DMM cams: Crap or a good deal?

[texplorer]

Have only used a few DMM's but I think they would work just fine. I still like having my camalots but. . . . WC are IMO the best large size (>#4). I would like to get a couple of 5's and a 6. Matt dude, not to diss but the big BD's are wobley and unstable and you don't need a #5 on the Kor Ingals either.

[DavidW]

The length of the axle on a cam contributes to its propensity to rotate and walk. Cams designed for shallower placements will walk easier than ones with a broader "wheelbase". Likewise the distance between the two cams on the narrow side has an effect. The closer you get to a three-point (like a TCU) contact the more it will want to walk. I've found cams with two cable stems to be somewhat harder to work the cams independantly and extract when someone has jammed one into a placement one size too small. I still like to go lead things with hexes once in awhile.... that way ANY cam seems like magic to me!

[Matt]

quote:

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Originally posted by texplorer:

Have only used a few DMM's but I think they would work just fine. I still like having my camalots but. . . . WC are IMO the best large size (>#4). I would like to get a couple of 5's and a 6. Matt dude, not to diss but the big BD's are wobley and unstable and you don't need a #5 on the Kor Ingals either.

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I swear on pitch 4 there was a big off width/chinmey/overhang that only protected with something bigger than a number 4. My partner told me there was a way around, but that's what I'm thinking of. Kor-Ingals is one of the few climbs I've done where I brought two #4s and a #5.

 

Someone told me pitch three has been retrobolted and now what used to be the scary offwidth is tame-- you know, the part where the calcite (white rock) is? I climbed it during spring break 1995 so it's been a while.

 

What I do remember is waiting on top of the tower for a few more parties to get up before the sun went down. There were maybe four of us, just hanging out, passing a joint around, strangers sharing in the comradery of climbing. Loving every minute of it.

[Off_White]

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt:[/qb]

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I swear on pitch 4 there was a big off width/chinmey/overhang that only protected with something bigger than a number 4. My partner told me there was a way around, but that's what I'm thinking of. Kor-Ingals is one of the few climbs I've done where I brought two #4s and a #5.

 

Someone told me pitch three has been retrobolted and now what used to be the scary offwidth is tame-- you know, the part where the calcite (white rock) is? I climbed it during spring break 1995 so it's been a while.

 

What I do remember is waiting on top of the tower for a few more parties to get up before the sun went down. There were maybe four of us, just hanging out, passing a joint around, strangers sharing in the comradery of climbing. Loving every minute of it.[/QB]

 

When we did it back in 82 I know the only cam I owned was a #2 friend. Odds are it went with a #11 hex and a 5" tube chock, pitch 4 would have been mine, but I don't recall it at all, though following pitch 3 is still vivid in my mind. I do recall a great game of hackey on the summit. When the sack inevitably rolled off the edge, it landed on top of the guy finishing the last pitch, who brought it up and joined in. Turned out he was also from Washington, and in discussing the old car ad shot on top of the tower, it came out that he was related to Glen Grant, of late night Seattle car advertisement fame.

 

On the subject of mega cams, the largest I ever saw were made of plywood and bungee cord by Jorge Urioste down in Las Vegas, so he could aid a nasty 5.11 squeeze in Black Velvet Canyon and bolt it. They didn't look like anything you'd want to fall on, but had massive rube goldberg climbing geek appeal.

 

[ 08-20-2002, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: Off White ]