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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 18, 2008 - 12:16pm PT
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Doug -- the MOAC used to be one of those place-on-just-about-every-pitch pieces of gear for me, when climbing Eldorado in the early 70s. Later, Bill Forest used the same taper in two sizes of Foxheads, one of them blue plastic. Those became favorite pieces as well.
Here's a blowup of the NutCo I-beam on Sibley's rack, from my photo upthread.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 18, 2008 - 12:18pm PT
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Does MOAC stand for something? Don't think I ever knew the answer.
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scuffy b
climber
up the coast from Woodson
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Apr 18, 2008 - 12:42pm PT
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Funny thing about the MOAC.
After I started using Stoppers, I didn't like
the shape of the MOAC so much, and filed it
down so it had the Stopper angles.
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knieveltech
Social climber
Raleigh NC
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2008 - 12:47pm PT
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DR: Your first photos won't open here, for some reason.
Yeah, my web server is temporarily offline. The pics will come back once I reboot it, maybe later today. As far as the MOAC goes, I've reslung it and have been contemplating adding it to my rack, I'm not sure how well it'll function in quartzite/meta-sandstone/quartz conglomerate though.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Apr 18, 2008 - 12:51pm PT
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MOAC does stand for or mean something. I made a point of asking when I was in Sheffield. Now I've forgotten. May have it written in a notebook somewhere...
Funny about the Stopper taper. While I insist on carrying the MOAC and the Frost Sentinels, I also mix in a few of the classic Stoppers. Seems a useful assortment. Or maybe just an old crusty overdoin' the CYA...
I also had a few of those I-Beam things for awhile. Monsterously heavy, tho, so I quit carrying them.
And Foxheads: could never get my sense of security around a slipppery plastic nut.
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Apr 18, 2008 - 12:57pm PT
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The MOAC worked for me in every rock I've tried -- most, by now.
I sling it and all my bigger pieces with 9 mm dynamic rope. Not accessory cord, but pieces of old lead rope. I figure it works like a minor version of a screamer, lowering the peak impact force a bit on my top piece. Thus I hope it nudges my system toward not breaking the piece or the rock it's placed in.
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rockanice
climber
new york
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Apr 18, 2008 - 03:23pm PT
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Preparing to climb Little Fingers on Roger's Slide (Rock) on Lake George July 1973. This photo was a copycat of The Robbin's photos with his gear neatly laid out on a picnic table before the Nose and Salathe.
My second season, I'm in the middle.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Apr 18, 2008 - 03:32pm PT
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Looks like the "A" team.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, Ca
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Apr 18, 2008 - 03:56pm PT
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Far as I could tell, even the Nut Museum doesn't have a set of these:
Leeper Z Nutz.
Ha. I should sling those babys up and take 'em climbing. They ring nicely as they dangle together.
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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Riverside, CA
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Apr 18, 2008 - 07:48pm PT
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Hi Kris!
Leeper Zs also on another thread today, I have a set somewhere too.
As for MOAC, were they English??
I have a wired MOAC that is a solid round tube, never seen one of those since, and the nuts I never used as the taper was so fast that they were hard to seat... ie i would rather fix a piece than have it fall out.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Apr 18, 2008 - 08:15pm PT
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MOAC = "MOuntain ACtivities"
from
http://www.needlesports.com/nutsmuseum/nutsstory.htm
"Ellis Brigham, owner of a chain of outdoor shops in UK who sponsored the die cast first production run, also owned a climbing equipment import company, Mountain Activities. Therefore the name MOAC was chosen for
this nut, that many British and American climbers still carry them for sentimental reasons."
MOAC on left, acorn on right
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 19, 2008 - 01:14am PT
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John,
I've only seen Charlie's double slider nuts and bashies, would love to other gear he made if anyone has some of it.
Ksolem, you'll be making Stephane drool over that collection of the little AntiZtons - very nice. I think he only has a couple.
And Clint, sometimes I get the impression that of all the gear in the Nut Museum that the MOACs are what Stephane treasures most of all.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 19, 2008 - 08:01am PT
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Clint, you've cleared up that ancient MOAC mystery in my mind.
Some day I should dig out that box of old hardware in my attic, and see if there's anything worth photographing.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 19, 2008 - 02:48pm PT
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Start digging - inquiring minds want to know...
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Apr 19, 2008 - 08:00pm PT
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Now that I see the opening photo (thanks!) that MOAC is way different from mine. On mine every edge is rounded at about 1/4" radius. Likewise the top of the nut is milled away between the two holes so that the rope sits partway down, recessed into the head. The look of it is strikingly different, feeling like it was shaped by hand rather than sawed off of bar stock like that MOAC in the photo, all Stoppers, etc.
The article Clint referenced says the first model was carved out of balsa wood. So if that balsa MOAC was pressed into wet sand and aluminum was poured in, you'd get the nut I have.
Clint, thanks for that article!
Very lively and knowledgable. I learned a lot. Climbed on pretty much every one of the Clogs and Pecks in the late 60s and early 70s. I still have one knurled Peck here.
And my prize piece of hardware: a nut from the Snowdon Railway.
Dennis Hennek gave it to me after picking it up from the tracks.
It's hanging on a piece of hemp sling, over the fireplace.
Note to self: buy digital camera. I would love to share photos of this stuff with you guys.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 20, 2008 - 12:13pm PT
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Here are some Clog I-beams along with other early nuts bought in the early 70's.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 21, 2008 - 12:03pm PT
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healyje:
Start digging - inquiring minds want to know...
One or two oddities lurked at the bottom of that box in my attic. Here's one I'd forgotten
about: the first "screamer"? This was a Bill Forrest design, early 70s. As I recall Bill's
story, he put a lot of development effort into this idea. I haven't taken it apart, but
my recollection is that the principle was more complicated than just ripping stitches.
Anybody else use these things, or test them out?
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Double D
climber
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Apr 21, 2008 - 01:36pm PT
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Bump for way cool thread. Anyone have pictures of the machine nuts with a sling n knot through them that the Brits used to use in the early 70's?
I remember making my first "Porter Cam" with a grinder and a block of aluminum. It was sorta like a hexicentric but the smaller side was rounded and cammed.
Forrest screamer???...Never even knew!
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Apr 21, 2008 - 01:59pm PT
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I need to take a pic, but I was wordering if anyone knows about a chock that was stamped ec. I found it at the top the Black Wall at Donner, probably 20 years ago. It was a straight tapered aluminum stopper with a swaged cable loop.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Apr 21, 2008 - 04:27pm PT
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Double D:
Forrest screamer???...Never even knew!
Must have been an idea ahead of its time. I don't remember hearing much about Forrest's
version, unlike the later idea of screamers.
Also pre-screamers, I once dropped by John Bouchard's place in North Conway when he was
testing a new shock-absorbing device, using a tree and cement bucket as his setup. The
shock-absorber was judged successful when he could catch a 20-foot drop of the cement
bucket with a runner made of shoelace.
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