Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:25 pm
word andrew...word up G....snap..peace out...damn straight...you da bomb..pimp daddy..raise the roof , yo....who's yer daddy?....god, I am old...
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:47 pm
Wes: Yeah, every time I've been on those two routes, it's been cams only. The blue Alien fits right around where the stopper gets dropped in on Synchronicity (I think, since I've never placed the stopper), and it holds a fall. Up high on Jack the Ripper, where Kris is placing the tipped-out #4 stopper in the old guidebook, I have a blue Alien, and I've taken many a fall on it where my feet are at or above the piece.
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:56 pm
Coolness, I was only on jtr once, and it just seemed like it ate stoppers up high much easier then cams, though I did place one tcu before the move out right to the anchors. But, I don't see myself doing synco without stoppers for the 2nd (low finger lock), 3rd (at the jug) and 4th (next jug) pieces of gear. Cams for the first as a directional, and for the rest of the route after the ledge. But, those stoppers just sink right in, and are slammer.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:54 am
Would love to see Serpent 5.10b R done all active, no tri-cams.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:49 pm
I think it depends on what you started off leading with. When I started climbing trad, it was with cams. I later got more comfortable placing passive pro at the New and on certain T-Wall routes, but most of the time if I place a passive piece, it's to save a cam for later on in the route. I lead Runnin' Down a Dream without any tri-cams; I bet Serpent can be done the same.
flint: What are the characteristics of a crack that will take a tri-cam but not a cam?
My trad rack started out as a set of stoppers, but quickly began to include cams when I realized how limited my options were without them. I never saw a reason to invest in tri-cams, and I've never been on a route and thought, "I really wish I had some tri-cams instead of all these cams."
It is pretty fun to have to figure out how to protect with passive gear when you run out of small cams, though. I had that experience on South Side of the Sky.
flint: What are the characteristics of a crack that will take a tri-cam but not a cam?
My trad rack started out as a set of stoppers, but quickly began to include cams when I realized how limited my options were without them. I never saw a reason to invest in tri-cams, and I've never been on a route and thought, "I really wish I had some tri-cams instead of all these cams."
It is pretty fun to have to figure out how to protect with passive gear when you run out of small cams, though. I had that experience on South Side of the Sky.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:55 pm
Yasmeen wrote:.....I never saw a reason to invest in tri-cams, and I've never been on a route and thought, "I really wish I had some tri-cams instead of all these cams."
It's all personal preference tho. Some people drive sports cars, some people drive old trucks, some people use grigri's, some don't.
Neither is right or wrong but a bomber horizontal tricam in granite or a slammer nut/hex will tickle me in ways cams don't.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:18 pm
[quote="Yasmeen"]I bet Serpent can be done the same.
flint: What are the characteristics of a crack that will take a tri-cam but not a cam?
[quote]
It's the face climb with shallow finger pockets and small hecos that are really great for tri-cams and very difficult, maybe possible though, with cams. Imagine a small 1 to 1 & 1/2 inch almost perfectly round hole that flares slightly toward the back. I can not imagine a cam in there, but a nice tricam will do the trick.
Tri-cams seem to be a big ticket item on the personal preference front. I personally love them, and usually throw two on a route, and they are a must have when I am building an anchor.
flint: What are the characteristics of a crack that will take a tri-cam but not a cam?
[quote]
It's the face climb with shallow finger pockets and small hecos that are really great for tri-cams and very difficult, maybe possible though, with cams. Imagine a small 1 to 1 & 1/2 inch almost perfectly round hole that flares slightly toward the back. I can not imagine a cam in there, but a nice tricam will do the trick.
Tri-cams seem to be a big ticket item on the personal preference front. I personally love them, and usually throw two on a route, and they are a must have when I am building an anchor.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:48 pm
Tricams work great in horizontal cracks that go into the rock at a very severe angel down. Unless you stuff the whole cam in there, which often isn't an option and 99% of the time a bad idea, the edge of the horizontal will be across the stem of the cam. Tricams work great in this situation. I have some very bent cams from NC to prove this.
Anyway, I rarely place passive gear in the red, but used it often in NC when I lived there. This thread is worthless anyway because sport climbing is king.
Anyway, I rarely place passive gear in the red, but used it often in NC when I lived there. This thread is worthless anyway because sport climbing is king.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:52 pm
I was just starting shit about the all cams rack but there is a lot of merit to it. More so than an all passive rack in the red which I started out with. I had many dicey leads on that damn passive rack where nuts or hexes lifted out and I was looking at a ground fall on hard terrain.
On the flip side, through the years I have done maybe 160 trad routes in the red. Most of them have been done all cams, were enjoyable and seemed safe. For years I brought the nuts but never used them. Maybe it's just what I have gotten on. I do love a bomber nut more than anything but I just don't find many in the gorge where a cam won't work adequate.
On the flip side, through the years I have done maybe 160 trad routes in the red. Most of them have been done all cams, were enjoyable and seemed safe. For years I brought the nuts but never used them. Maybe it's just what I have gotten on. I do love a bomber nut more than anything but I just don't find many in the gorge where a cam won't work adequate.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:04 pm
ok serious question? Now that I am getting old and crusty and forced to consider climbing more easy gear routes at the red. Isn't it the case that small passive pro, ie small nuts and such tend to rip out of the soft sandstone at the Red? Wouldn't cams be the best option in soft sandstone?