UKC

Following offwidth's thread, and various contributions to other threads comments on the data base, is it time to start 'educating' people against the overuse of cams?

Of course cams have their place but is anyone seriously trying to suggest that you can't protect routes like flying butress (stanage) and suicide wall (cratcliffe) with hex's etc?

Cams cause a massive ammount of damage and as they're that 'oh shit I'm going to fall' bit of gear they tend to be rested on more than passive gear.

So what's the way forward?

In reply to sloper:

Reduce all such routes in grade to a Mod if cams are used. This should put off people who care about grade, and that aught to be enough to make a significant difference.

Equally put in a bolt at the points being damaged by cams (I don't like the idea myself), one bolt causes less damage than a seasons worth of people weighting cams in the same place.

A finally alternative is to place a gunman at the top of each route, who will unceremoniously gack anyone seen placing a cam where a hex/nut would suffice.

In reply to sloper:
Allow any gear to be placed but confiscate it from anyone seen resting on it.

In reply to catbaiter:


Not sure that would go down well in Cornwall. I think you'd see your third option soon enough if you tried that here!

Maybe we should all just text Sloper for permission any time we're thinking of using one...

Out of interest, what size hex would Steve McClure have needed to protect Elder Statesman? That looked like a pretty big cam...

-j-

In reply to Jules Lewis: Cut down scaffold pole?

In reply to sloper:

I suspect much of the damage is caused by attempts to extricate cams that are over inserted ie tight feels secure even though its not. Perhaps a rudder bit at the back of the can to prevent over insertion which can be pulled back to retreive?

In reply to JRobertson: I left a number 4 in Wales some tears back, after a mate stuck it past the narrowing in the crack. If I'd got a weekend free, I could mebbe retrieve the thing...

I like the idea from the previous thread, of extending with a sling, to prevent the whole shebang walking.
And th ethought on here of shooting those that rest on them!

In reply to sloper:
I blame Gordon Brown

When I started climbing, back in the Thatcher years, I simply couldn't afford friends, so I learn't how to place rocks properly. But now in these times of unparraleled economic stability, it seems that cams are no longer the luxury item they once were.

In reply to Chris the Tall: well the signs are that the credit fueled consumer boom is coming to an end.

PS did you know in some areas >50% of glp (as opposed to gdp) is government spending?

In reply to sloper:

I read that in Fife about 30% of the population work for the local authority.
I think the rest work in Edinburgh.