Big Stoppers, should I bring them on multipitch?
|
the new tricams have much stiffer straps to allow for overhead placing and I forsee it'll make them even easier to clean, plus they are tapering the sides now so like a nut, where you can place the primary way or on the tapered edges. |
|
Wow, seriously? Have I really turned into an old fart? There's nothing like a well-placed #11 - 13 stopper that you can hang a truck off of to inspire confidence. Fewer worries about things like walking or rotating out of place or relying on spring tension or a dozen other things. Also, as has been noted, good for anchors to save cams for the lead. Though I'm a also a big fan of Tri-cams since they work where nothing else does, I don't see them as a replacement but rather as a supplement to the large nuts on my rack. To each their own though I suppose. |
|
Took all my stoppers up a route at Joshua Tree today, and used the 11, 12, and 13 in the anchor at the top. |
|
I like having my biggest stoppers, and find that I do place them, however I used to climb with a guy who wouldn't take a stopper bigger than a number 11. His reasoning was that you could turn the 11 sideways and it was as big as the 13. |
|
Do the multipitches that you do have bolted belays? I think large nuts are good for setting up anchors, instead of using up your finger sized cams on belays. |
|
I love the dmm offset nuts, they fit every where! |
|
My rack will change depending on the route. I for one get lazy eyes finding passive placements when I have cams in the same size range. At least a couple times a season I will climb with only nuts and tricams. It really tunes my eyes and adds a different feel to a route. |
|
I'm not a big tricam fan, but I continually try to like them better. Replacing some of the larger stoppers with them really does make a lot of sense. Over the years I've used them quite a bit, and I know of some flaring horizontals in the Gunks that will not take anything else. They make excellent passive nuts, and they fit places cams won't because of a much narrower head width than any comparable cam. The same narrowness makes them effective in shallow vertical slots that a cam won't go in to. |
|
I have always loved Tricams. I also always carried a fist full of wires, since you could carry a lot of options for very little weight. I had an eclectic collection of stoppers, brassies, HB,s DMM,s , etc..., but my fav piece was an old style, circa 1973 #7 stopper on blue 1" tubular webbing... Overlapped my #2 Trike... |
|
I can totally see replacing big stoppers with tricams now that I've been Gunk climbing for a few years. |
|
Just noticed CAMP redesigned the smaller Tricams (now called Tricam Evo) with tapered sides so you can place them in a third orientation as well as stiffer slings... http://www.cleveroutdoorgear.com/2012/08/camp-tricam-evo.html backcountrygear.com/tricam-… |
|
Unfortunately, those stiff slings are going to make horizontal placements worse. |
|
I love tricams as well. I had not seen those tapered tricams. I am going to have to check those out. I also use the wired cams by diamont. They are easy to place with one hand and can fit basically any where an equavilant cam can be used. Down side is they have no passive placement. They are basically another lighter version of a cam with less moving parts. |
|
Tom Howes wrote:Use more passive gear at your belays.+1 |
|
Use what you need(or have). Nothing beats a big fat stopper. |
|
Camp doesnt even have anything on their website about these new tricams??? You think they would have a cool video and a bunch of hype like BD has done with the X4. |
|
rgold wrote:Unfortunately, those stiff slings are going to make horizontal placements worse.I don't think the sling is going to affect the horizontals that much. some yes, but just not that much. The big thing Camp was thinking with the sling is to allow overhead placements like nuts (big reach), and that its going to do very well. |