What's a good off width rack for Indian creek?

I recently got my first trip in to the creek. I saw some really nice looking off widths, but didn't get on them due to being light on the bigger gear. I'm wondering what some of the off width crowd would consider a good standard wide rack for the creek, and is it pretty easy to find other partners for the wide stuff? 

It's normal to bump cams a long ways while you are doing an offwidth, so you don't typically need a ton of big cams. Obviously comfort levels vary but a lot of people are comfortable bumping one #6 for 30 feet or so. One cam per section of that size. For example, https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105877824/low-cholesterol climbs just fine with a single #4, two #5s and a single #6 (it starts at #5 size for a bit, then widens to #6, then pinches back down to #5).

I have two #5s and a #6 and don't find that too limiting. It is a bit harder to find wide partners because a lot of people don't like/suck at it, but they do exist. And a lot of climbers have a #5 anyway since it gets used quite a bit in the desert.

If I am going out for the day, and might climb off width I bring: 4.5, 5, old 5, 6.

If I am going out for the day, and I know I am climbing off width that day I bring: 

4.5, 5, 5, 5, old 5, 6, 6, 7, and maybe 8

I bump my cams a lot and depending on the route put a lot of distance between them. Not every route favors bumping as much as others.

Edit: send me a message next time you are out here and we can get on some wide stuff if you want to lead them haha.

i think Cory N's list is pretty good.  If I had a particular OW in mind, and it was in "standard OW range" eg. new 5 to new 6 camalot i would probably bring 3 each and bump forever.  maybe if it is a long pitch i might bring a few more and pull them up with a tag line.  if it is bigger than "standard OW range" i would usually bring 1 each #9 and #12 valley giant, and two each big bros.  again, if it is really long i would bring a bit more and pull up with a tagline.

one good thing about OW's is that often there will be people at the crag who have a big piece or two, and most people would sure as hell rather lend a piece and TR it than lead it (and rightfully so, because leading an OW is a lot more of a clusterfuck that TR'ing it).

I thought friends don’t let friends climb off width. 

I'll hit you up next time I'm out there Cory, I like climbing the wide stuff. I just have doubles in 4's and 5's and singles up to 8 plus a couple big bros. I would like to get another six, and maybe some more big bros at some point. I seem to get by just fine with that elsewhere, but some of the routes I was looking at on the Sinbad wall seemed fairly wide and long. I like to bump cams also, but I would rather not get too runout first go around out there. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

I thought friends don’t let friends climb off width. 

If you want to climb offwidths at the Creek it helps to climb with friends with big friends, camalots, bigbros, valley giants and...

Make friends, go climb offwidths together. Share cams.

mountainhickwrote:

If you want to climb offwidths at the Creek it helps to climb with friends with big friends, camalots, bigbros, valley giants and...

Make friends, go climb offwidths together. Share cams.

And blood borne pathogens!

Colonel Mustardwrote:

And blood borne pathogens!

LOL. Never climb with anyone else! You might get cooties!

Weekend warriors need triples at most (5,6). With the amount of bumping in offwidth you generally don't need more than 3 of any size for a single pitch in IC. 

But before you commit to buying triples of offwidth gear you should try a few offwidths...there is a reason they don't get climbed as often. 

mountainhickwrote:

LOL. Never climb with anyone else! You might get cooties!

Use protection!

I'm basing this on leading Big Guy and Big Baby at Scarface and Battle of the Bulge, respectively - 

Agree with folks talking about bumping. Having two pieces in a size to bump along can be very comfortable for long distances while still having redundancy, though definitely easier to just bump one and leave pieces every so often to comfort just in case you start to get towards being tipped or otherwise mess up the placement while bumping. 

2x5 was fine for those but for Big Guy I did place the third 5 I borrowed to keep it more sewn up. One #6 would be ok on those but for Big Baby I was really happy to have borrowed a second 6 since it was longer in that size (even with doing the full climb on Big Guy) and had some crack wiggliness that made it harder to just bump through. 

If I was spending more time down that way I'd definitely inclined to get a second 6.  

(I also have an old 3.5, a new 4, and two old 4s, though I don't feel like that's particularly necessary. The old sizes are nice in betweens but 2-3ish #4s would do fine)

An instagram account seems to be the most crucial necessity for Indian Creek offwidth.

Andrew Gramwrote:

An instagram account seems to be the most crucial necessity for Indian Creek offwidth.

FACTS.

What good is climbing if you can’t spray about it on your social? #offwidth

The one benefit to the OW craze is that the booty you get on OW is particularly good. We all gotta start somewhere.