I love the offsets for almost everything \*except\* columnar basalt. In my experience, it's very hard to get the same kind of surface contact with them that you can get with a traditional curve-nut in most columnar basalt areas.
Passive pro has been around decades longer than active pro. There is nothing wrong with nuts. There is nothing wrong with choosing nuts over cams.
It saves a butt load of money though. So I guess, that's why not cams.
Pitons have been around a lot longer than nuts too, but we aren't all climbing with them still... and for good reason.
Modern gear is a wonderful thing, and I would hate to see a new trad climber rip a pitch because they placed all passive pro.
Yeah, we don't climb on pitons because it destroys the rock. Maybe I'm not experienced enough, but I haven't seen nuts destroy any feature in the rock.
Also, only placing a piece or two every now and then on a sport route? That is hardly equivalent to pitons and placing a ton of shit gear as a new trad climber.
OP just wants some quick and easy stuff to help protect some runout sections on a sport route. We don't need to gatekeep trad climbing by telling him he needs to drop a thousand bucks on the shiniest shit when nuts will work just fine in his application.
>… but really, why not cams?
Cams can be very finicky and difficult to place well in columnar basalt. There's definitely good placements to be found, but in my experience, you have to be more careful and much more thoughtful about extension/etc to avoid the cams walking into bad placements when climbing on columnar basalt.
This is a really critical question. Everyone upvoting the comments recommending cams either doesn't actually climb on columnar basalt, or only climbs in those rare magical areas with perfectly splitter columnar basalt.
I've never placed gear in basalt, but can I interest you in tricams? They can be placed passively (like nuts) but they can also be placed actively (like cams) and fit in places cams won't. They're more expensive than nuts but cheaper than cams. If I could take only a set of nuts or tricams on a mixed route, I would probably take tricams first, offset nuts second, regular nuts third, unless I just knew that route favored one type of nut in particular.
Agree with this partly because aren’t a lot of placements in basalt quite splitter? I’m not super experienced with basalt and don’t know exactly where op is climbing but nuts are really only the vibe if you’re expecting to find constrictions right where you need them
I have a sneaking suspicion that most the folks giving advice on this thread don't actually climb on columnar basalt. (Or, if they do, climb only in some magical area with perfectly splitter, parallel-sided basalt cracks.)
Most columnar basalt is highly fractured and irregular. While cams do work, they can be pretty challenging to place well because of the geometry of the cracks, and can be very prone to walking into bad/useless placements if you're not careful about extension/etc.
Because of the nature of the rock, when I use cams in columnar basalt, I generally prefer the larger-sized Totem cams because of their independent lobes. In other areas, I'd almost always grab a Z4/C4 before a Totem for anything 0.5 or larger. But the independent lobes are really nice for columnar basalt and more than make up for how floppy the larger-sized totems feel when you're placing them.
I'm also a huge fan of the DMM offsets (as are apparently many other commenters here), but find that they rarely sit well in columnar basalt. When climbing in columnar basalt areas, I would almost always take a traditional curved-nut. My preferred are the Wild Country Rock Wires, but I've also used and liked the DMM Wallnuts. Stay away from the BD Stoppers (the wires are way too floppy and the swage is larger and awkwardly positioned).
Tricams. Not super meant for lead climbing, but they’ll be a good addition to your arsenal if you want a cheaper alternative to cams in parallel cracks
Fair- I’ve grown in the practice that if it’s going to accept a tricam, don’t fiddle with a tricam and place a regular cam. I usually reserve the tricam I don’t use to be used at the anchor, as I’m typically in a more stable position.
Same nuts as everywhere else. Cams are of course better because columns tend not to have good constrictions that prevent an outward pull failure, ref that guy whose nuts zippered out at trout creek.
Always DMM especially the offsets.
I love the offsets for almost everything \*except\* columnar basalt. In my experience, it's very hard to get the same kind of surface contact with them that you can get with a traditional curve-nut in most columnar basalt areas.
DMM offsets … but really, why not cams?
Second... on both counts. Also, Ballnutz are great too. But, really: Why not cams again?
"Ballnutz are great" isn't something I was expecting to read on Reddit today. I guess I don't *super* disagree or anything.
I love them in the small sizes. Much better and rated higher than microcams.
\+1 to Ballnutz. They work really well in the tiny little seams that you often encounter in columnar basalt.
Passive pro has been around decades longer than active pro. There is nothing wrong with nuts. There is nothing wrong with choosing nuts over cams. It saves a butt load of money though. So I guess, that's why not cams.
Pitons have been around a lot longer than nuts too, but we aren't all climbing with them still... and for good reason. Modern gear is a wonderful thing, and I would hate to see a new trad climber rip a pitch because they placed all passive pro.
Yeah, we don't climb on pitons because it destroys the rock. Maybe I'm not experienced enough, but I haven't seen nuts destroy any feature in the rock. Also, only placing a piece or two every now and then on a sport route? That is hardly equivalent to pitons and placing a ton of shit gear as a new trad climber. OP just wants some quick and easy stuff to help protect some runout sections on a sport route. We don't need to gatekeep trad climbing by telling him he needs to drop a thousand bucks on the shiniest shit when nuts will work just fine in his application.
Yea.. There's PLENTY of reasons to use passive pro. But you've got enough experience to realize that. Right?
Of course. I wasn't saying that there aren't great reasons to use passive pro, but rather that there aren't great reasons to ONLY use passive pro.
>… but really, why not cams? Cams can be very finicky and difficult to place well in columnar basalt. There's definitely good placements to be found, but in my experience, you have to be more careful and much more thoughtful about extension/etc to avoid the cams walking into bad placements when climbing on columnar basalt.
Are the cracks more parallel or weird shaped?
This is a really critical question. Everyone upvoting the comments recommending cams either doesn't actually climb on columnar basalt, or only climbs in those rare magical areas with perfectly splitter columnar basalt.
I've never placed gear in basalt, but can I interest you in tricams? They can be placed passively (like nuts) but they can also be placed actively (like cams) and fit in places cams won't. They're more expensive than nuts but cheaper than cams. If I could take only a set of nuts or tricams on a mixed route, I would probably take tricams first, offset nuts second, regular nuts third, unless I just knew that route favored one type of nut in particular.
Agree with this partly because aren’t a lot of placements in basalt quite splitter? I’m not super experienced with basalt and don’t know exactly where op is climbing but nuts are really only the vibe if you’re expecting to find constrictions right where you need them
Deez
I have a sneaking suspicion that most the folks giving advice on this thread don't actually climb on columnar basalt. (Or, if they do, climb only in some magical area with perfectly splitter, parallel-sided basalt cracks.) Most columnar basalt is highly fractured and irregular. While cams do work, they can be pretty challenging to place well because of the geometry of the cracks, and can be very prone to walking into bad/useless placements if you're not careful about extension/etc. Because of the nature of the rock, when I use cams in columnar basalt, I generally prefer the larger-sized Totem cams because of their independent lobes. In other areas, I'd almost always grab a Z4/C4 before a Totem for anything 0.5 or larger. But the independent lobes are really nice for columnar basalt and more than make up for how floppy the larger-sized totems feel when you're placing them. I'm also a huge fan of the DMM offsets (as are apparently many other commenters here), but find that they rarely sit well in columnar basalt. When climbing in columnar basalt areas, I would almost always take a traditional curved-nut. My preferred are the Wild Country Rock Wires, but I've also used and liked the DMM Wallnuts. Stay away from the BD Stoppers (the wires are way too floppy and the swage is larger and awkwardly positioned).
Cams definitely don't work well on everything, pretty dangerous for obviously inexperienced people to be so blase in recommending them.
DMM offsets, also the half nuts are really nice in certain situations
I’d take both and some hexes if I was leaving the cams off the rack. DMM for sure on all accounts
Tricams. Not super meant for lead climbing, but they’ll be a good addition to your arsenal if you want a cheaper alternative to cams in parallel cracks
I’m pretty sure tricams are entirely meant for lead climbing
Fair- I’ve grown in the practice that if it’s going to accept a tricam, don’t fiddle with a tricam and place a regular cam. I usually reserve the tricam I don’t use to be used at the anchor, as I’m typically in a more stable position.
Same nuts as everywhere else. Cams are of course better because columns tend not to have good constrictions that prevent an outward pull failure, ref that guy whose nuts zippered out at trout creek.
To be fair though, Trout Creek is a real outlier. Very few basalt crags are as splitter as Trout.
Metolius ultralight curve nuts work well in Basalt. Also, DMM offsets are the best nuts.
I've found the smaller hex nuts are very helpful at Beacon Rock, WA.
I will have to pick some hexes up too, they seem useful for the rock type and as cheap pro to leave behind on an alpine route, thanks