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Building a Rack


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Fear of falling is natural.

 

3 cam 4 cam alien BD it dont matter.

A well placed cam in solid rock will hold your fall.

The key is living long enough to know what a well placed cam is. If your new to climbing it is best to lead below your climbing limits. Doing some aid will help you with your placements.

 

My partner has demonstrated a willingness to whip on Metolious,Alien and BD cams. All of which has been proven to be bomber placements and sure to rattle his head yellaf.gif

 

If I had to pick 4 cams for general climbing/cragging it would be .5,.75,1,2 in BD. Double axles and stops go a long ways towards peace of mind for me.

 

That was phunny Mitch.

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Coopah said:

I have read a review of the camalots that said they may have a tendancy to pull out more than the Tech friends? Any truth to this? Since I am over 200 lbs, cam holding power means everything to me! I read that the cam angle of the BD is 14 degrees compared to 13.75 for most other brands incl WC. Is the difference of .25 degrees make a big difference? Since I am new to climbing I am trying to get all the info I can...thanks

 

Coopah, my brotha - I took a 20' fall onto a less-than-optimal .75 Camalot placed in basalt at Smith. It held just fine; I weigh about 197# with clothes and gear.

 

Greg W

 

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catbirdseat said:

I have a set of Clog cams. I've never taken a fall on one, however. Anyone have any experience with these? I'm sure lack of experience or knowledge won't stop anyone from commenting.

 

yelrotflmao.gif

 

I have some clog cams as well. I've never taken a leader fall on them, but I trust them, for what that is worth.

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Uncle_Tricky said:

camptricam.jpg

 

Hey, don't knock it. This piece has saved my butt twice! If you're climbing a wide crack or OW, they work just as well as a #4 camalot and are 1/3 the weight.

 

You can also use the #6 and #7 Tricams as a belay/rappel device if you drop yours - this helpful tip courtesy of Marc Twight.

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Here's a spartan yet comprehensive alpine rack:

2 KBs

1 LA (optional. Well, I guess it's all optional.)

6-8 nuts

pink tricam

red tricam

green camalot

yellow camalot

orange tricam

 

Not all sizes overlap, but it's pretty rare when you can't move the piece around a little until it works.

 

-Mark

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trask said:

Hey Catturd, your tone around here is almost condescending - like your shit don't stink. You're no better than anyone else. smirk.gif

 

Now there's a case of the pot calling the kettle black...

 

On another more on-topic note, I've fallen on a few cam placements without them ripping. That I can remember, these falls were on granite or basalt only.

YMMV on limestone, sandstone, tuff, etc.

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trask said:

Hey Catturd, your tone around here is almost condescending - like your shit don't stink. You're no better than anyone else. smirk.gif

It was a troll. I don't think too many people have these cams. They are inexpensive and if anybody thinks they are substandard, I want to know about it.

 

The only cam in my rack that I have actually fallen on is a 1" Empire Rock. I fell on it 3 times trying to get past a difficult move. When I went to lower, it popped. I don't blame the piece, though. I blame myself for not checking and repositioning the piece after falling on it the first three times. Doubtless it walked. Probably the cams became unequal.

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Clog cams (at least the version currently sold at REI Outlet) are the same as Technical Friends circa early 90's. (Clog is a related entity to WC) I am sure they are fine cams. They do not have cam stops and do not have the plastic stem reinforcements of the modern day version but the sizing is the same as Wild Country Friends.

 

 

Wild Country

 

PP

bigdrink.gif

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My rack of cams consists of trango, camalot, aliens, metolius, and one of those splitter gear two cams. With the exception of the splitter gear unit, I've taken multiple falls on all of them.

 

The only ones I remember pulling are the aliens. When they did, they were inevitably less than optimal placements.

 

Any cam in a good placement will hold. What someone said earlier is true, its learning how to make a good placement. Taking the time to go take whippers on them also helps confidence.

 

For what its worth, I'm generally between 170 and 180 pounds if that is your primary concern.

 

For all those gear heads/techy people out there. How much does body weight really matter for you average fall (< fall factor of .25). My guess is that the increase in force on the cam still leaves it so far within the average gripping power of the cam that it rarely makes a difference anywhere other than your head.

 

Matt

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catbirdseat said:

I have a set of Clog cams. I've never taken a fall on one, however. Anyone have any experience with these? I'm sure lack of experience or knowledge won't stop anyone from commenting.

i'm a poor bastard so these are the only cams i have...i fallen on several of them and so far had no bad experiences. the stems have been bent a bit from the falls, but still look good and are only slightly more funky to place. i think they're fine cams, but still try to find richer chumps than myself to climb w/ so we can use their racks....

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Peter_Puget said:

Clog cams (at least the version currently sold at REI Outlet) are the same as Technical Friends circa early 90's. (Clog is a related entity to WC) I am sure they are fine cams. They do not have cam stops and do not have the plastic stem reinforcements of the modern day version but the sizing is the same as Wild Country Friends.

 

 

Wild Country

 

PP

bigdrink.gif

The Clog cams have stops, but they are not load bearing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but load bearing cam stops would only come into play if the cam were completely tipped out or if it were slotted like a chock? I suppose one scenario where this might happen would be where the cam walked into a wider rear section of the crack.
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