The Nut Tool (for climbers)

[Jeremy Cleaveland]

For backcountry climbing, the nut tool is really nice for a lot more than removing rock pro. What have you used yours for?

treading rappel slings around really big rocks
cleaning dirt and vegetation out of cracks before placing pro
reaching items without getting up (me
being lazy ;-)
can opener (with a big hex or rock)
back scratcher
trenching around the pyramid tent in a Wind River deluge… don't worry, I fixed up the ground before leaving.
cooking/eating utensil
opening up vacuum seal bags

Other possibilities I haven't used
bear killing
pulling out stubborn tent stakes
toilet trowel
emergency ice axe (yikes!)
prodding slow hiking partners
hacking chunks of wood out of a rotten log for fire building
thimble for sewing gear repairs
straight edge for orienteering
drawing pictures in the dirt

What else can you think of?

[David Olsen]

Peanut butter spreader

filed one edge as a dull knife for emergency sling cutting.
(takes a bit of work to cut, but you don't want it cutting
things at the wrong time)

Piece of pro (super long dong). Pound in with rock or hex.

[Jeremy Cleaveland]

a couple more I just remembered, but haven't had to use

emergency aid climbing hook
short stick clip for reachy aid

and….
a TOP SECRET TIP that I just discovered – I came across a pink tricam on a II 5.7 that was WAY back in the crack like it was placed bad and had fallen in. So, I zip-tied two nut tools together, pulled the tricam sling out to where I could just barely clip it, than wiggled it around at the end of the double nut tool's reach until it fell lower and then out it came. Presto!!
I was using my homemade ultraNOTlight nut tool that weights about 3 oz but is really burly (made from a bike cone wrench for a one piece crank I never used) and about 1.5-2 inches longer than normal nut tools.

[Steve Nutting]

Jeremy failed to mention that the zip-tie trick was using my ultralight (for a nut tool, that is) titanium tool on the other end. Couldn't have done it without that one, huh?

– Cleaning snow out of your crampons
– Tent stake
– Opening the box of new gear
– Digging a hole to get water out of a seep-spring
– Petting the cat
– Skinning the cat
– Opening locked doors
– Stirring the pasta sauce (or anything that's in the pot)
– Wasting too much time trying to get some old pro out of a crack
– Shorting your solenoid on the car starter
– Hitting the starter (using Jeremy's heavy one)
– Keeping a 2-year-old (or 23 year old) occupied

(no, I haven't used one for all these, yet…)

[Jeremy Cleaveland]

so, the 2004 Accidents in North American Mountaineering has an entry where a climber on Denali's West Buttress had some dental problems so they performed surgery with a nut tool and something else I don't remember. I'm still lost as to why they had a nut tool on the West Buttress… except for all the cool alternate uses…

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