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MisterE
Social climber
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Burn the witch!^^
;)
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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The primary advantage of tricams is head width; they are much narrower than cams. For example, the pink tricam is about the size of a tight 0.5 (purple) Camalot but has half the head width. This means that they will fit in horizontal placements in pockets and in pocket-like constrictions in cracks where no cam will go, e.g.
and will fit in very shallow vertical cracks and formations where only two lobes of a cam can enter. They also seem to work in certain types of flared features that won't accommodate any other type of pro. Since they depend on mechanical expansion rather than friction, they are likely to be more reliable than cams in wet, muddy, lichenated, or icy placements, and their light weight and compactness relative to cams make them attractive for back-country use. You can even place them between rock and ice. There is little doubt that they have unique applications that could be critical in some cases.
On the downside, they are a tribulation if you have to get them in one-handed with the pump meter redlining---a deal-breaker for steep climbing, are in general fiddly to place, are less tolerant of off-axis forces than cams, frequently require two hands to clean---seconds regularly curse them---and are far more likely to be fixed by a fall than a nut or cam.
For all these reasons, tricams seem to me to be a last-resort specialty piece rather than general purpose gear. As such, they require some skill in recognizing when they can be used. People who say they have carried them but never found placements for them may simply be missing the opportunities through lack of familiarity. Nonetheless, my experience in the Gunks, supposedly tricam heaven, is like Tradman's: cams have usually worked fine for me on routes that supposedly need tricams. I always have a set of tricams in my pack, but they usually stay there.
But the original question is about tricams replacing nuts, not cams. I think tricams work very well as nuts in the available sizes. The twin-rail bearing surface allows them to be placed around bumps and constrictions that would otherwise create single-point contact for a nut placement. When I do carry my tricams, most of my placements are in passive mode. However, my memory is that tricams are stronger in their cammed orientation when the load isn't straight down on the rolled pin, so that an equivalent-sized wired nut might be physically stronger gear. This effect is most pronounced in the small sizes; a pink tricam placed passively is rated by Camp at 6 kN (compared to 9 kN in cammed mode), the equivalent-sized Metolius #9 Ultralight Curve Nut is rated at 10 kN.
I usually carry one complete set of nuts. If a climb calls for a set-and-a-half, I'll often bring the tricams to augment the large and medium-sized nuts.
Users and skeptics alike could benefit by reading
http://www.camp-usa.com/product-highlights/forum/simple-mechanics-why-tricams-still-rule/simple-mechanics-why-tricams-still-rule.asp
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S cole
Social climber
Urban hell
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I've owned two tri-cams since 1981. Bought them when Nadim and I were told we could not do the Magic Mushroom without them. We drove to Fresno in July and paid a fortune for a pink and red. Needless to say we completed the Mushroom, and never even saw a place to put them. For thirty years I have looked for a place to use them,but still haven't found it.
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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what are tricams?
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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My question for those of you who love tri-cams is how often do you place them in 'camming" mode and how often do you place them just as a nut(sling straight down) in 'non-camming' mode?
Agree that you don't see really good climbers using tri-cams. Maybe the pink for pockets, but not a full rack.
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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never seen one- are they new?
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Nope.
And after reading the "Pink Appreciation" thread I may have to get one of those just to have it, even if it never leaves my rack.
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Some Random Guy
Trad climber
San Francisco
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i've used tri-cams for easy alpine missions although it was a conscious choice to take them instead of slcd's to save weight. not sure about the largest ones though, i'm sure they work just fine but damn, those things are boat anchors! used em for three point belay anchors too. not sure i would feel good about trying to use one on anything strenuous though.
side note: this comes up in the above mentioned tri-cam image search
me like! me like a lot!
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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i don't trust wikipedia
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Pink tri-cams have their own fan-page and ode BTW:
http://www.swarpa.net/~danforth/climb/sinkthepink.html
Stupid address won't link correctly for some reason - gotta manually cut and paste the whole thing to view it ^^^.
Sink The Pink!!!
The Pink Tri-Cam Fan Page
Whether you love it or hate it, everyone seems to have some strong opinion of our little pink friends. That's right, the size 0.5 Tri-cam from Camp! Personally, I love the little buggers. No climb is complete until you sink the pink.
Ode to a Pink Tricam
Oh Pink's the one I love to place
when I'm alone way up in space
on some exposed and airy face.
They sink where other gear won't go.
When all you've got is manky pro,
This tricam saves your butt from woe.
But it's often hard to get them out;
They make your second moan and shout
And wave his nut tool 'round about
But that's why you're the one on lead
Your problems are a different breed
As long as someone does the deed...
"Oh quit your whimpering," you rumble,
"And get it out or there'll be trouble"
"Get to work now, on the double!"
Although it sometimes takes a while,
They do come out with vim and guile,
(or chiselling and curses vile.)
Pink will do what all the rest.
Won't do when they're put to the test.
Oh pink tricams are just the best!
 Charles "Pinky" Danforth
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Rgold's shot looks like a nice body weight placement. Puuurfect for drilling a nice fat bolt to actually protect the free climbing move :)
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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For all I know, that's what it was used for. I lifted that shot from the web.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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I would have simply used a Tallon hook to drill from. The last time I tried that level of sketch with lucky pink while hand drilling, lucky pink blew and I went for a big ride ;)
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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On most climbs that call for "a double set of cams" I get away with a single set of cams and four or five tricams. Lighter and cheaper too.
30m finger crack two pitches up a 6 pitch alpine route. Once the yellow and orange TCUs had been placed and the crack continued at the same size, the pink got sunk at the 11+ crux...
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Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
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Yes they're hard to place on lead but they fit in awkward placements, can be placed actively or passively, and have a nice size range.
I never climb without a couple stuck on the back of my harness...but I also live in Iowa so what do I know.
Well, it is useful to know that there are no "active" placements with Tri-Cams. I do understand what you meant, though. Heh.
Curt
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Used them extensively (in a modded form) from when they first came out and, like Titons, were great in their time and still are in some rock types. But I haven't carried mine for twenty years as HB Offsets basically obsoleted them for the rock I climb.
[ With regard to the OP's comment on predominantly placing cams - I think that's one of the more unfortunate of recent trends in climbing. I can't imagine reaching for a cam when a good nut placement is at hand. ]
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Berkeley, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 6, 2012 - 05:30pm PT
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[ With regard to the OP's comment on predominantly placing cams - I think that's one of the more unfortunate of recent trends in climbing. I can't imagine reaching for a cam when a good nut placement is at hand. ]
I think the real problem is people who learn to place cams before ever leading on an all-nut & hex rack, and therefore don't put in the time to know how to place them, and as a result they don't see the good placements for nuts as well or know how to make trickier nut placements if they are saving cams or are out of cams.
I started out leading without any cams, and gradually added them to my rack, but in the rock type I encounter in the Sierra, I usually find cam placements to be pretty numerous and easy and often faster to place than nuts (but not always!). Although every now and then I see a bomber, easy nut placement and happily slot one of those in instead of fiddling with a cam. I encountered a number of such placements on South Crack, yesterday :-)
I've also noticed that nuts can also trump cams on finger cracks where you want to preserve your finger jam, since you can slot the head inside with the wire protruding from the crack where it is too thin for your fingers anyways. So in these circumstances I am returning to using nuts a bit more, but in more specialized ways.
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