Nuts, Cams, Torques, Offsets, Stakes? Some guidance of good Climbing Gear placements...
Nut
Look for flared cracks, like a ‘V’
Minimally you need contact at the top and bottom of the concave side and 1 solid contact on the convex side
Ideally you want as much metal in contact with the rock that is possible
Go up and down in the sizes to get the ‘sweet’ placement
Make sure you have depth of contact too
Nuts can be placed sideways
Ideally you want as much metal in contact with the rock that is possible
Go up and down in the sizes to get the ‘sweet’ placement
Make sure you have depth of contact to
Cams
These work well in a multitude of cracks, horizontal breaks, but anything that’s parallel rather than flared is where they excel.
The cam should be placed halfway open
It needs to be in the direction of the potential fall or climber
There should be equal loading on all cams
There should be symmetry on all the cams
Torque Nuts / Hexs
These torque superbly well into flared cracks.
There is 1 large surface area, try to place that first.
Minimally you need contact at the top and bottom of the large surface area and 1 solid contact on the opposite side
Ideally you want as much metal in contact with the rock that is possible
Go up and down in the sizes to get the ‘sweet’ placement
Make sure you have depth of contact too
They will lift out easily so need to be bedded in well
They can be placed sideways too
Ideally you want as much metal in contact with the rock that is possible
Go up and down in the sizes to get the ‘sweet’ placement
Make sure you have depth of contact too
They will lift out easily so need to be bedded in well
Alloy Offsets
Useful for flared cracks where normal nuts don’t sit particularly well
Ideally you want as much metal in contact with the rock that is possible
Go up and down in the sizes to get the ‘sweet’ placement
Make sure you have depth of contact too
Using Fixed gear
Stakes
Check the stability of the stake and that there is nothing that will damage your kit on it
Using a sling clove hitch to it, take a strand around the back of the stake, this will ‘lock’ the knot
The clove hitch should be as low as you can get it on the stake
