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Beginners trad rack Sydney sandstone/ Barrenjoey

surfziggy

13-Sep-2013
8:37:11 PM

Anybody got any recommendations as to what are the essentials for a trad rack for Sydney, specifically Barrenjoey?

Which sizes of cams, how many?
Nuts?
Hexes?
Small wires?

Superstu

14-Sep-2013
5:22:28 PM

If you are a beginner wanting to learn trad, ideally you learn from someone who has a scratched-up well-used rack, in which case climb on their rack.

Failing that, useful bits include
- a bunch of bolt hangers for the hangerless bolts
- a range of cam sizes from small (1/2 inch) to med-large (3-4 inch)
- a set of nuts
- a set of hexes

Don't bother with micro cams, small wires and micro wires, as they are fairly unreliable in the soft rock and probably unnecessary for any moderately graded climb.

Decide if you love trad climbing first before you shell out the $$$ for the big cams (5-6 inches).

Hexes are unfashionable, but a well-placed hex is the best bomber placement you'll ever get. Cams are popular because they are faster to place, they are also popular for placing badly and ripping.

But cams do work well in the horizontal breaks where the hexes are fiddly.

Come to the Barrenjoey Bushcare & Climb Day on 2 November and you can meet and climb with other climbers with (hopefully) scratched-up well-used racks.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Sep-2013
7:25:38 PM

On 14/09/2013 Superstu wrote:
Ss offers great advice in his post above.

Just a point of elaboration on this bit;
>But cams do work well in the horizontal breaks where the hexes are fiddly.

This is true, and many of the climbs at Barrenjoey have horizontal breaks as their only protection opportunities (apart from bolts), so bear this in mind if you go there.
Having said that, the lower grade climbs tend to follow the few vertical (crack style), natural lines there...

sbm

15-Sep-2013
6:20:04 PM

I never got many good hex placements at Bjoey, I think a lot of the cracks flare a bit and cams generally have heaps more good placements. Although, I'm probably just not good at placing hexes.

1 Set of nuts. Cam sizes from about Camalot #0.5 to #3 although you will occasionally really want the small cams #0.3 and #0.4. Plus a few slings.

My ideal Sydney sandstone rack would be the nuts, my full set of totem cams, then a friend's #1 and #2 camalot, then bigger camalots as the route requires. I have WC Friends but I wouldn't recommend them.

Then go do Crack Of Dawn and Pledge A Legend which are probably the best beginners trad leads. Then get on Cosmic Ecology, Facet, and Judgement Day. And quickly, because the ticks will be out in force soon!

mikllaw

15-Sep-2013
6:44:33 PM

You are welcome to borrow my loaner rack to get some experience

mikllaw

15-Sep-2013
6:46:36 PM

go low tech, totem cams, link cams just have too much fiddly stuff to break. I am still using some home made malcom matheson cams from 1983

There are 6 messages in this topic.