Considering you have at least 4 pieces of the same size through the most common Gunks crack sizes, yea, I'd say you have a vary large rack.
Or look at it this way - you are carrying 36 pieces of gear. Have you ever placed even half that number on a single pitch? (I know...gear anchor, blah blah. OK so it's ONLY 33 pieces)
Yep, I used over 21 pieces on my first trip up Madam G's when I was a 5.6 leader. Nowadays I don't use nearly as much gear, but I can still easily use 20 pieces as I'm usually protecting two seconds.
The six smallest nuts don't really count as pro, but they're light enough so there's no point in removing them from the rack, and you can always use them as oppositional pieces.
So yeah, it's a slightly bigger rack than normal. Of course it's not as small as those who've got every route wired and know exactly how much gear they need for a particular route. Not as thin as some who knows they can run it out. It's definitely not a big as some who bring double C4s .3-3, doubles aliens B-O, two sets of stoppers, full set of hexes and 30 draws...
Considering you have at least 4 pieces of the same size through the most common Gunks crack sizes, yea, I'd say you have a vary large rack.
Or look at it this way - you are carrying 36 pieces of gear. Have you ever placed even half that number on a single pitch? (I know...gear anchor, blah blah. OK so it's ONLY 33 pieces)
Yep, I used over 21 pieces on my first trip up Madam G's when I was a 5.6 leader. Nowadays I don't use nearly as much gear, but I can still easily use 20 pieces as I'm usually protecting two seconds.
My question was directed at the OP. He was one who wanted feedback on his rack. The fact that you or I have placed 20+ pieces on a pitch, while it justifies what we carry, may not relate to his climbing.
(This post was edited by gunkiemike on Oct 15, 2009, 9:02 PM)
Considering you have at least 4 pieces of the same size through the most common Gunks crack sizes, yea, I'd say you have a vary large rack.
Or look at it this way - you are carrying 36 pieces of gear. Have you ever placed even half that number on a single pitch? (I know...gear anchor, blah blah. OK so it's ONLY 33 pieces)
Yep, I used over 21 pieces on my first trip up Madam G's when I was a 5.6 leader. Nowadays I don't use nearly as much gear, but I can still easily use 20 pieces as I'm usually protecting two seconds...
21 on a pitch? or total? last time I was up there (last week) there was so much (recent looking) fixed gear (especiallyp2) that there wasn't that much to place.
I'd be interested to know how often you really place those offset aliens at the gunks?
My standard gunks rack is pretty much the same minus 6 of those tri-cams and all the offsets.
Hi John,
I place my offset frequently (1 on 2 pitches). Specially the Red-Yellow and Yellow-Green. In a non-parallel crack, I always place the offset, they just fit perfectly,
(This post was edited by out_rock on Oct 19, 2009, 3:54 AM)
Considering you have at least 4 pieces of the same size through the most common Gunks crack sizes, yea, I'd say you have a vary large rack.
Or look at it this way - you are carrying 36 pieces of gear. Have you ever placed even half that number on a single pitch? (I know...gear anchor, blah blah. OK so it's ONLY 33 pieces)
Yep, I used over 21 pieces on my first trip up Madam G's when I was a 5.6 leader. Nowadays I don't use nearly as much gear, but I can still easily use 20 pieces as I'm usually protecting two seconds.
My question was directed at the OP. He was one who wanted feedback on his rack. The fact that you or I have placed 20+ pieces on a pitch, while it justifies what we carry, may not relate to his climbing.
Well I never places 18 protections (36 pieces / 2), but one time I placed 15 protections on a long pitch of 55m . The thing is that I'd rather have some bandwidth in the selection of protection.
I don't think you need the offsets or the micronuts for most things, and although the nuts don't take up a ton of weight on a rack they are just largely not needed. You could also get away with pink, red brown and blue as your only tricams. I prefer to have doubles in the .5 to 2 cam range for versatility on a climb and anchors, but if you want to double up by using tricams I see no fault in that.
Get rid of the offset cams and the small tri-cams, and double up the 1 and 2 camalot, perhaps add a #4 camalot, and you have a basic yosemite trad rack.
Of course, really just depends on the area and the climb. Bottom anchor, 55 meter pitch and top anchor? Wide cracks? Sustained tips crack? 10+ pitches with all of the above? Just depends.
Personally, I climb quicker with doubles because I spend less time rationing gear -- I try somewhat not to place the "double" if I have another readily available option, and then if I really need that size up higher I've got it. Or, maybe the double ends up as part of the belay...
I had someone say the same thing to me once -- "you won't place all that". My response was "yeah, probably rack differently the second time I climb it."
Trying to be better about jotting down gear notes in the margins of the guide book...
BITD my partner and I used to go to the Gunks with about 10 wired nuts, 6-9 hexes on perlon, and 4 tri-cams (2 pink, 2 red) -- and a shoulder full of knotted slings. Of course, these days, we have more stuff and carry it b/c you never know what's going to fit where. But back when we were young and poor, the climbing was a lot more adventurous!!
But to answer the OP's question: just carry what you want and what makes you feel safe.
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