cams.....

So this might be a difficult question to answer, but im going to give it a shot. So i am slowly building a rack. Some day i might get to trad climbing, but for now it is going to be mostly for setting up top ropes. I will probably be climbing mostly at joshua tree and stoney point, where most top ropes require gear anchors. I already have a set of wild country rocks, 3-12 and dmm torque nuts 2-4. I want to start slowly aqcuiring cams, but that is going to be a slow and lengthy process buying one at a time, considering the cost. So my question is what size should i start at ? should i go for a size bigger than the 4 torque nut? or should i start at around a 1 (C4 camalot)? I'm really only looking at the c4's
thanks for any advice!

I would start with sizes that are not covered by your nuts and hexes (rocks and torque nuts). BD sizes 1-3 sound like a good place to start. A 0.5 and a 0.75 should soon follow those first couple of cams.

Save the money you would spend on cams and use it to buy mentors beer and split gas with them. Typically you'll be following them for a bit and then leading on their racks. Maybe use the money to buy a nice lead rope so you're not whipping on their crusty cord. That's my .02 anyway. If you really must buy cams I saw start in the middle with a #1 or maybe .75 and then bracket around it.

I would get 0.75, 1, and 2 to start. Then 0.5 and 3. After that, Mastercams or Aliens in the smaller sizes. And trad draws. And if the thought occurs to you to buy hexes, stop yourself.

Federico wrote:So this might be a difficult question to answer, but im going to give it a shot. So i am slowly building a rack. Some day i might get to trad climbing, but for now it is going to be mostly for setting up top ropes. I will probably be climbing mostly at joshua tree and stoney point, where most top ropes require gear anchors. I already have a set of wild country rocks, 3-12 and dmm torque nuts 2-4. I want to start slowly aqcuiring cams, but that is going to be a slow and lengthy process buying one at a time, considering the cost. So my question is what size should i start at ? should i go for a size bigger than the 4 torque nut? or should i start at around a 1 (C4 camalot)? I'm really only looking at the c4's thanks for any advice!

kennoyce wrote: For J-Tree TR's I'd start with bigger stuff like a #3 and #4. Most of the cracks at the tops of formations in J-tree tend to be bigger. If you were talking about leading then I'd probably suggest starting with 1-3 or something like that to complement your nuts.