Creating a Trad Rack for Boulder area

Avery I dislike the dynemma tricams because the webbing is too flimsy. Basically when your holding the cam by the sling and flip the head over it doesn't stay upright for easy placement. It becomes a problem mainly with pink and red because the cracks your placing them in are usually smaller than your fingers so you have to depend on the stiffness in the webbing. Its one of those things you don't think about until you get your shinny new toys up on a climb and start cussing half way up a pitch because the damn gear won't cooperate. As for the question about hexes I agree with others here that you might hold off on that purchase unless you plan on doing quite a bit of back country. If you do get some I'm a fan of the Rockcentrics from Wild Country. I rarely use the smallest two so if you buy individually you might considering leaving those out of the set.

Joshua Blake wrote:Avery I dislike the dynemma tricams because the webbing is too flimsy. Basically when your holding the cam by the sling and flip the head over it doesn't stay upright for easy placement. It becomes a problem mainly with pink and red because the cracks your placing them in are usually smaller than your fingers so you have to depend on the stiffness in the webbing. Its one of those things you don't think about until you get your shinny new toys up on a climb and start cussing half way up a pitch because the damn gear won't cooperate. As for the question about hexes I agree with others here that you might hold off on that purchase unless you plan on doing quite a bit of back country. If you do get some I'm a fan of the Rockcentrics from Wild Country. I rarely use the smallest two so if you buy individually you might considering leaving those out of the set.

Got it. I'll stick with nylon ones.

On hexes... I mainly use them in the alpine and find BD sizes 6-9 (or equivalent) to be the only ones I carry, because they shave serious weight by allowing you to leave some cams behind. Since they work both camming and sideways, these sizes tend to have the most useful ranges in those two modes. On moderate alpine outings, I frequently carry 2-3 of those.

Not So Famous Old Dude wrote:Hey Greg: looks like a sweet Eldo rack to me. Great pic.

And those color matching biners for the cams. Pretty neat. I'll bet that makes picking the right piece pretty easy on a gear sling.

Avery Nelson wrote:consider the HB aluminum offsets that DMM will now be making (due out any time now).

They're on the streets.. er.. trails.. er.. crags.. they're out there.

--Marc

REI's gonna have all C4s at 20% off of retail May 2-11.

Just don't let Avery know that you shop there. :)

--Marc

Lots of good advice so far. I'm also a tricam fan - I have the black, pink, red, brown and blue, and place the black, pink and red the most. Also a big fan of the BD C4s - purchased most of mine on the last 20% off sale that REI had. As far as hexes go, I prefer the Wild Country Hexentrics (I have red, yellow, and blue sizes) over the BD hexes; the shape is great and I like the slings versus the wires. And I often use the hexes and tricams cragging (more so at Eldo), as I'm a chicken leader who likes a lot of pro... and they're fun to place, imo (when I have a good stance, not when I'm having sewing machine leg and trembling arms).

As far as purchasing doubles in the cams, if you can afford it that's great. If you can't, your trad partner(s) will likely have their own rack and together you'll get by.

And, agree with John - purchase the best gear for you, rather than compromising on less preferred gear due to money.

Jed Pointer wrote: Skip the Aliens. If you insist, for whatever insane reason, wait a couple more months. As people get familiar with Mastercams, Aliens will become more and more available for less money.

I still talk of small cams in "Alien equivalents" because that constitutes the bulk of my small protection at this point. But you make a valid point, and it's really rather sad. Although CCH did it to themselves, it seems strange that they were once on top of the heap for small protection, I remember for over a decade it was "Dude, one word: Aliens" all over the boards. Now you are right that with the BD cams (and others) that have come out offering the same advantages, yet don't have the stink of death on them, who is going to buy new Aliens? Great business lesson in this.

Jed Pointer wrote:The longer pitches and parallel cracks of Splatte, the Desert and Vedauwoo will generally demand more cams.

Vedauwoo has longer pitches now? The more you know...

In all seriousness, its hard to find a sub-5.8 crack at Vedauwoo that simply won't go without doubles or triples of a certain size. It might make life easier to rack doubles, but you can usually find pro up or down a foot or two that is some other size.

If you're building your first rack, you don't need doubles in any cams.

Sad to see people ripping on hexes.

I carry hexes and place at least one on over 50% of the pitches I do in Eldo, and pass up quite a few hex placements just because I happen to have a cam handy. They may not be as versatile but they are bomber when placed correctly, are much cheaper, and don't cause nearly as much heartburn if you need to bail on one.

I acquired my rack rather incrementally so for a while it was a set of nuts w/ doubles in 'thin fingers' sizes, a variety (not a full set) of hexes, camalots #1,2,3 and a random alien. This worked out pretty darn well; these days I'm a bit more fleshed out w/ cams but I don't feel dependent on them to make it to the top of a climb safely.

Now, tricams ... I have a set but they live in the car. I need to start placing them and falling on them so I have a better feel for them, but I'm wary: I had a nasty user-error zipper on tricams, and have also had serious trouble removing them on more than one occasion.

Edit, just to flame: Wires over slings any day of the week!

I use tricams mainly in belays to conserve cams, because they provide upward pull protection if placed properly. If you fall on a tricam, it's going to be fixed most of the time unless you want to chisel it out.

One set of cams, but double up on the wired nuts (all sizes).
Eldo and The Flatirons gobble up stopper type nuts like nowhere else on earth.

RP's!

Marc Horan wrote:REI's gonna have all C4s at 20% off of retail May 2-11. Just don't let Avery know that you shop there. :) --Marc

That's right. Not only do I dislike shopping at REI, I will disown any friendships if I know you've ever had dirty dreams of shopping at REI! Ok, just kidding.

*** wrote:Also a big fan of the BD C4s - purchased most of mine on the last 20% off sale that REI had.

Yes, I know how you are an REI fan; and you know how I fervently dispise that three letter acronym for having been manhandled. How are you liking the black tricam?