Tricams - placements possibilities and use cases

Every pitch!

One additional consideration for the new tri-cam leader...they can be very easy to place one-handed, especially the ones with stiffer dyneema slings, and often can be placed overhead like a nut or cam. But just as often they may require two hands to remove (especially the smaller sizes when placed in a pocket or constriction), so be mindful that your second has a good stance to be able to remove it if necessary, or they're going to be shouting "take" over and over while they hang on the rope cursing you in six different languages.

Definitely try placing the black and pink above your head standing on the ground, and removing them one-handed, to get a feel for when a placement will require additional fingers to remove it.

Tricams are super easy to clean, nut tool under the fulcrum point, boom, done

I'll second others who have said that it's worthwhile to carry a few if only to have them available for anchors.  I almost always carry a biner with one each of black through brown, and rarely need to build a belay where at least one won't fit somewhere useful.  Well worth the weight IMO - nice to not have to worry about saving some active gear in the finger sizes for the belay.  I've occasionally reached the end of a long pitch where I would have to have been very creative to build a good anchor without tricams.

Sam Miller wrote: Tricams are super easy to clean, nut tool under the fulcrum point, boom, done

Easy to remove but in my experience they usually require a nut tool + hand so both hands

Well I for one read - thanks for the detailed answer anotherclimber. That's pretty much what I'm going to do then - take some time to check tricams out and play with them a bit. I guess initially I was just a bit lazy - I place those only a couple time when a friend that had some in his rack showed on a climbing day. So my initial reaction was more "yeah... nuts & cams are enough, right" but I like the anchor argument - it's pretty light to carry and presumably at a belay you can afford 2 hands for a placement if you need and/or take a bit of time to make it work. Actually kinda looking forward to it.

Franck Vee wrote: Well I for one read - thanks for the detailed answer anotherclimber. That's pretty much what I'm going to do then - take some time to check tricams out and play with them a bit. I guess initially I was just a bit lazy - I place those only a couple time when a friend that had some in his rack showed on a climbing day. So my initial reaction was more "yeah... nuts & cams are enough, right" but I like the anchor argument - it's pretty light to carry and presumably at a belay you can afford 2 hands for a placement if you need and/or take a bit of time to make it work. Actually kinda looking forward to it.

One other thing Franck: if they don't work out for you at your home crag, don't get rid of them, just put them away and bring them out when you travel to another crag. I find they're very situational. I placed none at some crags, but at the Gunks I probably place more tricams than nuts.

Colonel Mustard wrote: ^^^Not reading that

But I know for a fact you did. LOL! 

Nice try, however. Now back to trauma for you! :)

I’m yet to see a pro climber use these invaluable tri-cams. Either a) a pro climber is so good that he/she doesn’t need them as us mortals do or
b) they’re just a mediocre piece of gear that is hyped up more than it should be. If you don’t know how to place a cam in a horizontal, well than you shouldn’t be climbing  on gear then.

Fehim Hasecic wrote: I’m yet to see a pro climber use these invaluable tri-cams. Either a) a pro climber is so good that he/she doesn’t need them as us mortals do or
b) they’re just a mediocre piece of gear that is hyped up more than it should be. If you don’t know how to place a cam in a horizontal, well than you shouldn’t be climbing  on gear then.

A) Rarely see pro climbers doing trad

B) When you do it is normally routes that don't need them

I find I place them often on gear-protected face climbs. Especially the obscure ones.

Be sure to yard on them super hard when placing them. You really want to weld them in there.

ebmudder wrote: One additional consideration for the new tri-cam leader...they can be very easy to place one-handed, especially the ones with stiffer dyneema slings, and often can be placed overhead like a nut or cam. But just as often they may require two hands to remove (especially the smaller sizes when placed in a pocket or constriction), so be mindful that your second has a good stance to be able to remove it if necessary, or they're going to be shouting "take" over and over while they hang on the rope cursing you in six different languages.

eli poss wrote: Easy to remove but in my experience they usually require a nut tool + hand so both hands

Maybe this is one of the other reasons some people don't like Tricams. They never figured out how to clean them one handed and thusly the second who is cleaning them doesn't necessarily know either.

Here's my trick...  This is assuming it is placed in active position, fulcrum point down, and the leader has not placed it so deep that your fingers can't reach it. Leave the pro clipped to the rope, as much like removing a nut with a nut tool, you won't be holding onto the piece when it comes out. 0.50 pink and the larger sizes are big enough that one can get the body of the Tricam between their thumb and first finger. Twist it from side to side until it is loose. Then grab your nut tool and hook the back side of the fulcrum point with the end of the nut tool and effortlessly pull it out of the crack with the nut tool.  Pulling it out via the fulcrum point keeps it from grabbing the rock on the way out. The rope going to your harness as the second catches the piece. Then you can rack your nut tool, then the Tricam.

If it is 0.25 black or the even smaller 0.125 white that I don't use, or a larger size that is deep in the crack where your fingers can't reach it but the crack is not large enough for your hand to go in... More often than not you will have to knock it backwards to loosen it the opposite direction it was set on the cam shoulders with your nut tool. Be careful not to hit the sling retaining pin as you don't want to damage the pin or the sling. Then just like the example above, hook the nut tool behind the fulcrum point and pull it out of the crack. As a point of warning, don't place Tricams really deep in a crack or you may not get them back and also frustrate your second with trying to remove them.

As I was typing this I realized that I never place Tricams in active position fulcrum point up, so I don't know if hooking the fulcrum point with the nut tool will have the same effect to get it out. Looks like I have some more practice to do.

For passive placements you might be able to twist it out with your fingers, but more likely you'd have to smack it back out the way it went in like a nut placement if it was set hard or fallen on. Tricams in passive placements should not be placed too deep in cracks unless they are so large that you can get your whole hand and arm in the crack or they may otherwise be impossible to remove. If you have the room, and the placement allows this, use the nut tool sideways like a hammer and smack the stingers and parallel cam rails to jar it loose, otherwise try a stabbing motion with the nut tool going straight in. Then depending on the situation and size Tricam, you can either hook it out with the nut tool which would be my first choice for speed and efficiency, or use your fingers.

Most of the time this will be possible to do one handed. There will of course be rare exceptions where you need both hands to smack a rock or hex against the backside of the nut tool to jar the Tricam loose.

As always, practice this on the ground one handed for as much time as it takes for you to be very proficient and quick. Then you can teach your second if they don't know how to clean Tricams.

Franck Vee wrote: Well I for one read - thanks for the detailed answer anotherclimber. That's pretty much what I'm going to do then - take some time to check tricams out and play with them a bit. I guess initially I was just a bit lazy - I place those only a couple time when a friend that had some in his rack showed on a climbing day. So my initial reaction was more "yeah... nuts & cams are enough, right" but I like the anchor argument - it's pretty light to carry and presumably at a belay you can afford 2 hands for a placement if you need and/or take a bit of time to make it work. Actually kinda looking forward to it.

You are so very welcome. I'm happy to pass along what knowledge I have. Your comment about "nuts and cams are enough" is interesting. I strongly suspect that when a leader only uses nuts and cams, nuts and cams placements is all they see. And rightly so, it's what is on their harness or gear sling and what they are likely practiced with. But when you start to use other gear like Tricams, Hexes, and ball nuts, you start to see placements that you never saw before because each of these pieces have unique placements that other gear can't do, don't do well, or are not safe to use.

Also, you don't need two hands to place a Tricam. Practice on the ground one handed until you are quick and efficient at it. On lead is no place to do this, expecially if it takes two hands to do so. Do whatever you have to do to keep your other hand from trying to help. Put it in your pocket if you have to. The newer stiffer sling sizes from 0.125 to 2.0 are particularly easy to place, but you can also stiffen the old style slings for the same effect.

David Kirkeslager wrote: One other thing Franck: if they don't work out for you at your home crag, don't get rid of them, just put them away and bring them out when you travel to another crag. I find they're very situational. I placed none at some crags, but at the Gunks I probably place more tricams than nuts.

This is excellent advice! As much as I like Tricams they don't come up with me on every climb. It just depends which ones need them. If you are not sure, bring them with you.

David Bruneau wrote: I find I place them often on gear-protected face climbs. Especially the obscure ones.

Be sure to yard on them super hard when placing them. You really want to weld them in there.

Now that I think about it, that is the main type of climbs they get used on. But also shallow cracks or pockets for size 0.25 black and 0.50 pink where a four lobe cam does not fit. Otherwise it is multi pitch for weird placements, doubles or triples, or anchors. And yeah, set them as hard as you can and then sling them. That is totally worth repeating and reinforcing.

Jake Jones wrote: Holy Christ do you work for C.A.M.P.?

LOL  Nope. But I can see why you would ask. This is experience from hours and hours of diligent ground placement and bounce testing practice on top of whatever actual climbing I do. With a touch of too much time on my hands.

Jake Jones wrote: Holy Christ do you work for C.A.M.P.?

Some people are fanatic about Tri-cams...I don't get it either.  They suck to remove, especially from a nervous leader who fucking yards on them to set them. Nowadays I tell  anybody that I am climbing with that I see has Tri-cams that if I can't clean it in 30 seconds or less, it becomes booty. 

They are good for top rope anchors. I have had a few cams "liberated" from my top rope set up at Devil's Lake in the past. Nobody ever steals Tri-cams, and they are surprisingly bomber in Quartzite.

Buck Rio wrote: Some people are fanatic about Tri-cams...I don't get it either.  They suck to remove, especially from a nervous leader who fucking yards on them to set them. 

I'm fascinated with gear and love to absorb myself into figuring it out. I went through the same phase with hexes, ball nuts, and less so with nuts and cams since they are more straight forward to use. If they are placed well, meaning not too deep in a crack, rarely will you need two hands to remove them from active mode, even when set really hard or fallen on. Their weakness to being pulled sideways is what makes them easy to loosen within the crack.

Buck Rio wrote: Or a finger traverse in a horizontal crack, when the leader slid them into a slot then set them really heavy. If you do have to use two hands, good luck trying to weight the rope.

This is excellent situational advice and one I wasn't previously aware of. Thank you so much for posting it here. One certainly does have to take into account the second both for protecting the traverse sufficiently and them cleaning it. Seems like cams would be the better choice. Worse comes to worse if they had to, the second could plug a cam they already cleaned into the crack and hang from that if they needed two hands.

anotherclimber wrote: I'm fascinated with gear and love to absorb myself into figuring it out. I went through the same phase with hexes, ball nuts, and less so with nuts and cams since they are more straight forward to use. If they are placed well, meaning not too deep in a crack, rarely will you need two hands to remove them from active mode, even when set really hard or fallen on. Their weakness to being pulled sideways is what makes them easy to loosen within the crack.

This is excellent situational advice and one I wasn't previously aware of. Thank you so much for posting it here. One certainly does have to take into account the second both for protecting the traverse sufficiently and them cleaning it. Seems like cams would be the better choice. Worse comes to worse if they had to, the second could plug a cam they already cleaned into the crack and hang from that if they needed two hands.

I am a gear nut as well, so I have the pink/red/black Tri-cam. But experience has shown me they should all be the LAST piece I reach for on  a lead if I want to see them again. Now that I am the older more experienced climber when I go climbing, the younger folks just don't know how to clean them, and I try not to confuse my second with tricky to remove gear if I can help it.

What I think is their weakness, is a person takes a long time to trust them, and hence oversets them/places them too deep, much to the chagrin of the second that has to clean them...

And I did detect the HINT of sarcasm.

I am still scarred by trying to clean one from a traverse in JTree...trying desperately to hang on at the same time wiggling that little pink bastard out of a little pod/crack that was too small for my fingers. There was no plugging a cam in, we didn't have any that small. The fall was clean, but I think I would have preferred a #6-7 BD slid back in that little pod, if I had been leading.

do you guys recommend, or have a preference for, the regular Camp tricams, the tricams Evo, or the dyneema tricams? i'm looking to buy my first set and start practicing placements.

ViperScale . wrote:

A) Rarely see pro climbers doing trad

Watch post awesome trad movies tread, tell me how many tricam placements you see? What I meant by pro climbers - sponsored in some way and also dudes/gals that crush above average 

Fehim Hasecic wrote:

Watch post awesome trad movies tread, tell me how many tricam placements you see? What I meant by pro climbers - sponsored in some way and also dudes/gals that crush above average 

How many pro climbers do you see climbing 10s or 11s? Even easy 12s?

Assuming that because you don't see pro climbers do xyz means xyz is not a good thing for you to do are your level is a mistake. I think a lot of times when you actually see videos of "pro" climbers, they've actually rehearsed the route not on trad lead before committing to it (and filming it). Of course, if you know exactly what gear you need, where to place and when you're okay jksut running it out, presumably you don't necessarily need the extra options. You also don't necessarily need them if you have top of the line offsets and specialized cams & nuts that can actually perform a similar role (and then some), albeit at a higher price point.

Danny - I prefer the regular tricams over the Evo's. The new way to place it is so similar in size to its other two orientations, I feel it gains little.  Also, I don't like the fact that the taper creates a wider part that I have to remove from funky placements.

The only reason I don't use the dyneema ones is that I am so used to the colors on the regular ones.

I have been using pink and red since they first came out, and now also carry the small black.  They are my backup for both nuts and cams in those sizes.  And sometimes, they will fit where nothing else will.