Building a rack

If you were to build a trad rack from scratch where would you start in terms of choosing active protection? I've been borrowing my partners' cams up until now, but I'm ready to drop money on my own set. I was considering the following:

Small:
Metolius TCUs (light, more affordable)
Black Diamond C3s (read the nice review posted here)
Aliens (have read good reviews about them but am concerned about the recall early this year)

Med:
Metolius Ultralight Power Cams (light, more affordable)
Black Diamond "New" Cams (wider range of placements, though heavier and more expensive)

Any input on these or other cams would be appreciated. Thanks.
-Kateri

My ideal rack if starting from scratch would be the following. This is a "complete" rack imo, one that could give a typical tradster alot of mileage. Obviously you might not need to bring everything on one climb.

Set of steel BD micronuts
Set of BD nuts, doubles in the 5-9 size
1 x green C3
2 x green alien
2 x yellow alien
2 x red alien
2 x 0.5 camalot
2 x 0.75 camalot
2 x 1 camalot
2 x 2 camalot
2 x 3 camalot
1 x 4 camalot

I have a full set of the C3s, but rarely place any except the green C3. The aliens just get more mileage. But I place the green C3 alot. It is an awesome piece, and fits in nicely when a green alien is too big.

Yes other cams are lighter and cheaper than Camalots, but they're the best - and worth the expense and weight imo.

Kateri,

Here's what I would recommend:

• Aliens (green, yellow, red). Despite their quality-control problems, I prefer Aliens to anything else in the small-cam range. The Black Diamond C3s are nice, too. The four-cam Aliens are a bit more stable than the three-cam C3s, and have a more flexible cable, so they are less subject to rotation from rope movement. As long as you get the newest Aliens stamped "Tensile Tested" on the swage, you shouldn't have any concerns about reliability. But if you get BD C3s, I'm sure you'd be happy with them.
• Camalots (#.75, #1, #2, #3). C4 Camalots rule for mid-size to larger cams. Double-axle design, two clipping points (cable loop or sling), ergonomic trigger.

These are the basics. After that, as budget allows, you could get the following:

• Aliens (black, blue, gray). The black and blue Aliens are quite small, but sometimes that's all you can get. I don't use them as much as the larger sizes. The gray Alien is a useful size between the yellow and red.
• Camalots #0.5 and #4. The #0.5 Camalot is about the same size as a red Alien, but a bit wider. This is a very useful cam size, so it doesn't hurt to have duplicates. The #4 Camalot will expand your range to fist and slightly larger than fist cracks. I don't always carry it, but sometimes it's very handy.

Some other gear notes:

• I like Mammut Dyneema 8mm 24" slings for trad runners. Light and strong. I've had mine for 3 years and they show little wear. A recent failure report shows that there might be problems girth-hitching these slings, but they're great as extendable trad runners.
• I like Trango Superfly wiregate biners. Light and strong. Lighter and bigger gate opening than the BD Neutrinos. Put these on Dyneema slings for a set of super-light and strong trad runners.
• The Trango Superfly Screwlock and Black Diamond Positron Screwgate are very light and strong locking carabiners. The BD Positron has a keylock gate; I use it on my "quickdraw with two lockers" and on my Metolius Personal Anchor System.
• I like keylock biners for racking my gear, like the DMM Shield or the Wild Country Helium. No gate notch to hang up on the gear sling or on the wire loops on wired nuts. Some people don't like them because it's easier for wired nuts to slide off the biner, so check them out and see what you think.

Have fun buying your new gear!

i've had the hookup for about a decade now, and while metolius seems to really put alot of energy into having people climb on their cams (i.e. they give an extraordinary seasonal pro-deal), i find myself selling off these and getting the new bd's...

they are simply the best...and weight ain't that much different than others now...

i will still keep a set or two of metolius around since they seem to fill in the gaps (especially the #2 and #4)...and the fatty's are awesome in the desert...

i would add at least a set of the 'mileage' numbers in HB offsets (might as well get the whole set)...they seem to be my favorite nut

the metolius astros and aids seem to be awesome micro nuts too...

of course the metolius TCU's are a staple...

i don't much like the C3s yet...but, they seem to be growing on me, especially when aiding...i would still make sure to have a set of TCU's though...

aliens are great but...i find more stuck alien booty than anything else...no cam stops either???

Thanks for the excellent advice everyone! Makes my decision much easier - I'm going with the Aliens and Camalots.

I like to mix brands on my rack cause sometimes one may fit just a little better in a certain crack. On my rack I double my Camalots with Friends...Plus I find it good to use a wide variety whenever possible so I feel comfortable using someone elses rack.

The Elusive Aliens... Apparently these are hard to get a hold of. Neptune has some in stock, though none of the green. REI has zero. Just found out CAMP bought out CCH and there is a manufacturing delay. Might have to pick up the BD C3's for now.

Kateri Ann,

Locally, check the Bent Gate in Golden. Their website says they have the blue, gray, and red Aliens in stock.

On the Internet, check Mountain Tools. You can send an email to Larry or call them at 800-510-2514 to see if they have any in stock.

You might also check out Wilderness Exchange in Denver (across from the REI mother ship), they often have cosmetic 2nds for 15-20% off.

Consider some of the small (passive) tricams as well. They work well and are a lot less painful to leave if you have to.

Wilderness Exchange had a used green Alien for sale last week. They also have a huge selection of cosmetic blem C4 Camalots, which is a great way to save some money. (Edit: Should have read last post, sorry John).

I have used most types of cams over the years but now only use Aliens and C4 Camalots. I think it is easier to stick with just a few types of cams to make it easier to know what piece will fit in what sized crack. After a while you will look at the crack and know what piece fits before even placing it.

Don't forget the beauty of tricams. They take a little more effort to learn how to use and a little more experience (very little) to place properly but provide lightweight versatile protection and are cheap. I wouldn't go out with at least the pink and red and brown and blue come in just as handy.

I, too, am a tricam fan. I carry the five smallest (pink, red, brown, purple, blue: 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5) on my rack. Great for pockets, horizontal cracks, sharply tapering cracks, and building belay anchors when you want to save your cams for the next lead.

Thanks to an e-mail tip from another Mtn Proj user, Backcountry Escape in Longmont also has some Aliens in stock including a few hybrids.

Tricams are on the shopping list now - I appreciate the input in those.

Kateri Ann

I would add some hex’s to that list for similar reasons as the tri-cams and in the right placement they are quick and easy to place. Some where on the site, I saw a comment from a sand stone climber who preferred the hex as stronger than cams in soft stone. Also on this site is a thread on having safety gear and a back up plan in case you have to bail. I would carry a 7,8,9 hex if things go wrong you can start leaving hex’s and tri-cams.

The standard rack imo would be: #1-4 RP size nuts one set #1-9 nuts, the four smallest tri-cams, 7-9 hex, #1-4 four Metolius TCU, #1-4 Black Diamond 4 cams, #1-4 including ½ sizes Wild Country Friends or equivalent. In all you have 30 pieces of gear from tiny to large with a good number of doubles in the middle. That gives you a little bit of every thing and should be enough to do a lot multi-pitch climbs. Later you could add some Aliens in the smaller sizes, if you like wide stuff some bigger cams.

For runners I would start with the basic shoulder slings and biners learn to triple shorten the runners as medium draws and then they can be lengthened when needed. Then if you like sport climbing you can add some nicer quick draws.

As long as we're opening up the discussion to include non-camming stuff, I'd second Tim's comment above. I like Wild Country Rockcentrics. I've owned and used hexes for quite awhile (back to my drilled Chouinards on perlon), but I find the Rockcentrics cleaner to place and remove; their curved surfaces seem to slot and hold better. Whatever the brand, if you're climbing in an area (like Eldo) where the cracks neck down rapidly, or open up inside (negatively flared?), hexes are often more secure than cams.