What did trad racks look like before cams came around?
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Did they have triples in nuts like we do in cams? When did tricams first come in the scene? I'm assuming there were a lot of pitons but I'm more interested in clean pro |
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Andrew Gilsdorf wrote:Did they have triples in nuts like we do in cams? When did tricams first come in the scene?Hexes and Stoppers. Doubles in some sizes. I remember articles (Off Belay magazine) about Abalokov cams and TriCams in the 1970s. I think Tricams were first sold in the early '80s. Edit: needlesports.com/content/nu… |
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climbing friend, |
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wivanoff wrote: Hexes and Stoppers. Doubles in some sizes. I remember articles (Off Belay magazine) about Abalokov cams and TriCams in the 1970s. I think Tricams were first sold in the early '80s. Edit: needlesports.com/content/nu…I think you're referring to camlocks, not tricams. They were the absolute worst nuts out there as I recall. Racks were pretty much nuts and hexes with the larger nuts slung on perlon. It's amazing how versatile hexes are once you know how to use them. |
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Aleks Zebastian wrote:climbing friend, ...gigantic nuts.In every sense of the phrase. |
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Aleks Zebastian wrote:gigantic nuts.That basically covers a lot of early trad climbing... |
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My first rack in the mid-1980s consisted of about 8 WC Rocks on wire (sizes 1-8 or so) which were on 1 biner. Then I had two biners with nuts on perlon -- a mixture of brands: Chouinard, Cassin, and Saddlewedges (maybe 10 pieces total). Then I had a biner full of hexes on perlon -- maybe 5 or 6 of those. |
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frank minunni wrote: I think you're referring to camlocks, not tricams. They were the absolute worst nuts out there as I recall. Racks were pretty much nuts and hexes with the larger nuts slung on perlon. It's amazing how versatile hexes are once you know how to use them.No, I'm referring to Abalokov cams which looked like just like TriCams. It was "Off Belay" Issue #9 Feb 1978 This is what they looked like: supertopo.com/climbing/thre… I know what camlocks were. mountainproject.com/v/10749… |
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it's not so much what they looked like, it's what they sounded like... |
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If you were doing some long sustained crack climbing the racks could get pretty big and could have a lot of doubles of big hexes. I can remember clanking up the tail to Devils Tower in the mid 70's carrying a lot of #10 and 11 (Choiunard) hexes. Classic cowbell. |
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A set of stoppers with doubles of the medium sizes, and a set of hexes. Small ones were wired and larger ones were on cord (or webbing). I think I had a set of RPs before I had Friends. |
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No, I'm referring to Abalokov cams which looked like just like TriCams. It was "Off Belay" Issue #9 Feb 1978 This is what they looked like:/quote> |
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As said, doubles of stoppers and hexes. No locking biners. 120 ft. rope. Climb. |
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One passive pro every 5-6 m and the leader must not fall. Plus one small back-up set of pins and a hammer in case of bailing. Eric Engberg wrote:If you were doing some long sustained crack climbing the racks could get pretty big and could have a lot of doubles of big hexes. I can remember clanking up the tail to Devils Tower in the mid 70's carrying a lot of #10 and 11 (Choiunard) hexes. Classic cowbell.Only the new thin-walled hexes really produce the characteristic sound. The old hexes don't sound particularly different or louder than any other metallic piece of gear. |
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frank minunni wrote: Cool. I never saw those. But that was my first year climbing so I didn't have a clue...still don't, apparently. But you have to admit, those camlocks were pretty terrible.Oh God, yes. I think I had one Camlock that I had bootied or found. It was awful. Someone probably threw it away. AFAIK, the Abalokov cams were not commercially available (at least not in USA). The cam design coordinates were published and people made their own. Although the ones in that photo look like they perhaps were made by some cottage business (like RPs). @Healyje: I forgot about 120 ft ropes. They also came in 150 and 165. |
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wivanoff wrote: Oh God, yes. I think I had one Camlock that I had bootied or found.Camlocks ruthlessly sucked and only an idiot would have placed one more than once in its camming configuration as opposed to just as a stopper - we called them 'Nolocks'. jktinst wrote:One passive pro every 5-6 m and the leader must not fall. Plus one small back-up set of pins and a hammer in case of bailing.We fell all the time and never could understand wtf the 'leader must not fall' thing was all about. No hammer, no pins. Did do a lot of threading and picking up the occasional rock during the pitch to use as a stopper ('natural pro' - did it a bunch on a RR FA called 'Tin Pan Alley' just a couple of years ago with Scary Larry up in First Creek). |
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Healyje wrote: We fell all the time and never could understand wtf the 'leader must not fall' thing was all about. No hammer, no pins. Did do a lot of threading and picking up the occasional rock during the pitch to use as a stopper ('natural pro' - did it a bunch on a RR FA called 'Tin Pan Alley' just a couple of years ago with Scary Larry up in First Creek).Just a different perspective from early 80s mostly limestone climbing in Southern France and definitely not at the cutting edge either. I did fall on occasion and the pro held but I definitely tried not to. I remember seeing the rigid-stemmed Friends for the first time on the rack of a guy I was seconding. He carried only 5 or 6 of them in addition to the standard minimalist passive pro rack and they looked horribly bulky and heavy. |
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The saying the leader must never fall, was told to me by Fritz and Hans. Healyje wrote: Camlocks ruthlessly sucked and only an idiot would have placed one more than once in its camming configuration as opposed to just as a stopper - we called them 'Nolocks'. . . . . . . We fell all the time. . . . Did do a lot of threading and picking up the occasional rock during the pitch to use as a stopper ('natural pro' - did it a bunch on a RR FA called 'Tin Pan Alley' just a couple of years ago with Scary Larry up in First Creek).Larry Schaffer? With a limp? From New York via South Dakota ? That scary Larry? Frank M you remember that cat, failed solo on stir-up Trouble?, grab the lead cord on P38, causing that climber to fall rope burns all around, and he broke that ankle. |
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Like this. . . |
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Michael Schneider wrote:Larry Schaffer?De Angelo...though your's sounds scarier. |
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You could get the 3 smallest hexes on wire BUT with holes still sized for rope 4-5mm, so you could either epoxy the top so it wouldn't slide through or put a bit of a kink in the wire just before the nut ! |