Small Cams

[jeb013]

Slowly putting together a rack, so far have a single set of c4's set of stoppers and some hexes, all of which I'm happy with so far.

 

My question is what are most of the portland area climbers using for smaller cams, I have seen c3's quite a bit and have heard good things about the smaller metolius master cams up through the yellow for small cams.

 

It's always nice for some input before dropping $$.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

jeb

[ivan]

metollius tcus and aliens or their equivalents

[Friedrich]

Yes to Aliens. They are legendary for a reason. They f*ing fit, everywhere. And now that Fixe has brought them back on the market you can buy them new again. Which is cool.

 

On trad or mixed climbs, I almost never leave the ground without them, winter or summer.

 

The red, yellow and green sizes are what I have, and they seem to fit the gap between the smallest of the "normal" cams and "too damn small for a cam" but your mileage may vary depending on where you climb and what else you have on your rack.

[ivan]

aliens are of course great, but there are places where only a tcu can work, and few places where aliens go that tcu's can't too - so...it's nice to have one of each!

[OlympicMtnBoy]

That's how I rock it, aliens and TCUs. Although the new BD cams look cool (the ones that haven't been released yet). Master cams seem ok if you aren't already used to aliens. After you have a set of each then you can worry about offsets.

[jeb013]

Thanks for the feed back guys. Had not even thought of the aliens, probably cause i have not used them before.

 

Jeb

[Buckaroo]

the Metolius Master cams are the same design as the Aliens but they are narrower

 

0, 1, 2, 3, 4

 

purple, blue, yellow, orange, red

 

Be careful buying used Aliens, there was a recall on some of them for separating cables.

[jeb013]

Thanks for the warning on the used aliens. I was planning on staying with new till i have a little more knowledge on what a good used cam looks like. I have seen the mastercams out there quite a bit, and they are easy to find.

 

Jeb

Edited October 1, 2012 by jeb013

[billcoe]

Or you can follow Lost Cam around and pick up the ones he leaves behind on the ground or stuck in cracks.

 

Wait, I wasn't going to say that. Nevermind that part. He's still missing a purple from the Ozone, that joke is clearly in bad taste so forget I said it. I was going to say that Fixe and Totem make identical "Alien style" cams. Totem cams version of the Alien, which they call the "Basic", are approx $20 cheaper if the Fixes are not on sale (rare). Totem only makes to the green. So you will have to go with Fixe or the used market for the smaller.

 

Totem basic (actually an Alien but same same) on left, Totem on right. Photo Mikel from Totem.

The regular Totem cams have gone from not something I wanted to use to have stolen my heart after I got some high mileage in on them. However, the smallest, the Blue, seems about or just a tad larger, than the green Alien. So if you are considering a set of the regular Totems, I'd supplement it with Green, Blue and Black Basic cams (AKA Aliens). The Totem Basics are @$20 cheaper than the Fixe Aliens, but Totem do not yet make the 2 smallest, the blue and black. EMS has them on sale right now for $63 each which is a great price. The standard Totem price is $59 but again, they only go down to green at this time.

 

http://www.totemcams.com/index.php?id=1

 

The Metolius TCUS are sweet, and the used ones are usually a bargain. Furthermore, Metolius goes way above and beyond and will recondition them for cheap (if they are not total trash).

[JosephH]

Any of the above are good though I would tend to shy away from the C3s.

[jeb013]

Thanks for all the input. I have picked up a couple of the Mater cams and they seem to work pretty good for the few placements I have been able to use them for. Unfortunately a back injury has taken me off the rock for the time being , guess i should just be glad it's the off season.

 

jeb

[Off_White]

I've got master cams & c3's, but frankly that's as much because those are what I had a line on a pro deal for. I find I reach for the master cams first. I've been happy enough, especially compared to my prior hodgepodge collection. There's a lot of great cams out there, but I think nothing beats familiarity - reaching for the right cam for each placement every time.

[Plaidman]

Ditto what Bill Coe said!

[matt_warfield]

My question is what are most of the portland area climbers using for smaller cams

 

jeb

 

No offense, but what is specific about Portland? In my experience experienced climbers are worldwide and small cams also work worldwide. Listen to advice here regardless of where they are from.

Edited November 9, 2012 by matt_warfield

[JosephH]

My question is what are most of the portland area climbers using for smaller cams

 

jeb

 

No offense, but what is specific about Portland? In my experience experienced climbers are worldwide and small cams also work worldwide. Listen to advice here regardless of where they are from.

 

Some of these guys do a lot of aid climbing so end up doing a lot of small placements.

[matt_warfield]

Thanks. Fine with me. Different strokes for different folks.

[stevetimetravlr]

Matt, there is nothing specific about Portland area climbers, you are correct.

Its a probability the original poster wants to know what folks locally are using on basalt for small cams.

The answer is just about every type of cam known to man.

The new Totems, then Aliens, and then Metolius cams for small cams are my favorites, in that order. Totem cams are a serious improvement in sketchy placements above anything I have used previous, and do not appear to skate around in flaring placements like others since each side is independent of the other.