RRC Archives

alien2 wrote:Can I get a rf on my nuts?

yeah but penicillin should take care of it.

While I agree that the color coding is silly and pretentious, the green area that you call "over-cammed" is exactly where small units have the most bite. Cams are parabolic curves, not circles or elipses. The smaller the piece, the better it is to have it cranked down. After falling on HUNDREDS of small pieces, I stand as evidence that small pieces, cranked to almost the point of no more trigger action, hold better than small cams in mid -range. Third paty, empirical evidence also bears this out.

SCIN wrote:That sounds pretty gay. How do they account for the difference in the type of stone? For example, in the Red there is almost no such thing as an overcammed placement whereas in granite there is almost no such thing as an undercammed placement.

You may not have climbed enough granite to say that. There is much granite that is highly water polished and cams need to be cranked way down to have a chance of holding.

Again, the curves are parabolas, they amount of force delivered is not dependant on rock type. In addition, the manufacturer, Metolius, goes out of their way to explain this: that rock type affects placements, and that no amount of color coding or tech reading can make up for experience in placing gear and skill in determining risk.

The curves are logarithmic spirals. This allows the cams to always contact the rock at the same angle regardless of camming range. Different manufacturers use different angles. The angle affects holding force and camming range.
Very small units (yes, I know I have one. But, I have a large rack) have a very narrow range. It is always better to overcam a small unit than undercam because any change in the placement could allow it to become compromised.

placing a cam, no matter who makes it, is something that has to be looked at on many different levels. it is impossible to list the different things that affect thier holding power. i touched on this subject before in a different thread, and must agree with the response i got then that there is really no such thing as over camming (unless you can't remove it). cams make trad climbing easier than it was in the past but it also makes it dangerous for new climbers because unlike popular belief you can' t always plug a cam and go! gear placement the last gumby filter our sport has.

Two of my cams have broken trigger wires,so I sent metoliuos an email.They
answered right away and will fix them and replace the slings for $8. Not bad.
I will keep everyone posted about how it goes. On one hand I am disapointed that more than one has broken,but maybe I misstreated them.

I've had to replace several trigger wires on my Camalots many times. Occassionally they get torn or frayed. Black Diamond sells a trigger replacement kit. Perhaps it is possible to repair the trigger cables on the Metolius cams also. I don't know if they sell similar kits. Usually we take a few big trips out west each year to climb multi-pitch trad classics. Prior to those adventures all of the gear is inspected, cleaned, and repaired. Also, when I was in Yosemite they had a cam repair specialist who was very quick and inexpensive.

Those damn fatigue stresses. I also check all my gear before a big or tough climb. I had a #4 camalot blow a wire after I ran out 20ft on Osiris in Lumpy and went to plug it in. Had to fumble a bit and jam the thing in while fighting Elvis leg from fear. Removal by the second was tough. They tend to break at the swage point. If you see any broken strands in the cable replace immediately. I think I paid $5 per trigger kit, which is easy to do yourself. Just need wire cutters and a needle nose pliers.