Second Set of Cams?
Hey Steph!
Thank you for being such an inspiration, I really loved High Infatuation and appreciate reading your blog!
I am thinking about adding some doubles of cams but do not really know what would be the wisest choice as a newer trad climber. I currently have Master Cams #1-3, and BD Camalots #.75-#4. I have been thinking about adding Power Cams or Fat Cams #5-8? I have also thought about just getting doubles of C4’s. Can you speak to the differences between Power Cams vs Fat Cams, and any advantages or disadvantages to adding Metoius cams as my second set vs getting a second set of C4’s? Any tips or advice you can offer regarding a second set of cams would be appreciated. I have been lucky to climb a lot of different places this year and anticipate exploring new areas in the Northwest in the years to come! I am looking forward to a Utah desert trip sometime soon!
Best,
Brian
Hi Brian,
I used to use Camalots almost exclusively. They are bomber and pretty versatile. Then I started using Metolius Power cams, Fat cams and the small Master cams. The Metolius cams are so much lighter, that I had a lot of motivation to switch. The sizing is very very slightly different between the Camalots and Metolius cams–at first this was hard for me to deal with, but now I like the fact that I know and have both available. In general, I’m using the Fat cams at Indian Creek (I love the big surface area, and am willing to sacrifice a little bit of weight for it), and the Power cams for every place else, the reason being that they are slightly lighter and have a narrower head, which is good when the cracks aren’t perfectly parallel for the entire pitch. For sizes 00-1, I really like the Master cams, even more than I liked Aliens which is saying a lot. Above size 2, I find the single stem too hard to manipulate when very pumped, and that’s why I like the Power and Fat cams from the yellow size up. It’s much easier to slam the rounded back against your palm when pumped, and shove it in a crack 🙂
Steph
