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Starting a rack


SnowByrd

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If you wanna buy a very small, practical rack I would buy a full set of nuts, add the orange and yellow metolious tcus, the pink and red tricams, plus a number one and a number two black diamond camalot. Those just seem to be the pieces that I place the most often at Squamish. The orange tcu is my favorite.

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A set of nuts is a pretty universal piece of every rack, reasonably inexpensive, and not so specialized that you will wish you chose another style/brand later on. Black Diamond stoppers are the standard. I own a set of BD stoppers, DMM Walnuts, and a set of HB offsets. They are all good in their own way. You can get a set of stoppers for around $80.

 

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Set of BD camalots #0.4-4. set of stoppers, set of Metoulious TCU's, extra BD cams #1-2.

Total 15 cams and and stoppers.

This will last you for years and be good enough for when you get more experience.

Don't have to buy all sorts of different gear that does the same thing. You will save money in the long run.

Just get it now. I wanked on for years messing around with hexes, tricams and pieces together sets of cams. I wish I just did it this way. Would have saved a ton of cash and climbed harder.

Opinions may vary.

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The great thing about bd stoppers is the sets always go on sale when bd somehow comes out with yet another marketing trick to get the gear collectors to buy new stoppers. They're just pieces of metal folks. I like WC rocks (less of a taper on those) but they are never on sale.

 

The camalots are damn expensive but the #0.5 - #2 are used a ton. Hexes are dynamite for places like Tieton, and they're dirt cheap. You don't want to lug those camalots around the pickets range or similar either.

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Set of BD camalots #0.4-4. set of stoppers, set of Metoulious TCU's, extra BD cams #1-2.

Total 15 cams and and stoppers.

This will last you for years and be good enough for when you get more experience.

Don't have to buy all sorts of different gear that does the same thing. You will save money in the long run.

Just get it now. I wanked on for years messing around with hexes, tricams and pieces together sets of cams. I wish I just did it this way. Would have saved a ton of cash and climbed harder.

Opinions may vary.

 

Very good advice...yeah, tri cams are cool, but i'd just stick w/ about what he said...more often than not cams and nuts are it...and bag the inexpensive route...you'll wind up buying the stuff you want later anyway...

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buy a rope. you bring the rope, let your partner bring the rack. you can try out lots of different gear that way then decide and make expensive mistakes.

 

buy nuts first. hard to go wrong there. i like tri-cams, maybe not a good choice for an early piece though. they can be tricky to place. hard to go wrong with hexes either.

 

just my $0.02

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1 vote for a set of Wallnuts! They rockband.gif. Can be a bit of a pain to clean but if your on lead that's someone elses problem anyway! the_finger.gif I also think Gear express has them on sale right now for $60 so i'd grab a set fast!

 

If you do decide to pick up Hexes the Wild Country Rockcentrics on Dyneema and sweet. Theres about three sizes I always seem to end up placing somewhere and much cheaper than cams (Yellow, Small Red and Silver). Just something about a solid hex that inspires confidence. Run about $70 (Less than 2 cams) for a set and light as can be.

 

As for Cams, these get pricy and personal so I agree with Minx. Put it off, play with lots of others (camalots, metolius, DMM, Rock Empire etc., Omega-Pacific Link Cams) But at least try both the single and dual stem types on real rock, preferably on lead before you make a decision about them.

 

Tri-Cams are nice and again, smallest two sizes (pink and red) often get used.

 

I would say pick stuff up slowly, no rush, play with lots of gear first (in the wild, not in the store) so your sure what you really need/want.

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13 ABC Huevos for $59, versus 10 DMM Wallnuts for $59. Are the extra 3 nuts a goods thing? I believe they're just body weight (2.5 kN); a set of 4-10 Huevos is $49 and I think would compare diectly to the DMM Wallnuts (the Wallnuts are rated a bit stronger). I like the fact that the Huevos are color-coded on the head rather than on the wire (less weight? looks cleaner and easier at least), but whatever.

 

BTW the WC Rocks #1-10 are on sale for the same pice ($58). Those are Alpinfox's favorites according to that other thread. Fox, have you compared them to the DMMs?

 

Which would you pick between the two and why? (A nut is a nut doesn't seem to always apply here smile.gif).

 

drC

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I think I'm pretty much in the same situation as Snowbyrd here. Been leading sport for a little and want to start a trad rack. What do you guys think of the "Ultralight Starter Rack" at Pro Mountain Sports? Some ABC Huevos, some rockcentrics on dyneema and a few DMM 4CUs.

 

Sure, it wouldn't be as complete a rack as I've seen described here, but wouldn't it be a decent place to start that would get me, or Snowbyrd, up a lot of routes around 5.7 or below? And all for just over $200.

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you need - a set of nuts. get whatevers cheapest.

mod to large hex sized thingys. you can't afford a full rack of cams. whatever brand is cheapest.

red pink and brown tri cam. this is also cheap.

a couple of cams - to supplement hex and tricam placements. get whatever cams you can afford. you can never have too many cams. when you buy a full set of nice cams later you can keep your first cheap cams as supplemental pieces. i still use the #2.5 rigid friend i bought 13 years ago!

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13 ABC Huevos for $59, versus 10 DMM Wallnuts for $59. Are the extra 3 nuts a goods thing? I believe they're just body weight (2.5 kN); a set of 4-10 Huevos is $49 and I think would compare diectly to the DMM Wallnuts (the Wallnuts are rated a bit stronger). I like the fact that the Huevos are color-coded on the head rather than on the wire (less weight? looks cleaner and easier at least), but whatever.

 

BTW the WC Rocks #1-10 are on sale for the same pice ($58). Those are Alpinfox's favorites according to that other thread. Fox, have you compared them to the DMMs?

 

Which would you pick between the two and why? (A nut is a nut doesn't seem to always apply here smile.gif).

 

drC

 

I have WC nuts and ABC Huevos. I love my Huevos; they seem to place and clean a lot smoother. The smaller sizes seem to go places that I go. I love 'em.

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BTW the WC Rocks #1-10 are on sale for the same pice ($58). Those are Alpinfox's favorites according to that other thread. Fox, have you compared them to the DMMs?

 

 

I have one DMM wallnut that I bootied recently and I like the shape of it and have found it places and cleans very well. I would probably choose a set of DMMs over the WC if I had to choose again, but it really doesn't matter. If you get WC, BD, ABC, or DMM I'm sure you will be happy with them, just don't get the Metolius curve nuts - I have a set and they suck. I would go with Dru's advice and get whatever set of nuts covers the largest range for the least $$. In this case, 13 ABC Huevos for $60 seems like the winner. I think you can find them cheaper on Ebay.

 

Anybody wanna buy a set of slightly used Metolius curve nuts? crazy.gif

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