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jt512
Jun 24, 2002, 4:35 PM
Post #26 of 30
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Registered: Apr 12, 2001
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Quote:
If weight is such an issue, go sport climbing. Your rack is always going to be cumbersome regardless of the kind of cams you have.
Now there's some helpful advice! But why stop there, just free solo.
-Jay
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rocknpowda
Jun 24, 2002, 4:48 PM
Post #27 of 30
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Registered: Apr 16, 2002
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Good point.
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mikedano
Jun 24, 2002, 5:33 PM
Post #28 of 30
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Registered: Dec 19, 2001
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Since this thread has disolved into a discussion over the pros/cons of BD cams, I must make one point.
The reason I bought BD cams--and I think the reason why many new trad climbers do--is because of the wider camming range. The main benefit of this is that one cam will fit a larger range of crack sizes. Meaning, you have a slightly better chance of picking the right size cam because it'll fit a slightly larger range. This sounds good to beginners like myself who can't immediately pick out the right piece of pro for a given crack, and usually waste time and energy fiddling to find the right piece.
As for weight: This is a good issue, and can be slightly mitigated by buying the nice ultra light biners to use to rack your cams.
Now, as for the question: I do like my BDs. However, I do NOT like the smaller sizes of BDs (.75 and down) because they are too wide. I would much rather have an Alien or a three-cam unit as they are thinner.
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jt512
Jun 24, 2002, 5:53 PM
Post #29 of 30
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Registered: Apr 12, 2001
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Quote:
The main benefit of this is that one cam will fit a larger range of crack sizes. Meaning, you have a slightly better chance of picking the right size cam because it'll fit a slightly larger range. This sounds good to beginners like myself who can't immediately pick out the right piece of pro for a given crack...
Exactly. They appeal to beginners, who haven't yet learned how to pick the right sized cam. The answer to this problem, though, is not to buy cams with wider ranges, but to learn the skill needed to get the right cam off the rack the first time.
Beginners make the mistake of trying to judge visually which cam to get off the rack, but there is a much better way. Your hand or finger is already in the crack, right? It is simple to learn which cam will fit in the crack depending on which body parts fit it.
Find a place near the ground with a bunch of different sized cracks. Determine which of your cams corresponds to fingertips, first nuckle, thin fingers, perfect fingers, rattly fingers, thin hands, perfect hands, etc. Memorize, and you're done. You'll start getting the right cam off your rack 90% of the time.
-Jay
[ This Message was edited by: jt512 on 2002-06-24 11:02 ]
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cedk
Jun 25, 2002, 3:01 PM
Post #30 of 30
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Registered: Oct 31, 2001
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JT kind of had me convinced. Then I remembered reading that when Dean Potter and Tim O'neal climbed the Nose in under 4 hours they were so concerned about weight that they didn't carry any water and Potter wore a harness sewn from 9/16 webbing, but they carried 3 #1 camalots and 2 .75s. Plus a boatload of Aliens.
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