Orange Alien Replacement

[catbirdseat]

I broke the trigger wires on my orange Alien for the second time in two months. This last time was the result of the cam walking into a wider section of crack and inverting when it was fallen on. As you know, Aliens do not have stops to prevent inversion.

 

This got me to thinking about what cam would or could replace the orange Alien. Zeros don't go that large and neither do BD C3 cams. Metolius TCUs are a candidate, but aren't quite as good in shallow horizontal cracks.

 

Any ideas?

 

It would be cool if WC Zeros added a couple more larger sizes.

[fenderfour]

Why not a C4? Orange is a 0.5 or 0.75, right?

[billcoe]

Metolius

[counterfeitfake]

ball nutz

[catbirdseat]

Why not a C4? Orange is a 0.5 or 0.75, right?

Assume the placement is a shallow horizontal with a sharp edge and a fall on a C4 would kink the stem. The C4 would hold without breaking, but would have to be retired because of damage to the stem. What would you use in this situation? A solid stem Friend with a Gunks tie-off would be a good choice, perhaps.

[fenderfour]

You are making an example of a specialized placement for which Aliens were ideal.

 

For any horizontal, I would be more than happy to place a U-stem DMM cam.

 

I wouldn't retire a cam because of a kinked stem (I have many kinky cams). If there was fraying, I would retire it.

 

Even then, I would rather risk damaging a cam in lieu of tying off a forged friend short.

[billcoe]

ball nutz

 

Must be stacking several together?

[Gary_Yngve]

red TCU

DMM 1.75 4CU

brown tricam

 

you're concerned about min-max range and width (perhaps both including and not including stems)

[Blake]

i would get a green camalot. think about all your climbing that you will do. how often will you place that piece in a very shallow horizontal slot, VS all other placement types. Even if you did place the green Camalot in a horizontal placement, and DID fall on it, and that did bend the stem, and you did replace it....

 

it just seems more logical to buy some pro based upon how you'll use it 99% of the time, not some very unlkely scenario.

 

If you were constantly placing that sized piece in shallow horizontal cracks, and falling on it, then get a tricam.

[catbirdseat]

I have the green Camalot, but not the brown tricam or the red TCU. I think I'll get the red TCU.

[Gary_Yngve]

you'll find the red tcu to be somewhere in between a red alien and orange alien.

[kevbone]

Metolius

 

I agree with Bill. A orange Metolius is my double for my orange alien. Its slightly bigger but it has worked for many years for me.

[Gary_Yngve]

Nope. An orange TCU is slightly smaller than a red alien.

 

http://www.clydesoles.com/Front/Camsbrand.html

[kevbone]

Nope. An orange TCU is slightly smaller than a red alien.

 

http://www.clydesoles.com/Front/Camsbrand.html

 

Did you read my post. I stated it has worked as a double for ME. I am able to place the orange alien in places the orange tcu will not fit. So the alien gets smaller.

[Gary_Yngve]

Most people use the term double for a piece that overlaps substantially in size with another piece. The orange TCU and orange alien have no overlap. You may as well say that the black alien doubles for your jolly green giant.

[kevbone]

Most people use the term double for a piece that overlaps substantially in size with another piece. The orange TCU and orange alien have no overlap.

 

Did I say orang alien? My bad...I ment to say RED alien. I have used my red alien as a back up to my orange TCU (actually quad cams, I cant stand TCU's) for years. Sorry.

[tradclimbguy]

Another Orange Alien, duh.

[catbirdseat]

I believe my question was what cam to get if I DID NOT want to replace the Alien with another Alien. My orange unit is in fact repairable.

 

I won't be buying any new Aliens any time soon. They need to improve the design by putting in cam stops. A friend of mine sold off all his Aliens for this reason. I won't go that far, but I think lack of stops is a weakness for use in free climbing. It's probably not such an issue in aid climbing, for which Aliens were designed.

 

I'm taking this incident as a learning experience and intend to be more careful to properly inspect my cam placements before trusting them.

Edited January 18, 2007 by catbirdseat

[tradclimbguy]

I understood the question, I still think your ONLY option is to replace an apple with an apple and an alien with an alien, then again maybe you'd like an orange or a side of hashbrowns

 

Forget adding stops to the aliens, its a design used only when the cam isn't properly loaded and doesn't even work if you aren't lucky and the cam jams on the way out of the crack.

 

I guess I just worry about placing the cam tight enough or slotting it like a nut that I don't care about having stops. If my placement is undercammed I consider it marginal whether its an alien or BD and don't plan on the BD sticking just cause of the stops.

 

Truly I don't think you've got an option here. Zero's don't go big enough and while I have lots of TCU's they don't flex and grip the same as the aliens for horizontals. I guess I just see all the crap thats happened with CCH as total BS by a lot of people who don't know what they are doing. Compared with 90% of the garbage I led on back in the day even the "defective" aliens kick way more ass, I'm just sick of people dumping on them probably because I luv em soooo much

[G-spotter]

You know why Zeros don't go that big? Cause regular Tech Friends work just fine in that size. Get a Friend. Think that size is the 1.5 or 1.75.