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fishclimb
Mar 2, 2009, 11:26 PM
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kennoyce
Mar 2, 2009, 11:29 PM
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I use my number 3 very often. The number 3 is not an offwidth piece, it is a wide hands to small fists piece. For example, Incredible hand crack in Indian Creek takes like 8 number 3's. So the answer is, yes you should get the number 3.
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iamthewallress
Mar 2, 2009, 11:32 PM
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kennoyce wrote: I use my number 3 very often. The number 3 is not an offwidth piece, it is a wide hands to small fists piece. For example, Incredible hand crack in Indian Creek takes like 8 number 3's. So the answer is, yes you should get the number 3. IHC takes 8 #3 friends, not camalots...unless its grown that much which is possible. If you want to climb a lot w/ gear for protection, you will probably find that you want at least a single set of every size cam. Most people get more.
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kennoyce
Mar 2, 2009, 11:36 PM
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Sorry, I'm an idiot, I was talking about supercrack not IHC. edited to let everyone know that i'm retarded and can't keep the routes on supercrack buttress straight.
(This post was edited by kennoyce on Mar 2, 2009, 11:39 PM)
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jeepnphreak
Mar 2, 2009, 11:49 PM
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Iam not sure where you plan on climbing and what gear those routs will take. But from my experience the #3 gets placed every time I climb. Its a handy piece to have.
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patmay81
Mar 2, 2009, 11:52 PM
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agreed, of all my BD cams its the one size I wish I had more of.
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shoo
Mar 2, 2009, 11:52 PM
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iamthewallress wrote: If you want to climb a lot w/ gear for protection, you will probably find that you want at least a single set of every size cam. Most people get more. This is very bad advice. Very few areas actually need a #5 or a #6 C4 Camalot. They are big, heavy, expensive, and are only good for crack sizes that you'd never want to climb again (offwidth)*. The #3 is very much wide hands or small fists. Hell, the #4 fits fists pretty well. The real answer here is to ask around for what's standard for your area, and start with that. * Note, of course you will inevitably find places to place a #5 or even a #6, but it's unlikely you'll really need it, and really unlikely that you wouldn't already know you need that particular piece before leaving the ground. The #3, however, is pretty much standard.
(This post was edited by shoo on Mar 2, 2009, 11:54 PM)
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patmay81
Mar 2, 2009, 11:59 PM
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shoo wrote: iamthewallress wrote: If you want to climb a lot w/ gear for protection, you will probably find that you want at least a single set of every size cam. Most people get more. This is very bad advice. Very few areas actually need a #5 or a #6 C4 Camalot. They are big, heavy, expensive, and are only good for crack sizes that you'd never want to climb again (offwidth)*. The #3 is very much wide hands or small fists. Hell, the #4 fits fists pretty well. The real answer here is to ask around for what's standard for your area, and start with that. * Note, of course you will inevitably find places to place a #5 or even a #6, but it's unlikely you'll really need it, and really unlikely that you wouldn't already know you need that particular piece before leaving the ground. The #3, however, is pretty much standard. I don't think this applies to the #3 at all. I'd say the #4 is definetly a specialty piece. But the #3 works in a lot of hand cracks. Theres always sections of any hand crack that are too wide for a #2 (obviously excluding IC, where cracks are the same all the way up). So if you like climbing hand cracks 1-3 are the cams to go with. And actually now that I think about it, I've placed my #4 a lot on routes that I wouldn't classify off width. but there is truth to the statement that you need to know what the standard is for your area. If I wasn't down with hands to fists and I was climbing at IC, I wouldn't take anything bigger than a #1.
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iamthewallress
Mar 3, 2009, 12:01 AM
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shoo wrote: iamthewallress wrote: If you want to climb a lot w/ gear for protection, you will probably find that you want at least a single set of every size cam. Most people get more. This is very bad advice. Very few areas actually need a #5 or a #6 C4 Camalot. If you want to make sure that you limit the areas where you can/will climb or only get on routes where the exact rack beta is known or are willing to run it out like Chuck Pratt, then you are correct.
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shoo
Mar 3, 2009, 12:04 AM
Post #10 of 37
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patmay81 wrote: I don't think this applies to the #3 at all. I'd say the #4 is definetly a specialty piece. But the #3 works in a lot of hand cracks. Theres always sections of any hand crack that are too wide for a #2 (obviously excluding IC, where cracks are the same all the way up). So if you like climbing hand cracks 1-3 are the cams to go with. And actually now that I think about it, I've placed my #4 a lot on routes that I wouldn't classify off width. but there is truth to the statement that you need to know what the standard is for your area. If I wasn't down with hands to fists and I was climbing at IC, I wouldn't take anything bigger than a #1. I am confused as to what you are disagreeing with. I said straight up that a #3 is a standard piece, and said nothing about the viability of the #4 as specialty or standard.
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shoo
Mar 3, 2009, 12:06 AM
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iamthewallress wrote: If you want to make sure that you limit the areas where you can/will climb or only get on routes where the exact rack beta is known or are willing to run it out like Chuck Pratt, then you are correct. Did you not see the note? Do I need every piece of gear for every climb? No. The dude said he didn't like OW. He is self-limiting in that regard. He will thus choose routes which have a minimal amount of OW, and therefore rarely if ever need a #5 or a #6.
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chadcummings
Mar 3, 2009, 12:10 AM
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# 5 for me is a wide fist. ive only needed it on 5 routes. #3 is needed quite often, #4 i could find somewhere for it but i owe on and jacked my friends when he stopped climbing. i dont use them often but yeah get a #3 or go smaller and stay in finger cracks only
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iamthewallress
Mar 3, 2009, 12:17 AM
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I recommended that s/he get a # 3 regardless of his/her present needs b/c most people who can climb worth a damn on gear end up wanting and getting full racks...eventually. And you flipped out about 5's and 6's. I'm not telling the OP to get 5's or 6's. I am maintaining my opinion that the vast majority of people who stick with traditional climbing long enough to do it at a decent standard in a variety of locations will either need to do some extreme cherry-picking to find routes lacking the wide entirely or will do the easier thing and learn how to climb a wide crack.
(This post was edited by iamthewallress on Mar 3, 2009, 12:24 AM)
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shoo
Mar 3, 2009, 12:26 AM
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iamthewallress wrote: I recommended that s/he get a # 3 regardless of his/her present needs b/c most people who can climb worth a damn on gear end up wanting and getting full racks...eventually.. I don't disagree with the beginning. As I said, #3s are standard. I tend to see that people who climb worth a damn know what they DON'T need as much as what they DO need.
iamthewallress wrote: I'm not telling the OP to get 5's or 6's.
iamthewallress wrote: If you want to climb a lot w/ gear for protection, you will probably find that you want at least a single set of every size cam. Most people get more. I see some contradiction here. . .
iamthewallress wrote: I am maintaining my opinion that the vast majority of people who stick with traditional climbing long enough to do it at a decent standard in a variety of locations will need to either need to do some extreme cherry-picking to find routes lacking the wide entirely or will do the easier thing and learn how to climb a wide crack. You are far over exaggerating just how much cherry picking you would have to do. I would consider all sizes up to the #4 to be standard in my area of climbing (Northeast US: Cathedral Ledge, Cannon, and the Gunks) with a #4 being a lesser used good-to-have. That pretty much leaves me with virtually every well-rated climbing on the Northeast well protected in terms of active gear. I have no need for anything bigger, and therefore don't own anything bigger. Sure, I regularly come across places where something bigger would fit, but it's rarely if ever necessary to protect a route adequately. I want to reiterate the point here. Go local. Find out what you need for your area and your style of climbing. Further edited to apologize for thread drift. I will shut up now.
(This post was edited by shoo on Mar 3, 2009, 12:40 AM)
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patmay81
Mar 3, 2009, 12:42 AM
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yeah sorry I missed the last line of your first post. #3's are standard. k, my bad.
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coastal_climber
Mar 3, 2009, 12:59 AM
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#3 C4's are the shit. Get one. Or two.
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fishclimb
Mar 3, 2009, 1:03 AM
Post #17 of 37
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OK, thanks. I'll get it.
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iamthewallress
Mar 3, 2009, 1:31 AM
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climbinginchico wrote: coastal_climber wrote: #3 C4's are the shit. Get one. Or two. Or eight. There's no such thing as too much gear.  Apparently, if you have the good fortune to climb in the Boston area, there is.
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jeremy11
Mar 3, 2009, 1:46 AM
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sheesh. are we still arguing about this? #3 is standard wide hands. get it. if you don't like offwidths, you're missing out. as for me, I'm considering making a 9" cam
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no_email_entered
Mar 3, 2009, 2:20 AM
Post #21 of 37
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---yes, get the #3. nobody mentioned it but u will use it most often when building your belays you betcha.
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petsfed
Mar 3, 2009, 2:20 AM
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iamthewallress wrote: climbinginchico wrote: coastal_climber wrote: #3 C4's are the shit. Get one. Or two. Or eight. There's no such thing as too much gear.  Apparently, if you have the good fortune to climb in the Boston area, there is.  I mean, clearly all the cracks worth climbing are located near Boston. I have 7 pieces in the #3 c4 range. I also have 1 #4 camalot, 2 #4.5 camalots, and 1 #5 camalot, plus a litany of other things. And they all get used, early and often. The #3 is basically irreplaceable, but eventually you'll want at least one of each size from smaller-than-tips to fist stacks.
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caliclimbergrl
Mar 3, 2009, 2:48 AM
Post #23 of 37
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I don't climb wide off-with either, but my #3 gets place A LOT! Probably nearly every time I go climbing.
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shoo
Mar 3, 2009, 4:28 AM
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petsfed wrote: iamthewallress wrote: climbinginchico wrote: Or eight. There's no such thing as too much gear.  Apparently, if you have the good fortune to climb in the Boston area, there is.  I mean, clearly all the cracks worth climbing are located near Boston. The Boston area sucks ass, but the Gunks isn't far away, and Cathedral Ledge and Cannon have some decent crack, albeit not to everywhere-west-of-the-Mississippi crack standards.
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evanwish
Mar 3, 2009, 4:30 AM
Post #25 of 37
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jeremy11 wrote: sheesh. are we still arguing about this? #3 is standard wide hands. get it. if you don't like offwidths, you're missing out. as for me, I'm considering making a 9" cam do it! i just got a valley giant... sooo nice! anyway, about the OP, yea definately get the #3.. i don't use the #3 as much as i use the #4 but thats just me... i also use the #6 about 3 times as much as the #5.... strange...
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