Nuts: Metolius Anodised Curved Nuts
12th May 2006
Metolius Anodised Curved Nuts
I recently read a few articles in Andy Kirkpatrick’s Climb Magazine supplement, Cockaholic. I was surprised to read of people writing so vehemently about their most and least favourite nuts. As far as I am concerned the more types of nuts on my harness the better. I don't believe that there is one single design out there that will fit every placement and rule them all. My rack consists of Rocks, Super Rocks, Wall Nuts, some HB horrors, a collection of Russian made RP's, and now, a rack of Metolius Curved Nuts.
What sets them apart from the stuff I already had is the anodized colour assortment. This is something I like a lot. I don't expect that I will ever learn what colours equate to what size as they will undoubtedly clash with the similarly tinted offerings from other leading brands - and I am sure that there will not have been a unilateral colour-size scale decided upon by the powers that be. However I like the coloured system for a couple of other reasons. Firstly it makes them easier to distinguish from one another under pressure and on the lead. No longer do I find myself staring at a mass of grey metal shapes wondering where the size 8 is. Secondly, and similarly to the way computer hardware is just beginning to shed its drab brown-grey-white theme and adopt something a little more fitting to the 21st century, I like the look of the coloured nuts. Note that users of Metolius cams will be pleased to hear that the colour coding is the same as for their cams.
So what else makes them different from other nuts and how do they perform? Well as their name gives away they feature a whole lot of curves. In their own words: With sophisticated CNC technology, we have perfected the shape of the nut and oriented the curve from side to side rather than top to bottom. Our patented Curve Nut shape offers all the advantages of existing curved nut designs (3 points of contact), but it is naturally more stable in flares, and because they have a straight taper from top to bottom, it is much easier to judge placement quality.
What this means in reality is that they place quite differently from other nuts which are curved from top to bottom. They do indeed sit well in flared cracks, with three points of contact - two ridges on the concave curve, and an opposing point on the convex surface. There are no difficulties in removing them (indeed if you buy a full set of the nut it comes with a very classy free nut tool). They feature a series of laterally drilled holds which makes them very light weight. Lastly the curved sides all match, regardless of nut size, enabling you to snugly stack wires together in extremis.
My one complaint would be that the anodized colour is not very deep. It started to wear a little with not much use, and a 20 foot leader fall removed a fair swathe of it as the nut popped out! In summary, an excellent set of nuts and a sweet nut tool. Would I use them to the exclusion of other brands? Not likely. I stand by my earlier comments that the ultimate nut shape is yet to be developed (and probably never will be) so I will continue to collect odds and sods and carry much more kit than I need to just so that I have that trusted Super Rock to hand when I need it.
http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/curve-astronut.htm
Weight: 423g total - sizes 1-20 (individual weights: 17, 17, 20, 37, 48, 51, 54, 57, 60, 62)
RRP: £70 - and that includes a good quality nut key.