Good Gorge cam sizes?

Post by **Joe Patton** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:32 pm

I am looking at adding to my trad rack to go to the gorge, what size cams would you recommend?

Post by **tomdarch** » Fri May 23, 2003 7:23 pm

I don't think you'll be surprised by this answer: it depends on the routes you're working. There are a fair number of evil offwidths where you'll need huge cams, but most routes seem to take the 'normal' range primarily - e.g. Camalot .5 to 3, for me. I don't think that you'll use micro-cams too much, but there may be routes where you'd want them. For the easy stuff I do, nuts handle the small stuff well and I rarely need a #4 Camalot.

I've been eyeing the Splitter 2Cams as a potential way to protect pockets (in addition to CAMP tricams). Does anyone have any experience with this?

Post by **TexasK** » Fri May 23, 2003 7:38 pm

Post by **littlefeller** » Sat May 24, 2003 3:13 am

if you want small stuff you should double up on the green and yellow alians. the rest of my rack opion is based on black diamond sizes,.5 thru#3 you should be trippled up on skipping the 3.5 and one #4.that gets me up just about anything if i need something else i just borrow it from a friend.

Post by **Sam** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:03 pm

A good start would be a set od BD cams from .5 to 3, one of each, that is .5, .75, 1, 2, 3. Combined with a set of stoppers, this small rack will get you up most short routes at the red. After that, I would double up on 1, 2 and 3 and add a number four. I find that I rarely take a number four on most trad routes but there are some places you will need it. That would give you the following: .5, .75, (2)1, (2)2, 3, 4. This rack would probably get you up most moderate trad routes at the Red. For the longer routes with more uniform cracks, such as (Africa and Andromeda Strain), it's nice sometimes to be tripled on the popular sizes (1, 2), doubled on .5 and .75, add some small stuff (.3, .4) and a #5. The smaller cams (.3, .4) are really nice when you start climbing harder stuff. My rack is basically the following and pretty much the most I could ever imagine needing: .3, .4, (2).5, (2).75, (3)1, (3)2, (2)3, 4, 5 plus two sets of stoppers. This is way overkill and I never take all of this stuff up a route at one time. If you plan on climbing hard trad in the future I would only buy BD cams (at least in the big sizes) because they have a larger expansion range and, although slightly heavier, I find they are much quicker to place when pumped. Good luck and have fun!