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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Dec 19, 2008 - 10:59pm PT
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I typically place around two hexes per pitch.
GO
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Dec 19, 2008 - 11:09pm PT
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Slim Pickens:
'nuff said.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Dec 19, 2008 - 11:11pm PT
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Damn Grossman, those drill out hexes are SWEEEEET! It reminds me of tincture stikin all over everything, tape gloves, EB's that stunk aweful and painters pants.
Peace
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OTCGENO
Trad climber
CALIFORNIA
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Dec 20, 2008 - 01:24pm PT
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I DON'T CARRY AS MANY AS I USED TO, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT A WELL PLACED HEX THAT IS ALMOST SEXUAL (SEX HEX). I USUALLY CARRY 2 OR 3 MID SIZE.
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Moof
Big Wall climber
A cube at my soul sucking job in Oregon
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Dec 20, 2008 - 02:04pm PT
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Still carry my WC #7-9 hexes most of the time. In jtree they are very useful, as goofy/funky cracks/runnels often take a nice hex, but suck for the same size cam.
Still, almost none of my partners use them, and they won't take them from me when it's their pitch (bastards). The one partner who will still wield a hex on occasion also still uses his bootied Colorado nut (about a #7-8 sized hex equivalent). He refuses to update the rotting cord, "More authentic looking this way!", so I refuse to use it on my leads.
A big hex is great for beating on your nut tool too...
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George R
climber
The Gray Area
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Dec 20, 2008 - 07:51pm PT
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Summer before last, Jersey John and I were doing "West Crack" in Tuolumne for the umpteenth time. I had placed one of his medium sized wired hexes. As I belayed John up the pitch, I heard a sound like two coconuts knocking together. I'm thinking - WTF? Then I realized what it was.
Me: "Dude, was that your head?"
John: "Yeah"
He had whipped the hex out by its cable. The hex swung in a nice arc and conked him on top of the head. His mouth was open...
G
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F10
Trad climber
e350
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Dec 20, 2008 - 08:03pm PT
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Real climber's have nut's,
I usually bring along #7-9, sometimes a few more
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Chris2
Trad climber
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Dec 20, 2008 - 08:06pm PT
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I always carry hexes, for the belay and they are light.
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bachar
Gym climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Dec 20, 2008 - 08:42pm PT
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Largo,
Just got back from the T-Wall. Wheels and wires, wheels and wires.....
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Dec 20, 2008 - 11:10pm PT
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Not going to read all this crap, but the wild country hexes are so superior to the old ones or to any other modern ones for that matter, it's not even like they deserve to be put in the same boat with other hexes.
Those wc rockcentrics, slung, act more like a tri-cam than a hex. There are plenty of climbs in the south where the rockcentrics are good as gold.
Those suckers really lock in nicely.
BTW, for your friends who climb with nothing but nuts n slcds, I've been on climbs were the placements were so irregular that cams were just worthless. In the south you are going to be at a disadvantage with out some tri-cams and other clever gear on certain climbs.
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sunshinedaydream
Trad climber
the big granite bubble
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Dec 20, 2008 - 11:59pm PT
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Ditto , I love em...! Especially the midrange sizes... bomber!
I get mixed opinions from climbing partners on them... however, if you we're trained right with nuts and hex's rather than just plugging cams Hex's have a special place in your heart ;)
SSDD
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Dec 21, 2008 - 12:26am PT
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What dirtineye said, way true. Nefarius is right, we should cop to ages, but that's part of the point: I've been climbing for 40 yrs and still alive and climbing pretty hard on good rock or bad! In part thanks to those hexes and other oddball gear.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 21, 2008 - 04:42am PT
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I second those 'good rock and bad' and 'oddball gear' comments.
I also find the length many of today's young, 'cam' orientated climbers go to place a cam in a perfect and obvious passive placement pretty amusing. To watch them do it placement after placement for six pitches a mystery.
My choice of type and brand of passive gear is entirely dependent on rock type and locale - granite, basalt, and sandstone at various crags can all have very different characteristics; I find one size does not fit all.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Dec 21, 2008 - 10:37am PT
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You could ask mgear or somesuch how many they sell, although I suspect that many, like me, buy them not knowing how much better they will be able to climb when they finally buy their full set of cams and put the hexes in a box.
Perhaps you can find out how many people climbing actively, say, 3 years to x years routinely use hexes. You could weed out the votes of the old dogs as well as the n00bs that read about hexes in their how-to and bought some b/c they weren't ready to throw down for cams yet. The ST old-skool-is-cool crowd is probably not the most accurate sample of what is popular in general.
My casual observation is that people carrying hexes at the crag tend to either a. also sport socks, high tops, and more than a few greys or b. carry the recommended two-three sets of nuts, two sets of cams, pile of full-frontal daisy chains, and a giant back pack.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Perched atop the Black Cliffs
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Dec 21, 2008 - 04:24pm PT
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I like hexes.
They're on the rack. 'Nuff said.
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schwortz
Social climber
davis, ca
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Dec 21, 2008 - 05:55pm PT
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never at the crags (except for this one climb in the gunks)
sometimes in the mountains (especially when travelling a lot and only climbing a little)
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apogee
climber
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Dec 21, 2008 - 06:16pm PT
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The mid-larger sizes occasionally get some use when I'm guiding/teaching, mostly for setting up TR's. They see some rare use in the mountains, when space/weight is an issue.
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Thorgon
Big Wall climber
Idaho Falls, ID
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Dec 21, 2008 - 06:33pm PT
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When teaching 'Wall Fledglings', I always show them how to use Hexs & Stoppers, they are much cheaper than cams and hold equally well if placed properly! O.K. not as good in parallel sided cracks, but in any taper they could hold a semi truck! The cost helps climbers get a rack started and get out climbing!
I got a bizzare one for the old farts like me! Who has the old Chouinard Equipment Tube Chocks? I have a set from many years ago they stay warm and dry in my Cruise Box!
Keep including the "old" information Largo! It will make it seem like I am still in the game! Hehehe
Cheers,
Thor
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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Dec 21, 2008 - 06:46pm PT
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The answer is 'Yes'
For general outings my basic rack always starts out with my wireds, four slung stoppers and four hexes, 5-8. Then I bring whatever cams... a single set, or with a few doubles, full double set, depending etc...
A lot of this thread has discussed specialty situations or rock quality considerations. Of course these are extremely influential in gear choices.
A small group of posters have mentioned the factor of the 'partner'. Anastasia mentioned that she might be less apt to carry hexes with a younger partner as they are less familiar and therefore trusty of 'artificial chock stones'. I have mostly found the opposite, most of my young climber partners just delight at setting a bomb hex and prefer it over a bomb cam placement. That is until they have more experience and realize that a bomber piece is a bomber piece, be it a nut, cam, slung flake or tree. There are good placements and crap placements. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get.
Of course the people climbing 5.12 and harder say it's stupid and even impeding to carry hexes on hard climbs. Generally true, but again a generalization. But it does not have to be hard to make certain routes (Indian Creek) pretty much demand an all cam rack.
But here is something interesting I came upon as I got back into climbing (and surfing forums).
I started leading climbs at Cathedral Ledge in New Hampshire. I always recalled the classic fun, super well protected, rather stiff in it's grade, route up on the Airation buttress, named 'Pine Tree Eliminate'.
Read this page and the ensuing thread:
So yeah... sure, there are times when nuts are 'dead weight' and times when they are more than worth their weight. But I say, unless you exclusively climb pure sport, never under 5.11 or never outside of Indian Creek... Owning and knowing how to use a set of stoppers and hexes is part'n parcel to being rounded at getting/finding pro efficiently.
To blow placements out, and/or not bring any hexes on routes like 'Pine Tree Eliminate or Reed's Direct... I don't get it ? It would be like bringing only quick draws and no full length runners on a multi pitch route, I don't get it?
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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Dec 21, 2008 - 08:12pm PT
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Haven't used hexes in 15 years. I do carry mid-range Rockcentrics instead of a second set of SLCDs for lightweight backcountry routes where I'm below my limit and can hang out to fiddle them in (or, if seconding, out): Classic routes in the Wind Rivers, Mid-range routes in the Bugs, or moderate routes in the Washington Pass area, for examples.
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