little gear and falling...

Any discussion of "is it good?" gear comes down to a tautology: "it's good if it's bomber!"

The only other variable that I don't think has been covered yet is, have you checked if the placement will work for a 4 cam unit, as opposed to a TCU? Four lobes are obviously always better than three on the rock.

I've actually got a project right now that I'm trying to get the balls up to lead; I've only TR'd it. 20 feet of unprotected, hardish climbing, up to a strenuous-to-place but good 0 Metolius, which is the only piece of gear keeping you off the deck for the crux. I really hope it is a good piece.

Well this is a productive thread!!!

Like said above if you can equalize do it. Remebmer to reset the piece if you do fall. If you don't you're asking for trouble.

We took multiple falls on a purple tcu and a black alien recently and never had a piece rip. Broke the camstop on the tcu but it still held. If I'm gonna run it out on tiny stuff I often place two pieces and equalize them with a sliding x or just place all the small gear I have and know that they can't all come out. Try putting in a good nut, ball nut, or even the new tiny tricam above the last cam. I'm willing to bet you won't even pull out your "ripper piece."

The tiny Tri-Cam is bomber.

The white Tricam is only 3 KN, the placement may stay in but the sling will probably break..I'm only saying this cause I watched it happen,w about 70 feet of rope out, a 10 foot fall ( which then turned into 25) and a fairly soft catch (ATC + much lighter belayer)

There's some good advice on this thread.

Just place the best gear you can the best you can then forget about it and concentrate on the climbing.

The OO and O tcus are rated 5kn, the equivalent size C3s are 6kn and 7kn respectively. A #5 Stopper is only 6kn.

They are plenty strong enough to hold falls. I've whipped on all of them. Biggest issue with the small cams is, as someone said above, there isn't much leeway between tipped out and fully engaged. In very parallel sided cracks, no issue, in very irregular or grainy rock it can be a big deal getting a good placement.

Set more than one piece, use screamers, whatever...it's the std bag of tricks. If you're really in doubt, set the piece(s), lower in from above and drop a haulbag full of water/rocks/etc from the crux onto the piece.

Or go climb another route. At the end of the day it's just a rock climb.

I've taken a 6 foot fall on a 00 Mastercam and it was bomber. It's not a very big fall but it's better than it would have been if I hadn't placed gear. Get some micro nuts to back it up

Definitely equalize.

I would be the most concerned about the rock that you are climbing on. I redpointed a route 2 weeks ago that had nothing but 0 cams and below for 15 feet throughout the crux. But, it was on nice hard basalt that wouldn't flex under lobe pressure and thus I wasn't worried at all. Every cam that I placed would have held a whipper.

Eric D wrote:Definitely equalize. I would be the most concerned about the rock that you are climbing on. I redpointed a route 2 weeks ago that had nothing but 0 cams and below for 15 feet throughout the crux. But, it was on nice hard basalt that wouldn't flex under lobe pressure and thus I wasn't worried at all. Every cam that I placed would have held a whipper.