I recently discovered the merits of the Metolius Ultralight Offset Master Cams on a trip to Arches National Park in Utah (Ancestral Puebloan, Hopi, Navajo, Ouray, Paiute, Uintah, Ute, Zuni land). The author can be seen as a tiny dot in middle of the prow, halfway up the Tower of Babel in Arches National Park during his solo ascent of Zenyatta Entrada (5.8 C3-, 450') in February (Ancestral Puebloan, Hopi, Navajo, Ouray, Paiute, Uintah, Ute, Zuni land). While I think that entirely dismissing passive pro is a mistake-nuts have a simplicity that can offer better safety than cams in some cases, because there are no moving parts (fewer variables), and many nuts can fit onto a single carabiner-I would feel remiss not to carry at least one set of offset cams on any mission in the Black Canyon, Yosemite or on desert towers. These cams have proven so reliable that I know of several climbers who now carry these in lieu of nuts for protecting tapered or flaring placements. Now that several companies are making offset cams-which have two smaller lobes on one side to accommodate a parallel-sided crack that tapers toward the front or back-we now have a greater chance of finding solid protection where there previously was none.
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