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my son's birthday is soon. he wants to start a rack. what would be your advice on gear for climbing at the red? keeping a budget in mind. nothing off width. starting very easy climbs. cams, nuts, hexs. any help is much appreciated.

BD Stoppers 4-12
Tri Cams .5, 1, 1.5, 2
Camalots .4, .5, .75, 1, 2, 3
Wild Country Hexes (On Dyneema) 7, 8,9

Adding onto Legions list...
Aliens (yellow, green, and red) and some extra locking biners and four-foot slings too. Also, draws or more slings and biners.

dude, why does everyone recommend getting tri cams as a starter rack? those things are so jingus! skibum, don't listen to anyone who tells you to buy tricams. you are never going to find a placement where a nut or cam won't work, but a tri cam will. i bought some when i first started climbing, but you know where the are? i have no idea and i don't care. buy another cam instead. oh yeah, screw the hexes too unless you have to have a full rack right now and want to look back in a few years and tell someone that you wasted your money. otherwise, save your hex and tricam money and buy more cams.

I edited your post, Ho.

Since you are in Cincy you might want to check out the Self-propelled Outdoorsman http://www.self-propelled.com/Merchant2 ... re_Code=sp He has less selection but great prices. I am partial to the Hugh Banner Quadcams that he carries because I like their trigger set-up.

I’ve been working closely with Trango over the last few months. I have come to appreciate their pricing and quality. I will say, I was disappointed on the wobbliness of the large cams when placing. I have been informed that a new design addresses this issue with the new models to be released in June. I haven’t seen then yet, but I’m trying to hold off replacing some of the gear lost in the fire, until then. John Haight up at Cave Run is carrying the line, 606-784-1818. I do like the smaller cams, brassies and ball/nuts

I agree about hexes,Ho ,but I disagree about the tricams.I use them alot on easier routes.They do go where nothing else sits right and they are handy for building anchors when you already used stuff that size ,leading up. You only need the smallest 4.

Alright Ho
If I was putting a rack together just for the red and budget didn't matter I would go cams all the way. But since skibum is not on an unlimited budget I think that the money would be better spent on tricams/hexes.
Since the 4 tricams and 3 hexes I listed cost roughly as much as 2 camalots tell me what two cams would you replace them with and still have a versitile rack???

I am not a huge fan of either tricams or hexes but they definitely have their place - especially on metamorphic rock - and they are inexpensive and light.

Those tri-cams sure fit into a lot of pockets where nuts and cams cant go. Lots of pockets in the red. I'd get double an the first three tricams. I agree with camalots - they are heavey but work really well and have a nice range.