To Plunge or Not to Plunge...

Placing a cam? Slotting a nut? Slinging a tree?
Andy
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Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:48 pm

To Plunge or Not to Plunge...

Post by Andy »

I've been a sportie now for six years and till now I've only done some trad with friends... but I have some cash I could spend on climbing gear and so I'm thinking about taking the plunge and making the investment in trad gear (not a ton just $250). The other option is buy a crash pad and start bouldering. I figure trad gear opens up greater climbing potential. So I go shopping on the net and these are the best deals I find: 7 cams from Rockempire for $199 and a set of 9 nuts for $50 http://www.rockempire.com/ then I find some stuff at acmeclimbing.com too some hexes for $65 and tri-cams for about $15 a piece http://www.acmeclimbing.com/index.asp?P ... y=8&Page=2
The cams seem like a really good deal and I imagine I could get up a few climbs with a set of seven. What I'm not sure about is what else to get with them... nuts, hexes, tricams? Also what am I not thinking about? I have a rack of 12 draws and so I figured that when I go trading I can just use the biners off of them on the trad gear... I also have two slings I've used with biners to help clean the anchors on sport lines and I have about 10 feet of webbing... I know I can't totally outfit myself with a full rack for only $250, but I want to get the best start I can with what I have... What do you think? Should I take the plunge and invest in Trad gear?
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Eliot
rhunt
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Post by rhunt »

buy a crash pad
"Climbing is the spice, not the meal." ~ Lurkist
Horatio Felacio
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Post by Horatio Felacio »

buy $250 worth of tricams.
Yo HO!! Just got me a code red and some funyons big dawg!!! SHIT YEAH! - Ray, excited about his breakfast
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pigsteak
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Post by pigsteak »

buy $250 worth of hand jammies...
Positive vibes brah...positive vibes.
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ReachHigh
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Post by ReachHigh »

Hexs, you can never have enough Hexs. tri cams are also good.
"there's a line between self improvement and self involvement"
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lordjim_2001
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Post by lordjim_2001 »

http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/prod ... 4294967286

they used to have a "new leader" package that had most of the things that you'd need but I don't see it anymore.
Screw you guys. I'm going bowling.
Gobstopper
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Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 1:05 pm

Post by Gobstopper »

My starter rack at the Red consisted of a #1 & #2 BD camalot, a set of BD stoppers, 4 or 5 hexes, and an odd assortment of webbing and biners.
I felt that was sufficient on most of the 5.4's through 5.8's that I got on way back when. Of course I did crap my pants a lot in the beginning and soon added a new piece (of gear not crap) every time I had extra cash. 10 years later, I have a back-breaking rack.

good luck tradding

p.s. learn to backclean efficiently, I had found it very helpful with a limited rack
ewaaser
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Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:21 pm

Post by ewaaser »

Start into trad.....opens up a whole new world. Cams & nutset first. Then as you get cash, either double up on some of the cams or pick up the or 4 smallest tricams. Upfront, you'll also want a nut cleaning tool and a few 24-in slings (the nylon sewn slings are pretty cheap, or you can make them with webbing). Have fun!
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ynot
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Post by ynot »

Cams and nuts. use your draws for slings. get a cordalette.
"Everyone should have a plan for the zombie apocolipse" Courtney
flyinglow
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Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 5:11 am

Post by flyinglow »

trad really does open up a lot, i say go for it.
ewaaser wrote:Start into trad.....opens up a whole new world. Cams & nutset first. Then as you get cash, either double up on some of the cams or pick up the or 4 smallest tricams. Upfront, you'll also want a nut cleaning tool and a few 24-in slings (the nylon sewn slings are pretty cheap, or you can make them with webbing). Have fun!
i'd pretty much agree with ^ but definitely get some tricams off the bat, they're cheap, and secure in a lot of places nuts aren't so great. A set of nuts, and you'll need a few more slings and maybe a few extra loose biners too. once you've got the passive stuff, get what cams you can in the 1-2 inch sizes. you can use your webbing for a cordelette (webolette i guess...)if necessary, so no need to invest anything extra in that right off the bat, you rarely need one at the red anyway.
I don't know about your level of confidence, but when i started leading trad i never had enough draws and slings with me, had a strong tendency to stitch up everything and run out of slings near the top of the pitch.(this resulted in a couple of dicey endings to what should have been easy routes for me.)
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