which tricams?

[Dustin_B]

I am going to get some tricams for my rack and I'm wondering which ones to get. I know I will get the first 3 (#.5, 1, 1.5) but I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and get the first 4? Do you use the #2 tricam much? I don't think I'll get anything bigger than the #2. Should I consider anything bigger?

 

On a similar note, I always here that you either love tricams or hate them. I've used some friend's tricams a bit I think I love them. I actually haven't heard of anyone hating them. Have you, if so why?

 

gracias

 

[ctuller]

I'm on the love tricams side. You will probably place the 2 smallest sizes about 90% of the time. I would double up on those before buying any of the bigger ones.

[Winter]

Get the huge fucking honker tri cam with all the massive weight-saving holes and the put it in a display case at REI for all the gapers to gawk at as they rack up for their extreme in-store climbing experiences.

[jj221]

I love tri-cams. They rule for the horizontal placements- which abound out here in Gunk land. Once set I have more confidence in them then any cam as it is their nice flexiable nylon strap being loaded over the edge of the horizontal rather than a SLCD. The first 4 sizes have abundent placement possibility. Beyond that you have to work the tri-cam lovers eye for good placements.

[lunger]

i place the smallest 4 sizes regularly, and dig 'em. those, and the bigger sizes, both serve as comparably inexpensive and light doubles to your cams. big'uns also handy for belays where you might want to save the cams for the leader's next difficult pitch. lastly, alone they're good for fast and light alpine shots. more difficult to place correctly, but bomber in the right spot.

[b-rock]

I neither love them or hate them. I typically have a hard time placing them with one hand though. They seem to work well on basalt as the cracks are not usually real even and have good recesses to place the point of the tri-cam. Can be good for small pockets. I use the four smallest sizes pink, red, brown, blue?

[DPS]

Dustin,

 

I have a medium size tricam (dark blue), never used which I give to you. I will even pay to mail it to you. email me: bighurtbob@hotmail.com

[Winter]

Anyone ever used these puppies?

 

[Beck]

whoa, man, if i must say so myself, nice nuts!

 

where'd you score those funkies?

[Bill_Simpkins]

Those things are sweet Man!

 

As far a tricams go, I love em. I ise the pink the most, but I've used everthing up to green before. Great for horizontal cracks and sandstone pockets at Larrabee.

[specialed]

You can climb so much shit with a set of cams, some nuts, and 4-5 tricams. They're good to place right off the belay so you can get something in even if the placement is a parralell crack and don't have to burn a cam. Downside it they're hard to place, but I think you have to be good at it, which I'm not.

[IceIceBaby]

Dustin_B said:

I am going to get some tricams for my rack and I'm wondering which ones to get. I know I will get the first 3 (#.5, 1, 1.5) but I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and get the first 4? Do you use the #2 tricam much? I don't think I'll get anything bigger than the #2. Should I consider anything bigger?

 

On a similar note, I always here that you either love tricams or hate them. I've used some friend's tricams a bit I think I love them. I actually haven't heard of anyone hating them. Have you, if so why?

 

gracias

actually u dead on as far as the right sizes and yes sometimes the #2 will fit where other wont...as u can tell I love them they worth their $14 price tag in gold

[Dru]

TriCams mean never having to save a cam instead of protect a hard move in case you have to use that size for the belay.

 

I recently placed my #6 and #7 TriCams at J Tree and they let me keep sliding my #4 Camalot up the offwidth (meaning I made it to 10 feet from the top and then got stuck for 20 minutes )

[David_Parker]

I carry pink and purple and 2 pins on alpine or long ice climbs as my backup gear. I like them but don't use them very much for pure rock climbing.

[catbirdseat]

While we are on the topic of thread resurrection, I have a related question about tricams, and that is are they more reliable in friable rock, that is sandstone, such as you might find at Peshastin Pinnacles. It seems intuitively obvious, since you have the force concentrated on a single point, which will bite into the rock more surely than the lobes of an SLCD. Dru?

 

Hey, Dustin, what tricams did you end up purchasing?

[cracked]

Aye, but what if your concentrated force (widely known as pressure) breaks away enough rock that it falls out? I'd think that wider lobed cams work better in soft rock for a reason.

[Dustin_B]

Hey, Dustin, what tricams did you end up purchasing?

 

Thanks for bringing back the mammaries CBS, you really know how to dig up old threads!! I was such a newbie back then....

 

I ended up getting all 6, actually, but the smallest 3 are really the only ones that I use. The big ones are fun to play with but are really pretty useless in the long run. (sorry for the poor pun).

[catbirdseat]

Aye, but what if your concentrated force (widely known as pressure) breaks away enough rock that it falls out? I'd think that wider lobed cams work better in soft rock for a reason.

At peshastin, as the stone weathers, the surface layers become weak and "spald" away. It basically is in the process of reverting to the sand from which it was made. Underneath, the stone is harder. It's a matter of penetrating to the solid stone via the point of the tricam, versus tearing away the the surface with an SLCD.