Active Protection
Active pro refers to gear that will adapt, within it’s limits, to more than one size of crack or placement by means of expanding and contracting mechanical parts. Spring Loaded Camming Devices (SLCD’s), Adjustable (Ball) Nuts and Spring Loaded Tube Chocks are examples of active pro. From splitter finger cracks to aiding a massive roof on a big wall, SLCD’s remove a lot of hassle that we used to have to deal with in placing pro. Next to clipping fixed gear, spring loaded cams are the easiest way to protect a climb. Advantages 1. Each of the three or 4 cams adjusts independently so that it conforms to the part of the rock that it will contact. 2. Smooth sided, parallel cracks are protected as well as irregular cracks. 3. Super fast placement. The first placement attempt is usually successful due to the adjustability of size. 4. Securely protects straight in horizontal cracks that otherwise would require opposed nuts. Disadvantages 1. Heavier than passive gear. 2. More expensive than passive gear. 3. SLCD’s will occasionally “walk”, that is, they may wiggle into a flared area of a crack to the point that the cams will barely be in contact with the rock rendering the efficacy of the placement in doubt. Walking can also make it very difficult to clean SLCD’s. 4. Overcamming may rarely cause an SLCD to be nearly impossible to remove. With correct selection of which unit is to be placed, this problem need never arise.
Ray Jardine’s original “Friends” were probably the greatest leap of climbing protection innovation that ever occurred. It is highly likely that nothing, short of an instant surface adhesion protection device, could ever exceed it. Those original Friends are still used by many climbers decades later. Rigid stemmed Friends excel at the place that they were created for - Yosemite, the home of the vertical crack system. Durable rigid stems work well there and many granite and desert sandstone crags since it is uncommon that horizontal placements are necessary. Placement into horizontal cracks can break a rigid stem if it is loaded over an edge. At places like The Gunks in New York, where the whole area is horizontally bedded conglomerate rock, flexible stemmed SLCD’s are the way to go. A fall onto a flexible SLCD may gouge at the wire stem, but the potential for breaking one is virtually eliminated. Adjustable Nuts Mix the need for the versatility of an SLCD with the small size of a nut and voila someone innovates the Adjustable Nut. Several variations have been attempted, but only a couple have stayed around, namely Trango Ball Nutz and Camp (Lowe) Ballnuts. They are small enough to fit where standard cams won't, and because of their spring loaded holding power, will set in places where you just can't get a regular nut to stay. Use them in horizontal or vertical, parallel sided, small cracks or bomb-bay roof cracks. Big Bro’s Big Bro’s are expandable tubular chocks used in wide, that is, really wide cracks. Anyone diseased enough to need these doesn’t need us to tell them about a Big Bro. You know the deed you want to do. Now, just go out there and climb that sick thing! Passive Protection
A lot of terms get thrown around to describe passive pro, depending on individual loyalty to a specific manufacturer or the unintentional brand naming of a whole genre of gear (such as calling all types of taper nuts “Stoppers”). Whatever you want to call ‘em, you will need to have some ideas about choices. Stoppers, Tapers or Wired Nuts Tapers have a narrowing shape whose profile is similar to a high angle inverted pyramid. Micro tapers still have those sharp inverted pyramid angles, but larger sizes have convex and concave sides that wedge into irregular parts of cracks perfectly. Taper and micro taper nuts will fit into shallow cracks and pin scars better than any camming unit. Select sizes from micro to thumb width. Larger sizes are available, but generally are not as effective as other alternatives. An eye for which part of a crack causes maximum metal to rock surface contact will hasten bomber placements. Hexentrics / Hex’s Hexentrics are hexagonal nuts that set due to their asymmetry in a cam like force against the walls of a crack. The smallest sizes usually have little advantage over stoppers.
Camming nuts, innovated in the 1930’s by Russian alpinist Vitaly Abalakov remained a hidden asset to climbers for decades. A few versions have come and gone, but Tri Cams are the only ones to hang in as perennially reliable. They can be placed like any regular nut or with the sling running inside the curved groove, camming them into place with a downward pull. Tri Cams take some fidgeting to set at first, but experience speeds up the process. Some climbers swear by them and there are placements where absolutely no other gear will work! Typical Rack of Pro • 1-2 Sets of Stoppers / Tapers including micro sizes • 1 Set of Hexes • 1-2 Sets of Camming Devices • 6 - 10, 60 cm Nylon Slings • 20 or more Carabiners • 5 - 10 Quickdraws • 20 Feet of Tubular Webbing • Padded Gear Sling • Nut Tool In order to prevent intermingling your rack with other partners gear, we recommend that you mark your gear by using electrical tape (some people color code sizes or types of gear) or some other non damaging, distinctive permanent mark. Fixed Protection Bolts and Pitons comprise 99% of the fixed gear on crags around the world. Stuff like rivets, copperheads, dowels, bashies and gear that just won’t come out of the rock are in the realm of esoterica. They make for great stories. Modern bolts with sound hangers, well placed in good rock, are the strongest and safest anchors that can be found. Without bolts, sport climbing and the highest difficulty free climbs simply would not exist. Careful consideration as to the appropriateness of bolts at a particular crag or on a climb is something that beginners should not decide. Consult with responsible climbers who have extensive experience bolting first, then put in the time as an apprentice before beginning to bolt crags and never bolt at an area where there is a precedent of not bolting. Bolting in those places is may shut it down to climbing. Period. Bolt Assessment Tips 1. Clipping into bolts with “spinner” hangers is a tip off to problems. Inspect to see if a nut is loose and simply needs to be tightened or if the bolt itself is not fully seated. 2. A button head bolt that is sticking out from the rock, or seeing visible parts of a bolt are telltale signs of a problem. 3. Anything that resembles a nail or pin pushing away from the center of the bolt is a sign of potential immanent failure. 4. Seeing the shape of a star in the head of a bolt that looks like a nail denotes a very weak anchor. 5. Rusty bolts are almost all compromised. 6. Bolts near the ocean or high levels of rain or humidity are subject to fast corrosion. Suspect all bolts directly exposed to sea spray to be on the brink of failure. Fixed Pitons Fixed pitons, well placed and in good condition are bomber anchors. As a general rule, horizontal layering like rock found at the Gunks and other areas along the eastern seaboard of the USA will be the best for pitons as fixed anchors.
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