Variation at Little Cottonwood Canyon, while climbing with Bobby Hanson. It is in excellent condition (it looks newer than my own #13, which is only a year old), so I will not hesitate to add it to my rack. In fact, I've been wanting a second of these for a while, as it's one of my favorite pieces to place!
  • Left behind: Sunday, June 27, 2010
    This was left behind by Will Foster in the anchor at the end of the third pitch of Whodunit at Tahquitz. He apparently spent several minutes trying to get it out, hitting and pulling from several angles and using every trick he could think of. Oh well. He replaced it with his own #13 later that day.
• Black Diamond Stopper, #13 (red)
  • Received: Sunday, June 27, 2010
    Will Foster promptly replaced the #13 he left behind on Whodunit with his own #13, which is newer and appears to be in better condition.