C3's for freeclimbing

that guy named seb wrote: It looks like allot but when using my partners c4's i have never had an issue with anything we have climbed so it's still not a factor, i think at that size i would also appreciate the robustness of a more general use cam.

It is a lot. No illusion involved. Naturally, if you don't climb in places where these substantial differences might matter, than as you say, not a factor. But I would add that folks often don't notice placements they can't make.

rgold wrote: It is a lot. No illusion involved. Naturally, if you don't climb in places where these substantial differences might matter, than as you say, not a factor. But I would add that folks often don't notice placements they can't make.

The thing is though you really do, when i was climbing only with passive pro i often came to parts where i though "i wish i had a cam right now" but then i look around and find a place for a bomber hex or nut, there have been occasion where i have looked and thought "i wish i had somthing really small and narrow to get in there" which is why i'm even considering it but i have only found spots like those a few times.

mountainproject.com/v/wiess…

There's a good example of a climb where head width matters and you pretty much have to carry C3s/TCUs. It's a blank face with no continuous bomber crack to sink all off your gear into after the tree, so the placements are all funky pods and flaring micro cracks that are very shallow and narrow.

well i have spent a bit of time going around my local area and top rope soloing a bunch of really hard stuff and it's made me realize, if i want to be climbing this i don't need a narrow cam but i sure as hell need some small one's, the black totem is an obvious choice but what cams can you recommend that are even smaller?

WC Zeros are the smallest, but that range is really more for aid. I wouldn't go much lower than black totems and expect to actually fall on them.

Ted Pinson wrote:WC Zeros are the smallest, but that range is really more for aid. I wouldn't go much lower than black totems and expect to actually fall on them.

Discontinued.

that guy named seb wrote:well i have spent a bit of time going around my local area and top rope soloing a bunch of really hard stuff and it's made me realize, if i want to be climbing this i don't need a narrow cam but i sure as hell need some small one's, the black totem is an obvious choice but what cams can you recommend that are even smaller?

Ball Nuts

Check out James Pearson's FA of "Walk of Life". He's sponsored by Wild Country, yet half his placements are Ball Nuts. You can see all the pro used at 08:07

youtu.be/NxIhHb8TePA

If you can find the zeros, they're awesome. Otherwise I'd go with master cams down to purple and then ballnuts smaller than that. Obviously, if head width matters, go with a 3cam unit. I like TCUs but it seems that BD C3s have smaller head width so they may be better.

So I ended up picking up a green C3 during one of the recent sales, and I was curious to see how thin it was so I snapped this with a blue totem basic and yellow X4 (all fit about the same size crack)...as you can see, it's a pretty substantial difference.

that guy named seb wrote:well i have spent a bit of time going around my local area and top rope soloing a bunch of really hard stuff and it's made me realize, if i want to be climbing this i don't need a narrow cam but i sure as hell need some small one's, the black totem is an obvious choice but what cams can you recommend that are even smaller?

Not a cam, but once you're getting that small ball nuts are pretty bomber.

Looks like a couple people beat me to it.

Dave Schultz wrote:I use C3s as my primary small cam, and like them a lot; much preferred over the X4.

I like my c3s, 00-1, and I climb in the SE.

I've only got the yellow x4 and haven't been blown away by it. Might try the size up in x4 before I write them off.

The 0.4 and 0.5 are quite nice, and better than C4s in the same size IMO.