Tricams....A thing of the past?

Cor wrote:Barely being able to reach the pocket, I sink the pink! It was probably the only gear that would fit...

Having never aid climbed before (French free is still free, right?!?), why couldn't you use a hook? Downward-sloping pocket?

I like them for ice/mixed climbing. I even converted couple of partners onto them. They are the standard for the adventure rack along the pins.

From black to both yellows I don't think I've climbed a route without them. There is a route at my favorite crag that used all 4 of my pinks and both reds. Jim's Throne in pond bank can effectively be protected using only tricams... and 2&3 ballnut.

Though I have aspirations for a Yosemite route buuuuut no one ever mentions tricams... sooo... be a trailblazer?

Tricams are good stuff. Use them all the time.

bearbreeder wrote:i used them quite a bit on moderate long trad routes in the canadian rockies ... Cr@p limestone, chossy quartzite where you never know if a cam might pull ... not to mention suspect rock where you may not want to put too much outward force on big flakes and blocks of course you could just not place any gear and at all and do 100+ foot runnouts =P they are also great for less travelled routes where the cracks may not exactly be totally clean, having some dirt, moss, mud, and sometimes even ice in em .. not to mention its cheaper to bail off them than cams they are a cheap and fairly light piece of insurance for when yr not certain if you need more gear, or if you may need to leave gear behind ... the also take the place of larger size nuts the tape (and a plastic packing strip or straw underneath) is to stiffen them up so they can be placed one handed however this also increases the chance of them rattling out, so i always use a 60 cm extendible on em also remember that while you can place em one handed, its much harder to clean em one handed for the second ;)

Pretty much everything bearbreeder said. Which makes me feel pretty good about myself today since he's one of about 6 people on mountain project I tend to trust (yet verify).

1. Good in wet (and supposedly icy) cracks. Nice in muddy dirty cracks where you don't necessarily want to place a cam a) because it has moving parts and b) because cams can track out of such a crack. The mechanism of a tricam is totally different.

2. They protect pockets quite well. Things that cams simply can't protect.

3. They double as nuts. Even if you don't often place tricams, you can eschew big nuts and just carry a dual purpose tricam.

4. They mean in many cases you don't need cams at the belay. Even if you absolute hate placing and removing them on a route, you can use them at a belay, shaving a ton of weight off your rack by leaving doubles or triples at home.

5. Anything larger than pink often can be cleaned by hand. Sometimes faster than a cam.

6. Bailing on a $15 sale price tricam vs a $40-60 cam is an easy choice.

7. They work gear in horizontals and you don't have to worry about the stems getting kinked if you fall or take over an edge.

8. the old design that people would stiffen didn't walk much. The new design should be extended (although I tend to always extend them). That said, if it's a snug placement and set well, rarely do tricams walk.

9. when your noob second can't clean one, you are out $15 vs 60.

10. Like the guy above said, they can save a marriage. In my wifes case, she hates the way I bottle neck cams, she usually removes a tricam faster.

All in all. Not a sexy tool, but yes, if you learn how to use them, you have the correct type of rock for them, and you prefer the less is more approach, they are still pretty useful.

Couple pics to add to the thread...a couple of the CAMP USA gang were out scratching around last weekend...

doligo wrote:They are the standard for the adventure rack

+1
Have a set, used them with pleasure in the Sierra, Sequoia, Looking Glass eyebrows, knobby sandstone cracks. Usually place them on lower angle terrain, good for building anchors, and alpine bail gear.

CAMP USA wrote:Couple pics to add to the thread...a couple of the CAMP USA gang were out scratching around last weekend...

For the record, I followed/cleaned that pitch. When I came to that Tricam EVO placement I wanted to test its integrity, so I yanked it as hard as my Johnson without the slightest movement; bomber. With a quick poke of the nut tool to disengage the fulcrum point it popped right out. Then I giggled out loud. No other piece of gear would have worked, and it was the last opportunity for the next 40 ft.

Runout on a non-descript, seldom climbed spire in RMNP (which we later named An Ape Tit Grepon), I reached for a tricam only to realize they had all been used in the belay below. Not wanting fuss around too long trying to get a poor nut placement and knowing that my belayer was getting increasingly impatient (and quite thirsty I might add), I chose to Makers'do with what I had and move on to the top. If I had only just brought one more tricam, I could have saved this placement for a celebration on top...

Without the wax covering on the bottle neck, that placement is bunk.

Tricams where the only thing that worked for this anchor. I would say they are great to have.

I carry them on every pitch and yes, people are always like "WTF are those?!!?" I regularly use them for anchors so I can save cams for the actual climbing. Occasionally I will use them on the pitch if I've run out of the cam I need or if there's a super special placement.

In sum, a must have for any trad rack unless you feel like carrying triples of cams.

Tricams are great when they are great, but shit the rest of the time. Right?

My personal favorite tricam placement is on Apoplexy in the Gunks. You can get a pink tricam in this god awful orientation to provide (marginal) pro for an otherwise unprotected move. Shhh though, this is a 'secret' placement.

My partner just placed a red tricam at the start of the 2nd pitch on a route going up Artist Bluff in NH. Also a pink on the harness. Im a fan of the tricams, they come in handy more often then not especially on a lot of slab climbs thruout NH. I always have at least a pink and red on my harness

Aaaaaaand, if you're squeamish about guns in the house? You could beat somebody's ass very nicely with a yellow.

A.wilk wrote:Tricams are great when they are great, but shit the rest of the time. Right? My personal favorite tricam placement is on Apoplexy in the Gunks. You can get a pink tricam in this god awful orientation to provide (marginal) pro for an otherwise unprotected move. Shhh though, this is a 'secret' placement.

Its protectable by a cam if you dont mind not having a place to put your finger for the crux finger move. I learned the hard way.

;)

Todd Anderson wrote:Not sure if this was a "wish I had a tricam" or a "wish I were better at placing nuts" moment. frank could probably tell you. This climb starts in a hole/chasm between the climb and a detached block. I hit the block and continued into the chasm, but was stopped by my next piece. It also had a one-way trip to the warranty office. Okay technically that last photo was taken on a different day from the first two, but my placements were the same on both days.

Maybe it was better to lead it when persistent didn't have those tiny cams. Nuts seemed to work pretty well.

I carry a pink, red and blue and use one on about every pitch on the Flatirons so far. Very useful on horizontals and cracks that would put the cam stem over a sharp bend.

Making a safe belay on a rope stretcher in the Adirondacks. My partner above at the top of the cliff, I didn't have enough rope to get any further than this image. Tricams saved the day. Yep, those are green and grey, on a trad rack. Much lighter than two cams of similar expansion range. Oddly, I only placed a few pieced on this route in 200ft, the blue camalot was one that I would have needed to build at least a 2 point anchor, nothing else was secure aside from the tricams.

I usually lead anything under 5.6 in the Gunks on all passive unless a cam is a better option. You'd be surprised how many routes don't need cams to be safely led. Here is a full rack of heavy cams at the top of the pitch.

This is the traverse of that same pitch. All tricams, and a pin backed up with a micro nut. The choice of tricams was partially the flare of the crack and partially that it was filled with mud and dirt. Kept my Totems nice and smooth and protected my second (my wife) just fine.

Matthew Kennedy wrote: Runout on a non-descript, seldom climbed spire in RMNP (which we later named An Ape Tit Grepon), I reached for a tricam only to realize they had all been used in the belay below. Not wanting fuss around too long trying to get a poor nut placement and knowing that my belayer was getting increasingly impatient (and quite thirsty I might add), I chose to Makers'do with what I had and move on to the top. If I had only just brought one more tricam, I could have saved this placement for a celebration on top...

I'd take a pull on that to test its integrity.
Touche, Matt.

Mike-R wrote: Tricams where the only thing that worked for this anchor. I would say they are great to have.

I didn't notice the tricams because I was too distracted by the fact you use shoelaces to build an anchor.