Weight vs. Gear

I am new to trad climbing and am a bigger built guy at 220lb. I am wondering how my weight will effect falling on smaller gear like a 0 or 00 Mastercams or C3s. Is there any gear i should stay away from. I currently have C4s .5-3 and Mastercams 1-4.

A lot of factors go into how much force is exerted on a piece. These include (not limited to) the amount of slack in line, rated elongation of rope, type of belay device, weight of belayer, knot type, fallen on knot, etc. If you look at Wild Country rated (kn) they are rated a few kn above bd c4's of comparable size. Reason is that the dual axis cam affords for greater range but loses holding strength.
I think you will be fine; if you are concerned you can practice having your belayer give you a "cushioned" fall. This is done by jumping up as the leader falls. A "sport loop" helps absorb energy as well, if the situation accepts. You can also equalize two pieces if you are sketched. Sling healthy trees, they are as bomber as bolts.

rickpat wrote:I am new to trad climbing and am a bigger built guy at 220lb. I am wondering how my weight will effect falling on smaller gear like a 0 or 00 Mastercams or C3s. Is there any gear i should stay away from. I currently have C4s .5-3 and Mastercams 1-4.

To answer your question, yes you will have an issue falling on 00 and 0 Mastercams. Those pieces are not only designed for aid climbing, they are only rated to 5 kN. Weighing 220 lbs. it would be extremely easy to exceed the rated strength of those cams, even with a low impact force rope. However the 00 and 0 cams arnt even designed to hold falls in the first place, Metolius lists them as aid pieces. Your best defense at limiting the impact force on the top piece is to use a low impact force rope. However with your weight and a high dynamic elongation rope, you could experience some ridiculously long fall distances so take that into account when choosing a rope.

Ty Harlacker wrote:If you look at Wild Country rated (kn) they are rated a few kn above bd c4's of comparable size. Reason is that the dual axis cam affords for greater range but loses holding strength.

The dual axle doesnt affect holding strength. That's controlled by the cam angle. The dual axle just adds range at the expense of heavier weight.

bwalt822 wrote: The dual axle doesnt affect holding strength. That's controlled by the cam angle. The dual axle just adds range at the expense of heavier weight.

And barely adds range at that. What is it, like only 20% range increase because of the axle? The reason BD has a huge range is their cam angle is high

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

No matter the gear, big or small you will generate greater force than someone half your size most of the time. As some have pointed out, there are a lot of factors to force, and ways to mitigate it, but as a rule of thumb you will generate more force than smaller individuals so stack the odds in your favor.

I had a climbing partner who taught me a lot 20 years ago. A big guy. When in doubt, moving into a crux or about to run it out - double it up. I don't worry about my 100lb wife on less than perfect placements as much as I would worry about my 170lb carcass.

2 cents.

PT

Pretty much all of the forces in climbing (or any gravity related situation) scale linearly with weight. This means that someone half your weight will always generate half of the force for an identical situation. You can draw your own conclusions from that as the situation warrants. 220 lbf is approximately 1 kN.