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Piton Craft


catbirdseat

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Jeez, man, it's 2003. In case you hadn't noticed, some cats by the name of Chouinard and Robbins came up with these passive chock thingies that can be used instead of pitons, so you don't beat the shit out of the rock. "Hammerless protection," they call it. It's only been around for the past 30 years or so, though, so it's understandable that you may have missed hearing about it. Yes, friend, you need to step into the present and learn all about Chock craft, and leave those damaging old pitons in the garage.

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Just buy a few different ones and pound on em at some roadside shitpile or mossy cliff somewhere.

 

1.Slide it in till it constricts (about 1/2 way)

2. Bang on it and the pitch will increase.

3. Stop banging on it when the pitch is the same twice in a row.

4. It's crap if you get a thud, or some unmusical sound.

5. or just wail on it till it fuses to the rock.

 

They are very very very useful iceclimbing where the rock is waterpolished and the only cracks are tiny, or wierd.

 

To get em out, use a shitty biner that you will never use and attach it to a sling you will never use and pull on the sling atttached to the biner and tap the piton left to right until it loosens enough to yank out w/you ax or hammer. Or give up and wail on it some more and give your parnter $10 for fucking up his/her piton.

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First, for DFA's sake, let me say that I would never think of using a piton where passive pro is an option. I am not into aid climbing at this point. I just want to learn how to bang in a piton on alpine route, especially mixed routes on manky rock, so that if I can't find a chock placement, or a screw placement, I have one more option to protect the route. So if I had to carry three pitons to use in emergencies, which three would I carry? A related question is how well do ice hammers work at driving pitons versus a dedicated piton hammer?

 

Also I was reading a thread from March(?) 2002 on ball nuts for cracks too thin for cams (even zero cams). Some said they are unreliable, while others said they were. Given a choice between a small ball nut in a thin crack or a piton, which is more secure? I think that the answer is going to be the piton. I am thinking of carrying one or two ball nuts. They can be used for aid and for setting up anchors when its hard to find an opposition placement.

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So if I had to carry three pitons to use in emergencies, which three would I carry? A related question is how well do ice hammers work at driving pitons versus a dedicated piton hammer?

A bugaboo, or thin lost arrow, or a baby angle will work in many situations (whacking in a pin sandwiched next to a nut will work in wider cracks if the dire need arises. Of course, it's all route dependent). A hammer on an ice tool works well enough.

Any rime, or verglas on rock will limit the ability of passive, or camming, pro to hold even body weight. I have no ethical problems with whacking in a pin in such situations. Especially given that ice-wedging will probably be in strong effect, and pin-damage will disappear with the fast erosion.

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Just buy a few different ones and pound on em at some roadside shitpile or mossy cliff somewhere.

 

Not to be confused with any established Clean aid or free climbing routes. You'd think everybody knows this, but, pins still show up on the lower town wall's free routes for some reason.

 

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I gotta agree with bumbly gumby 'bout selection. Lost arrows and knifeblades have saved my bacon a few times. There is a lot of bacon! There is a good place to bang in pins far left of the climbing area at exit 38. We actually climbed some ice there 'bout 5 years ago and used knife blades for pro. WAY left of the climbing area though.

 

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The store where I went had a limited selection, so this is what I ended up with:

1) A Bugaboo Short/Thin #3

2) A Lost Arrow Short/ medium #2-1D

3) A Lost Arrow Long/ thin #5

 

I'll probably go back and pick up one BD knife blade standard someplace. I've been told that N. Face of Chair has lots of thin cracks.

 

A friend told me that up the bike trail a half a mile from the Deception Crags section of Exit 38 there are cliff faces that are almost identical to the developed ones. I've glimpsed it from the highway, but have never been up there. Seems like that might be a good place to practice mixed climbing (and yes, pounding in pitons).

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THEY ONES THEY POUND IN THE ROCK AND LEAVE...

 

THERE ARE CERTAINLY SOME FIXED PINS THAT ARE ESTABLISHED, BUT THERE DOES FROM TIME TO TIME PINS THAT APPEAR ON FREE CLIMBS...GRANTED WE ALL CANNOT DO THE FREE CLIMBS...BUT I THINK IN THE NAME OF ROCK PRESERVATION WE SHOULD ABADE FROM NAILING THEM....

 

 

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I d ont think you can buy Shallow Angles anymore though...they are angle pitons bent wider than normal angles, almost flat on the tip... Serl told me they were a bit unsafe cause the design put more load on the eye.... of course I have like 30 of the beasts...

 

If Im taking pins I usually take about 6: 1 kb, 2 bugaboo, 2 small/shallow angles and one small-medium angle. If Im planning on using them to leave as rap pins I usually take some soft iron Euro-pin skinny LAs instead of the Bugaboos.

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