Welsford trad rack

[Deezydog]

Hey Folks, I'm hoping you can give me a bit of advice on building a trad rack.

I was able to lead a few trad routes last season at welsford and it's safe to say that I'm hooked. It's time to start building my own rack:) After a bit of research and ogling other people's racks I think I have half an idea of what I need, but I have a few questions.
It seems a lot of people recommend learning to place pro with passive gear so I was thinking of starting with a set of nuts(or 2), some hexes or tri-cams and maybe a few cams. I'm confused however as to what size nuts would be most useful
for welsford, should I buy one full set?(BD #1-13) Or double up on mid-range sizes and pick up a few hexes or tri cams to supplement?

I will be climbing mostly at cochrane ln this season so I'm wondering what you consider to be the 'essential welsford rack'
I'm trying to avoid buying gear I may not use as cost is always an issue.

For this year I probably won't be leading anything above a 5.8 if that might affect the choice of gear. Thanks for your time.

-Scotty

[Fred]

My two cents.

1. Start with the mid-size range nuts, then larger nuts and then eventually go into the itty-bitty size nuts. Black Diamond or Metolius are good.
2. Skip buying hexes and tricams, they belong on cows as bells or in museums.
3. Start with Black Diamond C4 cams #0.5 to #3 the #0.4 #0.3. In my opinion, BD C4's are the only cams worth considering for your rack except in the small sizes see 4. below.
4. After that start building in the lower size cams with Metolius Master Cams (not offset) #1, #2, #0.

It is a big investment at first but one good piece is better than two crappy ones at a cheaper price.

Hope this helps.

[Dom]

Hey,

The beautiful thing about building a rack for Welsford is that you don't need too much redudant gear. On most climbs you can get by with a single rack.

This is what I would recommend for a standard rack

-#0.3 to #3 BD C4 camalots
-#1 and #2 Metolius Master cam (or TCU, they're the same size but I'll take 4 lobes over 3 anyday.)
-I use size 4 to 13 BD nuts but Gotta say I tryed the DMM wallnuts and absolutely loved them
- nut tool

On top of your toproping gear, I would say you need:
-5 60 cm quickdraw
-1 120 cm sling
-2 30 cm draws
-5 regular draws

-This would be useful down the stretch but not absolutely necessary:

-doubles on 0.5, 0.75 and #1 BD C4 camalot
- I would usually say double 6,7,8 BD nuts but it's crazy how many cruxes in CL I've protected with a #10 nut. (Catholic girls comes to mind) One set is fine for now.
-pink, red tricams, maybe brown. Try them tho. Some ppl swear by them, others hate em.
-RP's or any brass nuts (tiny but useful on harder climbs)

Take into consideration that you might be climbing with other climbers who also have gear. It's a good way to double your rack and also to know which gear you might like or dislike. For example I dislike Hexes (antiquited technology IMO). You might not.


Anyways looking at all the extra snow CL is gonna get this weekend, it seems you have a lot of time to do research for your rack before the ''official'' start of the season.

Cheers

[Dom]

Also, I personally don't buy gear rated under 5KN. I don't think it's that hard to generate under 5kn on a good whipper. I may be wrong though. If you're thinking of aid climbing though, it's a different story. Anyways I thought this might be helpful when it's time to decide how small you are going to buy your nuts/cams.

[GKelly]

I'll second Fred's suggestion to avoid hexes and tricams. There are many traditionalists out there who are going to disagree but you don't need to fiddle with tricams when you are starting out. If you want to go oldschool later that's awsome but whatever you do don't buy tricams instead of "REAL" cams because of the price.

Greg,

[*Chris*]

My thoughts:

BD nuts starting at #4 to #10. Eventually double every other size in the middle.
Pink and Red tricam. They function as big nuts easy enough but they will save your ass on weird placements.
BD #.5 - #3. Eventually double every other size. I own .4 and .3 and they are inferior to master cams.
Metolious master cams for 1, 2, 3. Eventually get the 0
1 big hex since you'll want to lead cheekbone corner this year.
4 Trad draws. You may not have these already.
A good wall hammer, 2 lost arrows, and 3 angles (need these for Snakepeel and everything on Minky)

Cheers.

[granite_grrl]

My only recommendation to the OP is to try other people's racks to get a feel for what cams you like before you buy. Seems that there's a big following fro BD cams out in NB, but personally I hate them in the smaller sizes (prefer Metolious, BD are way too wide for my tastes below a #1 Camalot). Now I'm not saying that these BD lovers are wrong, it's just my preference.

I would also say that you should just pick up a full set of nuts if you can spend that much money at one time. BD nuts are okay, but Wild Country are really nice and so are the DMM (again, it depends on what YOU like). They all come in sets which will be cheaper then buying them individually. Depending on the cams that you're interested in some come in sets which provide you with a bit of a discount too.

Also, if you do decide to drop a bit of cash all at once sometimes online retailers will give you a bit of a discount. When my husband bought all his ice gear (which was quite a bit of gear) he got it from mgear.com, asked for and got a discount and got 10% off I think.

[Shawn B]

BD camalot from size .5 thru 3
Metolius master cam from purple thru red (orange and red almost overlap BD .5 and .75 so this doubles you up in those important sizes)
Tricams black, pink and red
Cause they are the best bang for your buck and they are good...nuts BD #4 thru 13 set
Double up on mid sized nuts using DMM (either the regular ones or the offset ones...which rock...but are expensive)
Mix of half regular draws and half trad draws

Shameless promotion now...I will be selling in spring a set of BD cams .5 thru 3.5 that are in good shape but not the new C4 design. Post or PM if interested.

[Murph]

NO DIMPLED ALIENS!

In all seriousness I would not discount some of the more old school pro as they are lighter and cheaper alternatives to cams. I use tricams regularly and they are one of my favorite pieces to place. I don't own hexes but I wish I did this summer. I had to bail off a route, leaving a #2 C4 behind.

If you are concerned about looking like an old fogey with outdated gear, I'd recommend looking into the new DMM torque nuts as they look more modern. I'm going to pick up a set for this summer.


http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=2112

[Fred]

Hex shmex!

I saw some of those once tied to a wedding party's getaway car.

[Zach Taylor]

Hey, I'm just new around here and I'm looking to get into trad too. I've been sport climbing for a little over 2 years and think it's time to start building a trad rack. Is it possible to climb certain routes in CL with only passive pro? I want to get a feel for it, but can't afford cams at them moment.

Thanks

[coryhal]

well, 80 percent of the climbs were established with passive pro ( look at the dates in the guide book ), so id say yes. Although thoses old guys had balls!! there are however lots of lines that can be climbed safely with only nuts, and its also a good way to improve your nut-craft befour you get spoiled by cams.

[Zach Taylor]

Thanks, Would I need more nuts then just the usual #4-13?

[GKelly]

I think the nuts only thing is a bad idea. I think the routes you could safely climb with only a single set of nuts would be pretty limited. I'm not dissing nuts. Nuts are great. My recommendation is to clmb with people who have the gear. At least until you get the better pert of a full rack put together. It's surprising how fast a rack can build up by adding a piece here and there.

[Greg]

Hey, I'm just new around here and I'm looking to get into trad too. I've been sport climbing for a little over 2 years and think it's time to start building a trad rack. Is it possible to climb certain routes in CL with only passive pro? I want to get a feel for it, but can't afford cams at them moment.

Thanks

There are not too many routes in Welsford that I would advise a new leader to get on with only a set of nuts. If every route protected like Reindeerland maybe but you really are going to need a set of cams. I wouldn't worry about getting spoiled by them as I have a suspicion you'll get more enjoyment out of placing the nuts........ but you will need something else for parallel cracks and hexes are not the way to go. $300 will get you 5 BD Camalots at Mec (from .5 through #3). Add another $100 or so for the nuts - that's not a ton of money....supplement your sport draws with some alpine draws and you are ready for lots of Cochrane Lane classics. Then you'll have some time to figure out which pieces you want to double up on and chip away at those.

[chossmonkey]

.....,and its also a good way to improve your nut-craft before you get spoiled by cams.

+1

Once someone has trained their eye its amazing how well nuts can be used in places that "don't take them".

When I started leading I had a set of cams and used them way too much, never training my eye. It was likely the biggest mistake I made in learning to place gear.

[Leehammer]

Good beginner routes that I wouldn't think twice about leading on just nuts:

Reindeer land, dash of fall memory, Mr. Clean, Snakepeel, It's a way of life, Pizza, Talamasca, Steal your face.

[*Chris*]

Good beginner routes that I wouldn't think twice about leading on just nuts:

Reindeer land, dash of fall memory, Mr. Clean, Snakepeel, It's a way of life, Pizza, Talamasca, Steal your face.

I'm not recommending that you go without cams. But if you do... I'll add Salt n' Pepper and Smokin' Crack to that list. Have fun.

[Zach Taylor]

thanks guys.. I decided to wait until I can afford cams too.