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meanandugly
Mar 30, 2009, 4:23 PM
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Going to the Gunks for the 1st time, and just wondering on opinions on what to set-up for a good rack. I will be doing a variety of climbs and grades.
Thanks in advance.
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dreday3000
Mar 30, 2009, 4:25 PM
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meanandugly wrote: Going to the Gunks for the 1st time, and just wondering on opinions on what to set-up for a good rack. I will be doing a variety of climbs and grades. Thanks in advance.
Pitons
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lwilson
Mar 30, 2009, 4:29 PM
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meanandugly wrote: Going to the Gunks for the 1st time, and just wondering on opinions on what to set-up for a good rack. I will be doing a variety of climbs and grades. Thanks in advance.
one word: tricams.
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clymber
Mar 30, 2009, 4:31 PM
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depends on the grades you are climbing...all grades is pretty open to inturpitation....5.4 to 5.7 is all grades to some and 5.10 to 5.13d is to others....
for gear id say set of nuts doubles on smaller sizes and .3 to 3.5 in bd, 00 and up in metolius and pink red and brown tri cams ...if you want to fit in with the rest of the first time climbers there is bring a full set of hexs and rak up at the car so we can all hear you walking down then trail
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fresh
Mar 30, 2009, 5:10 PM
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a normal rack. if you like tricams, bring more of those.
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bill413
Mar 30, 2009, 5:20 PM
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Yep, like (almost) everyone says - tricams. I double up on the 0.5 (pink) one.
Slings - one or 2 long ones, rest normal length.
Naturally, depends on the routes you want to do - set of nuts, some cams - have fun!
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hansundfritz
Mar 30, 2009, 5:24 PM
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As people have said: regular rack with smaller Tri-Cams if you like them. One more thing: lots of shoulder length slings and longer slings for getting around corners and overhangs. I don't own any of these yet, but maybe a DMM Revolver or two would help reduce rope drag at a critical juncture.
Recent article in Climbing showed the rack of two guys who did 30 pitches of 5.10 in a day at the Gunks: one set of stoppers and a bunch of cams.
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jrathfon
Mar 30, 2009, 5:30 PM
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my onsight rack there:
nuts: BD 4-10, double on 6-8, then a set of micros minus the 2 super tiny ones, that gives you doubles in the 4 and 5 range
tricams: yup pink, red, brown (150+ foot pitches i'll add the next one (blue))
cams: i essentially carry double from blue #0.3 to yellow #2 unless i'm doing a thin route in which case i'll ditch from 0.75 up and add c3's. that breaks down as follows: aliens blue - yellow, single c4's .3, .4, double c4 from 0.5 to 2. adding c3 0, 1, and 2 accordingly and dropping c4 1's and 2's and a single 0.75.
note: the guidebook mentions when a #3 is helpful, so unless the guide notes it, i leave it on the ground. VERY few routes need a #4 or #5.
summary: pink-brown tricam, nuts from micro to #10, double in the 4-8, aliens blue to yellow, c4 0.3 - 2, double c4's from 0.5 to 1 or 2. c3's good for the thin routes.
edit to add:
oh yeah, slings. i carry 6-10 trad draws (some pitches can be 150+ ft, others 50), if it's a bolted belay i'll bring a double length and do a limited sliding-x, if it's trad belays, i'll bring a cordalette (have a 2nd with your partner for consecutive trad belays), i'll add 1 or 2 double length slings for routes with hard turn corners, large roofs, large trees, etc. (modern times, umm casablanca, umm, can't think, but lots of routes traverse under roofs)
HELMET!
(This post was edited by jrathfon on Mar 30, 2009, 5:36 PM)
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jrathfon
Mar 30, 2009, 5:39 PM
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i place a lot, so carry a lot of gear. i don't take large nuts cause a) tricams are large nuts, and b) i can fit a cam in the larger holes. the gunks eat nuts and tricams, so having (and saving) draws to clip those suckers is important.
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devkrev
Mar 30, 2009, 5:40 PM
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meanandugly wrote: Going to the Gunks for the 1st time, and just wondering on opinions on what to set-up for a good rack. I will be doing a variety of climbs and grades. Thanks in advance.
Bring the ability to be surgically precise with whatever gear you do bring, there are very few gear placements at the gunks that are "plug and chug"
You will have to wiggle/slot cams as well as passive gear into the best placements and around quartz crystals and irregularities.
If you aren't used to placing tri cams, the gunks won't magically make you proficient.
Leave the hexes home.
dev
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zxcv
Mar 30, 2009, 6:03 PM
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Good advice above, but I would add a screamer or two- there are a lot of old pins, and they are often of questionable strength.
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jaablink
Mar 30, 2009, 6:17 PM
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A single BD rack .03 to 4 , 3 BD C3‘s, 4 aliens black to green, 1 set of wire nuts, helpful to have a set of micro wires too.5 lockers, 15 trad draws and at least 2 double length runners, because of wandering and overhanging routs, and you can lead everything there at any grade .
(I use 2 70m lines, 2 60m lines will get you to the ground from any ware on the GT ledge )
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zealotnoob
Mar 30, 2009, 6:19 PM
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A set of stoppers + 2 or 3 middle sized offsets.
A set of cams, from #0 or #1 micro to #3 C4. 4 or 5 doubles in thin fingers to thin hands.
6 slings over the shoulder, 3 double length over the other shoulder, 6 trad draws.
Tricams? If that's your thing.
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meanandugly
Mar 30, 2009, 6:30 PM
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Thanks for all the advice. Looks like tricams are the way to go. Love them and place them often. Full and double length sling, got plenty of those to.
Not new to the game, jut new to the Gunks.
Thanks again for all the good advice.
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c4c
Mar 30, 2009, 6:34 PM
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based on your user name you should do just fine.
Bring money.
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tradrenn
Mar 30, 2009, 8:24 PM
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#1. Do not get .3 C4 for Gunks, it is pretty much useless.
#2. Consider Green to Red Aliens for your smaller cams. (or TCU)
#3. Double up on smaller stoppers.
#4. Do a search on Gunks Rack.
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boymeetsrock
Mar 30, 2009, 8:34 PM
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Definitely bring money. $15/ day to climb. or $85 for a season pass, last I checked.
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rgold
Mar 31, 2009, 2:23 AM
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Of course, all this is pretty personal. Here's what I start with anyway:
CAMS
C3's: 1 set, minus the smallest one (Grey). These fit where nothing else, including Aliens, will. I think certain routes may have their protection rating lowered if you have C3's.
Aliens: 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Yellow, 1 Grey, 1 Red.
Camalots: 1 Purple, 2 Green, 1 Red, 1 Yellow. 1 Blue in reserve in the pack.
NUTS
1 set (I'm partial to Metolius)
A few brassies.
CLIPPING STUFF
Between 9 and 12 trad draws, depending on length of pitches and need for gear. Between 4 and 8 free biners, depending on same considerations. Between 2 and 6 over-the-shoulder runners. 1 double-length runner.
OPTIONAL
Tricams---not necessary by any stretch of the imagination. Occasionally very useful, as is almost any specialized trinket. If you already have 'em and like 'em, fine, but no need to run out and buy a set.
Microcams---Black alien, Grey C3. Overhead to waist level pro that might in some cases be better than nothing. Don't expect much from these.
Ballnuts---mostly for some of the newer Near Trapps routes (and not necessarily for only the hard ones), but you really need to know how to place them, otherwise they are arguably worse than nothing. Require a stable stance and the ability to minutely inspect the placement.
Hexes---of course they work, but stoppers are all that is needed.
Screamers---might make old pins, bolts, and micronuts work better for short falls. Unlikely to have any effect on longer falls. If you wouldn't do the moves without a screamer, it is probably a bad idea to let a screamer change your mind.
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divnamite
Apr 2, 2009, 12:42 AM
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rgold wrote: CAMS C3's: 1 set, minus the smallest one (Grey). These fit where nothing else, including Aliens, will. I think certain routes may have their protection rating lowered if you have C3's. Aliens: 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Yellow, 1 Grey, 1 Red. Camalots: 1 Purple, 2 Green, 1 Red, 1 Yellow. 1 Blue in reserve in the pack. |
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rgold
Apr 2, 2009, 1:13 AM
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I think C3's are fine replacements, but there seem to be a lot of folks who don't like them. I've never cared for the Metolius TCU's (head width too wide), and I'm afraid I don't know anything about the new Metolius single-stem Alien knockoffs. I do worry about how the cord cam retracters will fare during falls in horizontal placements, but there are probably folks out there who can comment on this. I also think the reduced range that comes from the Metolius choice of cam angle is a bad trade-off in small cams, which have very little usable range to begin with.
Of the Aliens I mentioned, the blue one is just a duplicate of one of the C3's. The green, however, fits between two C3 sizes (yellow and red) and so is useful. Perhaps there is a Metolius replacement for that. The red Alien is essentially a narrow-headed purple Camalot (a little smaller) and so can be replaced with a second purple C4. (But the narrower head on the red Alien means it will go places you can't get in the C4.) That leaves the yellow and grey aliens, which can be replaced by one or two grey C4's, again at the expense of a wider head.
The smaller C4 head widths make them significantly less effective than Aliens and C3's.
Many Western climbers, used to relatively deep and parallel-sided cracks, don't see what the fuss is about a narrower head (except for aid placements in piton scars). But Gunks cracks are irregular and pebbly, and there are innumerable situations in which head width is critical in getting in anything good.
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surgeon1
Apr 2, 2009, 1:16 AM
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My approach to a Gunks rack is to show up on the day after a long weekend in the fall with just a couple of pieces and get on the ultra-classic routes......you can usually find enough booty on the climbs to fill out the rest of your rack!
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bill413
Apr 2, 2009, 12:05 PM
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devkrev wrote: surgeon1 wrote: My approach to a Gunks rack is to show up on the day after a long weekend in the fall with just a couple of pieces and get on the ultra-classic routes......you can usually find enough booty on the climbs to fill out the rest of your rack! Climbing classics just after a rainstorm works too, or climbing High E whenever, I've seen booty come off that climb in the middle of the week.
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jaablink
Apr 2, 2009, 12:12 PM
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Someone dropped a cam attached to a bineer off of High E a while ago and it landed in a tree. Yay!!! Booty ...
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Craggmire
Apr 7, 2009, 7:44 AM
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Forged Friends
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