Valley Giant Cams. Ya dig?

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Tom

Big Wall climber

San Luis Obispo CA

Feb 20, 2009 - 10:34pm PT

If you want to upgrade your big WC or BD cams so they can be more easily pushed up a crack, change out the flexible trigger wires with solid spring wire. The stiffness of the spring wire will keep the head of the cam stable, so it stays symmetrical in the crack, and can't easily turn sideways.

You can find the wire at a hobby shop, as music wire (which will get surface rust, but not rot out very quickly), or order stainless steel spring wire from [url="http://www.mcmaster.com" target="new"]McMaster.com[/url].

The VG trigger wires are 0.049" SS spring wire, same as for the VG9 springs. This size wire will fit the WC and BD lobes and trigger bars. I've sometimes had to bend an L-shape in the bottom of the trigger wire when upgrading cams this way.

Here is how the VG trigger wires accommodate flared placements, by sliding through the trigger bar. A similar configuration is what you'd want with your WC and BD cams.

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Feb 20, 2009 - 11:03pm PT

Hey! Isn't that my old red cam? From our Tour Of Booty down a pitch of Aurora, when climbing [dropping stuff off of] Scorched Earth? I'm a little short in cams that size, actually...

Tom

Big Wall climber

San Luis Obispo CA

Feb 20, 2009 - 11:19pm PT

Pete, you called it exactly. And, I still have the Mammut 11mm Flex rope that received a core shot from the penji-scrape from that World Class Tour of Booty (a whole trad rack, in one shot). But, whadda hey? Wall Climbing is hard on gear and ropes.

And, you know how lazy I am regarding repairing trigger wires. I have a homemade ghetto compression tool (linesman pliers, with a groove I Dremel-Tooled into the cutting edges), and fittings for attaching solid wire to cable, but the solid wire is easier, and somehow seems esthetically better.

You can find the proper and tiny stainless steel cable & fittings at fishing tackle shops near the ocean, because that is what you want when stalking Monsters of the Deep, like marlin and Jaws.

Willoughby

Social climber

Truckee, CA

Feb 21, 2009 - 01:27am PT

I don't trust that HugeBro; I don't trust anybody that doesn't cast a shadow.

P.Kingsbury

Trad climber

the jeep

Feb 23, 2009 - 05:44pm PT

borrowed from rc

Willoughby

Social climber

Truckee, CA

Feb 23, 2009 - 06:04pm PT

Oh my!!

P.Kingsbury

Trad climber

the jeep

Feb 23, 2009 - 06:12pm PT

borrowed the other one too

rectorsquid

climber

Lake Tahoe

Feb 23, 2009 - 06:53pm PT

"Not only would that create a huge fustercluck, it also doubles the force on the piece should you decide to fall."

Isn't a daisy chain static and a climbing rope dynamic? A static fall onto one of those cams could be brutal. I'm a wide crack noob but I've seen a lot of discussions online about how falling onto a daisy chain from a few feet can put huge forces on the gear.

Maybe use a dynamic cow-tail, or whatever, to make the pushing up of gear a little easier on the body?

of course the one time I was "in" a crack, I think i would have fallen white slowly as my skin wore off. Maybe the friction decreases the impact.

Dave

P.S. Sorry to reply to a post a few pages back but it stuck in my mind and I didn't immediately see the issue addressed in a quick scan of the remaining posts.

Russ Walling

Social climber

Upper Fupa, North Dakota

Feb 23, 2009 - 07:10pm PT

Nothing is really static, and mostly you ooze out of the wide. Don't believe the hype about the sky falling and all that. If you push correctly, the piece will almost always be above you you will have minimal slack between you and the piece. I know that online they will say that a 4inch fall onto a daisy chain will pull all the bolts in the universe, rupture your spleen, and kill all your siblings. Not true.

Besides, which would you sooner have:

a 120foot airballer into a body sized slot, or a 3 foot sliding oozing fall onto your swami belt? I'll take the latter, even if the daisy was made from cable and girth hitched around my nutsack.

rwedgee

Ice climber

canyon country,CA

Feb 23, 2009 - 07:20pm PT

Russ, perhaps another one of your sketches to illustrate this?? On 2nd thought....

Russ Walling

Social climber

Upper Fupa, North Dakota

Feb 24, 2009 - 02:53pm PT

hmmmm.... I'll see if I can get motivated. I see the "art" in my mind.... getting it on paper is the hard part.

PellucidWombat

Mountain climber

Berkeley, CA

Jan 27, 2011 - 02:57am PT

Regarding the discussion of forces on the pushed piece:

1. Any TRing of the rope through the piece will DOUBLE the load on the cam. So unless you think the dynamic amplification is greater than 2x your falling force, that should not be an issue. This is only likely to happen with falls approaching factor 2 falls, which will not happen if the piece is even with or above you.

2. If you are still worried about about the shock, a compromise could be to just tie off the rope to the cam tether/draw with a clove hitch. This will only load the cam with the weight of your fall (rather than twice that from the TR setup) on the climbing rope (and not the daisy), and if you want to continue on beyond the piece, all you have to do is unclip one of the clove hitch turns. Of course this system could be a bit of a clusterf#ck.

mucci

Trad climber

The pitch of Bagalaar above you

Jan 27, 2011 - 03:27am PT

Russ-

Where is the diagram, it's been 2 LONG years.

On the dog leash, straight wide crack pimpin

Ya dig?

Mucci

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:17am PT

Sigh

Cuckawalla

Trad climber

Grand Junction, CO

Jan 27, 2011 - 09:53am PT

Anyone had the cam stops on the VG9 Come out? I have had mine for two years and recently the small cylinders that act as cam stops have been pushing through. for now I have them ducttaped...
-JEsse