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coylec
Feb 9, 2004, 8:18 PM
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What would constitute a basic aid rack for C1, C2 aid climbing? I an interested in getting into it and to "play with the gear" before I get myself into an aid situation.
coylec
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lambone
Feb 9, 2004, 8:53 PM
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Most C1-2 pitches can be done with basically a beefed up free rack.
Double sets of nuts and cams. Maybe tripple on the smaller cams, Aliens are nice.
1 set of small nuts/RP's or brass offsets.
Some hooks, and cam hooks.
Alot of it depends on the route you are talking about though. Sometimes you may need specalty items. And some C2 routes can be dependent on existing fixed gear.
But that rack will get you buy on most practice stuff. If you are short on sizes just back clean as you go.
Have fun!
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lqdslvr
Mar 31, 2004, 7:42 PM
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I can't seem to find an answer to this, so here goes. What constitues a set of hooks or cam hooks. I've done one pitch of clean aid and I'm looking to do some more, so I want to go ahead and get the basics for hooks. Can someone mention specifics of numbers, brands, etc.? Looking for the easier routes in Yosemite for now, but eventually moving on up. What would I need for, say, the El Cap Tree? Thanks!
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rokshoxbkr19
Mar 31, 2004, 8:01 PM
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why would you want to get into aid climbing :lol:
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coylec
Mar 31, 2004, 8:40 PM
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why get into aid climbing?
(1) aspiration to do walls.
(2) enjoy the technical nature of climbing
(3) like placing gear
(4) like fondling gear
(5) broadens my quiver of skills, as J. Long put it.
(6) wanted to hurt myself, but have gotten bored with body modification.
those are my reasons.
coylec
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lambone
Mar 31, 2004, 8:47 PM
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haha :lol:
nice...well then you are halfway there...
points 1 and 6 are one in the same...
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lambone
Mar 31, 2004, 9:01 PM
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In reply to: I can't seem to find an answer to this, so here goes. What constitues a set of hooks or cam hooks. I've done one pitch of clean aid and I'm looking to do some more, so I want to go ahead and get the basics for hooks. Can someone mention specifics of numbers, brands, etc.? Looking for the easier routes in Yosemite for now, but eventually moving on up. What would I need for, say, the El Cap Tree? Thanks!
The El Cap tree might require some special hooks. I'd check with your local arborist!
No, really...you wan't a few hooks for the first pitch and the rest is like 5.8.
Check out the BD catalog and Fish website...they are the two most common hooks people climb with. Pika and Metolius also make good hooks.
Get a BD Cliff Hanger and a Talon, maybe a big Fish Hook. Two leeper cam hooks, one big and one medium. And I like the Pika cam hook shaped for pin scars. That should cover ya.
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coylec
Apr 1, 2004, 1:11 AM
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In reply to: haha :lol: nice...well then you are halfway there... points 1 and 6 are one in the same...
wall = pain
pain = fun
wall = fun
makes sense to me.
coylec
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lambone
Apr 1, 2004, 1:56 AM
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pmyche,
What does B.A.T. stand for? Something I allways wondered....
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lqdslvr
Apr 1, 2004, 3:10 AM
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Thanks, guys! That's just the info I've been looking for. Funny you ask, rokshoxbkr19. I lead the pitch and my brother jugged and cleaned it. We both finished and said "screw that." Of course, I immediatelt commented that the pain and discomfort would fade and we'd think, "That wasn't so bad." And that's what happened. Now I want to do some more aid. Masochistic I guess.
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coylec
Apr 1, 2004, 4:35 AM
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While we are on the subject of bat/BAT hooks, what's the split tip for?
coylec
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timstich
Apr 1, 2004, 4:44 AM
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You guys are sugar coating the whole deal. Eric Coomer had a better list of aid climber qualities that he typed up years ago:
Simple, to be a decent aid climber you must have the following qualities:
Alcoholic (helps with others below)
Stupid
Suffer short term memory loss
Moronic
Obsessed with gear over climbing
That about covers it.
e
The absolute beauty of this list is that it is attached to Eric's original post announcing he was getting interested in aid climbing back in 1993. The list is from 2001.
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apollodorus
Apr 1, 2004, 5:41 AM
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Beefed up trad rack?
What about a regular trad rack?
You can C1/C2 up a line and leave pro about the same way you would if free climbing. It's about as fast to pull a cam with your aider and use it higher, than it is to leave it. And most C1/C2 aiding is going to be more bomber than freeing because you don't face the risk of burning/flaming out. As long as you place your pieces well, you have bomber after bomber after bomber. Why would you need one every 4 or 5 feet as pro?
Sure, for hard aid you want to leave everything you've placed, but easy aid is not like that. If the placements are bomber, you can leave selected pieces as pro and pull most of them as you go along. Leave the stoppers that get stuck. Take the cams that almost fall out in your hand. Leave good pro below the sections that look dicey. Run the rest out, if you trust your ability to place pieces on a free climb.
You will want enough pieces to get up the route, though, so maybe you should also take your partner's trad rack with you. Maybe this is what a beefed up trad rack is.
Leaving each aid piece on a C1 route is overkill. By definition, C1 means each piece is bomber. Unless it's a really thin crack with weak pieces, you can take most of them out as you go along, and only face a generic free-climbing fall if you don't set a piece properly (which is rare for C1).
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timstich
Apr 1, 2004, 3:14 PM
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I've heard that there are some aid lines in Zion that one can simply move up the same two pieces and leave something every once in a while, the crack is so uniform and solid. It would be interesting to see how little gear beyond a standard trad rack someone had used to climb one of those lines. Of course, it would be more conservative to have more.
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