Totem vs. Fixe Aliens

Ryan Watts wrote: Slick rock like...Yosemite granite? Yeah no one uses aliens there good point.

Um.... Yosemite granite is certainly NOT slick rock!!! I'm astounded that you would think that it is. It is course grained and grippy as hell compared to many/most fine grained rocks. Sure Yosemite might be more slick than other course grained rocks, but it is still a long way from anything 'slick'.

I do agree though that aliens are quite suited to Yosemite rock. It is rough and thus works well with the softer lobes and less conservative camming angles of aliens. It also has some flaring cracks where large camming angles are advantageous if grip levels are high.

It was polished by glaciers...and yeah it's slick. Slicker than city of rocks, j tree...ever notice how long you can hand jam without having to tape your hands? Oh...you tape your hands when you climb? Oh. Well, cool. That's really neat.

Maurice Chaunders wrote:It was polished by glaciers...and yeah it's slick. Slicker than city of rocks, j tree...ever notice how long you can hand jam without having to tape your hands? Oh...you tape your hands when you climb? Oh. Well, cool. That's really neat.

I've never taped my hands in Yosemite. And I absolutely agree that it is smoother than j tree, no arguments there. I also rarely tape my hands for cracks, not that it is relevant.

But Yosemite granite is still a course grained rock aka (intrusive igneous rock) and thus it's surface is far rougher than most fine grain rocks (extrusive igneous rock).

Try climbing on quartzite or basalts or other fine grained rock.

Maurice Chaunders wrote:It was polished by glaciers...and yeah it's slick. Slicker than city of rocks, j tree...ever notice how long you can hand jam without having to tape your hands? Oh...you tape your hands when you climb? Oh. Well, cool. That's really neat.

The concept that the insides of cracks in Yosemite are polished by glaciers is intriguing.
"Slick" is a wet 5.6 crack in a classic route on Euro limestone.

Jim Titt wrote: The concept that the insides of cracks in Yosemite are polished by glaciers is intriguing.

Hehehee, really small glaciers! ;-)

Don't know about Totem Basic cams stock, but recently I've bought a full set of regular, new design Totem cams to remind me that it's XXI century actually - every time I touch them... Design & finish is SO great!

Bought them directly from Totem, and the shipping took only five days.

That's to post-revolution Ukraine, with semi-working border customs.

Dealing with Unai was a pleasure. Timely answers, and always to the point. He even gave me 10% discount and free shipping. Packaging was also bomber.

Yes they're holding fine on just three lobes. Haven't tested two lobes yet. And the ONLY downside, albeit small one, is they're somewhat more bulky when racked. Maximum I can carry on one gear loop of my BD Xenos is 7, but, as I like to have my DMM hexes and beaks on frontal "ice clippers", make that six.

Will buy another set when more sizes will be available.

Man you take stuff seriously. Shouldn't you be out climbing?

Locker wrote:This is not quoting me. Re-read what I wrote and you should be able to figure it. "@QUOTE{Locker}" To listen to a lot of you wing nuts one could wonder by there aren't 20 is also ineffective." The fact of the matter is that on slick rock you are putting yourself at greater risk with cams with a high camming angle like aliens."

No Locker. You have managed to make as little sense in this second post as you did the first post.

Congratulations that is quite an achievement.

patto wrote: No Locker. You have managed to make as little sense in this second post as you did the first post. Congratulations that is quite an achievement.

Patto= not terribly bright. I think the rest of us understood both posts.

Bump -

Any update on favorite sizes on the Totem non-alien version? I'm thinking about busting out the REI 20% off and trying one of these out. I love the green/yellow aliens and typically use some of those in conjunction with master cams up to orange and start with BDs at .75 and up. I'd like to add one of these to the mix - what do you folks think these are the most effective/often placed sizes?

I realize different areas tend to favor particular sizes.. I get a lot of mileage out of the above aliens up to about .75 C4s around here (NC) along with C4 1s and 2s.

We just lost an end-cap (the metal piece on the end of the axle that holds the lobes on) for our green Fixe alien.  Any ideas on best avenue for repair?  It's a few seasons old but otherwise still in good condition.

We have all Fixe aliens through red.  Although we don't climb hard they do get used quite a bit and are holding up well thus far.  Thankfully we never got rid of our old Metolius cams so we have something to fill in while we wait for a repair.

**Update - we have been helped**

Is it just the Evo and Revo that are shoddy?  Are the contemporary purchases of the "Fixe Originals" soundly built?

what about the metal hardness? I like how Fixe aliens are that soft metal, I know it makes them less durable, but they place easier than all the harder metal cams that I've used IMHO

The company as a whole appears to have some major quality control issues.  Totems use soft metal as well but are much better made.  The issues Fixe cams have been having have nothing to do with the cam metal.