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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 26, 2008 - 11:41am PT
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Sort of looks like a poster for "Hangout at the Tri-cam Corral" or something. :-)
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peter gold
Trad climber
Vt
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Nov 16, 2009 - 02:39am PT
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To all and sundry--I remember, have , and still climb with: campbell saddle wedges, hexes, tri-cams, and assorted nuts, chocks, stoppers, etc. As well as knotted slings (gasp!) and jammed chockstones.
Hey--whatever works. I have Aliens, Camalots, and a bunch of pretty exotic little gear. And again--whatever works.
Its all fun--just a question of what you feel like hauling up that day.
On ice--yes i remember warthogs. And Lowe snargs--remember them? these days ice screws are SO much better to work with. And tools too.
and prons and boots. But does all that stuff make one a better climberr?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Its ultimately whats in your head, and heart and how you can read the ice, the rock, the snow.
I've been out of touch for a while--some major shoulder and knee injuries, but now i look forward to climbing again, even though as a certifiably old guy I will be a little slow...but hey--whatever works right?
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hooblie
climber
sounding out stuff as in the manner of crickets
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Nov 16, 2009 - 05:25am PT
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they way i heard it, at the old climbers home the aids while come by
and kindly rattle a rack of hexes and open a bottle of benzoine
if you're holding up the line at the load drop
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Nov 16, 2009 - 11:17am PT
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What a great thread! My favorite thing about the days of hexs was sketching pulling thru the crux as you heard the clang clang clang of your last piece pulling and sliding down the rope.
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Nov 16, 2009 - 12:42pm PT
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Never really used tri-cams much.
Memorable for me was a 1979 ascent of the Nasal Passage with a double set of hexes and double set of stoppers. I recall some pretty funky stacks on the very parallel sections of Boot and the pitch above the Glowering Spot. Hardly even think about those pitches these days with cams....
Paul
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KitKat
Trad climber
my van, CA or Mexico
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Nov 30, 2009 - 03:24pm PT
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My first rack was double hexes, double nuts, total of 6 cams.... and a pink tri-cam... WE SENT THAT SHIOT!!!!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 30, 2009 - 03:24pm PT
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I vividly remember stacking hexs in semi-pocketed pegmatite 'cracks' down in Glenwood Canyon before I-70 got blasted through the place. I also recall thinking at the time that it would be hard to conjour up a more pointless and futile activity.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Nov 30, 2009 - 04:24pm PT
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Anybody want to buy some?
PM me.
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Pink and red tri-cams. I always carry them on a trad lead. I haven't fallen on them, but I have lowered off of them more than once. They work in pockets where nothing else will stay. They work in vertical cracks, horizontal cracks, in Acadia, Seneca, Squamish, J-Tree. I have put them on opposite sides of a block in hopes that they would hold by keeping the block in place. I remember using tri-cams when I had a stance to fiddle with gear, and slamming in the friends/camelots when time was of the essence. With their unique properties and my lack of courage, the tri-cams were deployed often.
In New England, the rock is not as abundant. So we would amuse ourselves with all nut ascents, all tri-cam ascents, all tied sling ascents of various climbs. It took creativity to stay entertained on the local crag.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Mare Infinitum
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I like the new tiny tricams, too.
.125 & .25.....white & black, respectively.
Sink the Tiny Whitey! Then L'il Black....THEN sink the pink.
Oh, yeah.
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Brendan
Trad climber
Yosemite, CA
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Im a youngster compared to you cats, but i when i started guiding in the new river gorge I distinctly remember spending $120 of my $127.35 bank account to prodeal a rope.
I ate alot of pasta and hot sauce for a while.
I didn't have any money for cams so I bought a set of nuts and hexes. led two seasons on them and remember being totally horrified and amazed when I whipped 8 feet on a #4 hex cammed into a parallel crack and it held. I think i remember givin the big guy up stairs some serious props that evening. I can safely say that you old schoolers are badass.
they say the nut cracker with nuts? I say Reid's direct with hexes and nuts, so bomber! (second pitch anyways)
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Leave all the tri cams ( never carried even one of those ) and hexes ( used to carry a lot of those ) in the climbing museum. It's stoppers and cams guys, unless you're in the gunks where it's old rusty pins....
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Don't donate them to a museum - send to me!!! or give/sell them to a newbie who just bought a rope and can't afford any cams yet. Passing the torch to a new generation.
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F10
Trad climber
e350
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Stoppers and Hexes, thats all there was
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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I must say, following Gary Isaacs up Horns Mother in the Voo in 1975 was a real eye-opener for me in the art of leading. He used Hex's. No desperate placements. He used natural stances for the sparse placements.
I also remember leading the crack of the first pitch of the North Face of Castleton. Friends had just come out and we had a total of three. Most of that crack was protected by Hex's. Didn't seem gnarly. Fast forward to the late 90's when I shamed a party of two into leading that pitch after they were about to beg off because they "only" had two sets of cams.
Times change. The crack was hard for them. The face was easy. Just the opposite when I was on it.
Brent
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Chillin' in the City of Trees
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2 big hexes was the anchor at the flake when Darrin walked the Lost Arrow.
Bomber.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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It's funny that people can't imagine how others coped without "necessities" like cell phones, the internet et al. How was it possible to live in Houston before air conditioning? I've said it before: you don't miss what doesn't exist and you make do with what does. In every generation of my climbing career I had the best equipment available and felt privileged to have it.
I did the first ascents of Leaning Meanie, Enema Crack, Basket Case, Overhang Overpass et al before cams and lived to tell the tale. You play with the hand you're dealt.
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sanarteaga
Trad climber
Bogotá
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Greetings from Colombia!
Well down here hexes are still very in fashion... Partly because we climb on rather soft sandstone and hexes a lot of times are safer (sometimes cams tend to break the interior of cracks and slip out...) and partly cause we are poor... and gear is more expensive here than in the US.
In suesca, the largest climbing area near bogota, you can still hear the hexes sound all around...
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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haha - my hexes are the oldest thing on my rack...
i started with half a set of hexes and half a set of nuts (insert joke)...6 quickdraws, 3 slings and you're off ! it was a while before i had a cam...
i still remember looking down and watching a hex zip out and slide down the rope - it only happened to me like 5 times ? doh...i wonder if it's because they were wired and not tied...that and i was clueless...
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