Stuck Gear!

My cam got stuck in a crack, up the Ice Cream Parlor, Moab UT, on the first easy crack on the left, The Corner Crack.

I live in Moab and anyone recovers it will be rewarded!

It's a blue X-Climb cam

BOOTY!

Just kidding... Try dousing it with water and coming back the next day. On sandstone you can often get some movement this way. Bring a couple nut tools and wire a coat hanger too

I assume that, living in moab, you know that dousing it in water is a terrible idea and will perminately damage the rock. If it absolutely won't move, cut it out with a hack saw... Or just leave it for someone more determined.

Eh, if it's a toss up between scratching the rock on the inside of a crack, or not getting my $50 piece of aluminum back, I would scratch the rock.

Your lucky no one is going to want to booty a climb-x cam.

heh!!! What is wrong with a X Cam??! I don't mind anyone taking it! It is a trophy of an easy climb!

X-climb cam.... Yeah you should probably just forget about it. That's $25 you will never see again.

There's a reason those cams are so much cheaper than other brands. They don't have a cam stop on the trigger and they walk really easily if they are given the chance. I had a trango flex cam do the same thing, took me 10 minutes to remove by individually working the lobes with my fingers. Please do NOT use water and ruin the rock over a cheap "off brand" cam.

So, why would just putting a little water in damage the rock? Just from wiggling the cam on wet sandstone?

Also, is it better to just leave a stuck cam in the crack forever instead of damaging the rock some?

It WAS actually a cheap one. probably 30$ brand new after some discount (maybe 50%!)

Damaging the rock is not an option, seriously!

My last try would be hammering it and getting rid of it completely!

Amir-Ch wrote:Damaging the rock is not an option, seriously! My last try would be hammering it and getting rid of it completely!

Try pulling on the springs, one at a time, with a LONG pair of surgical forceps. If that won't work, snip 'em and be glad you're not "That Guy" who would alter a route to save a (cheap) cam.
-Mackley
P.S. It's sandstone, "Just say NO, to H2o."

i think climbing mag did an article in the back yellow pages about how to get stuck gear out.

i'm not super familiar with the xclimb cams, but no offense....they sound like springloaded turds, buys some slings to extend them and they won't walk into cracks as often.

if you can't get it out, just remember, you get what you pay for. if you buy $35 cams to save on the front end, think about how many whips you'll take and how much time you'll spend fucking around with it. there are usually people getting rid of used metolius and bd cams on here for 30-50 bucks

good luck

ze_dirtbag wrote:if you can't get it out, just remember, you get what you pay for. if you buy $35 cams to save on the front end, think about how many whips you'll take and how much time you'll spend fucking around with it.

DannyUncanny wrote: By far the most common welded cam I have come across is also the most expensive: OP Link Cam.

So, Amir-Ch, did you get your gear back?

Nope! It is still there! I only have weekends to go out! I will check it out on Saturday.

if you have stoppers you can use 2 of them and put the looped end of the wires over your triggers. I found that this typically works better than a nut tool or other methods.

Aaron Livingston wrote:if you have stoppers you can use 2 of them and put the looped end of the wires over your triggers. I found that this typically works better than a nut tool or other methods.