Tricams....anyone still use them?

I used them a lot more at certain areas back east than out west. I still take them on multi pitch routes mainly for anchors to free up more cams for the leader. Also, you always find those places only a tricam aka "trickem" will fit.

Also, like hexes, they are cheap bail gear even if you do tend to get weepy leaving that pinky behind forever...

Oh come on. No one's posted this yet:

swarpa.net/~danforth/climb/…

I like the new micro sizes for aid climbing. They sit right into little pockets. I am a bit curious about the strength rating for them. The written instructions mention 2 strengths (active and passive), but the actual tricams have a different strength sewn on them (by 1kn). Weird. Oh well, they're bomber for micro holes while aiding that the pink won't go in.

Can't say I'm a fan. I've never come to a placement where the tricam was the only option and the one time that I've ever weighted one, it was a pain for my 2nd to get out.

I've got doubles in the pink and brown plus a blue if anyone wants to make me an offer, cash or trade. They're sitting right next to the full set of hexes in the bottom of the storage space.

Maybe i'm alone but I find the green(4?) to be extremely useful. I'd rather carry one of those and a three cam rather than two three cams because its lighter and fits in slightly different placements. In fact I used it today for a hanging anchor. Bomb proof. I've only had it fall out once and simply because I neglected to give it a good tug. I find tricams really bite into sandstone well. and i've never had trouble removing them, just today my second lodged one real good because she didn't really understand them and I popped back down to it and worked it out pretty easily. You just have to understand the way they work.

Like 'em a lot. They go better than other pieces into awkward spots like pods. I've noticed they also can sit nicely in cracks with ribs, ridges, or internal flaring that sometimes thwart cams or even hexes.

Yeah, still use them all the time.

I'm afraid these are going the way of my hexes - just don't find a lot of need for them over here in Colorado. I haven't even bothered to take them out in the past couple of years.

still use them. Use them as much as I did on the East Coast.

still use them. Use them as much as I did on the East Coast.

Definitely would not leave home without em on an aid route. Would never think to bring them on a free route unless it was the key piece for a pocket or pin scar.

Never leave home without my "pinkie" and red. Learned how to use them in the Gunks and continue to love them in Eldo and other places here in the West.

I think (as has been stated several times), if you don't have experience placing them, you won't use them.

Cheers,
Thom

I sneak the tricams along on alpine climbs because some of my partners don't like them (at least they're quieter than hexes). They come in handy when you're running out of gear on lead, and I place a LOT of gear...

Robert 560 wrote:My cousin has a set of the Viamont ones viamontgear.com/gear/tricam… They seam to work really well. I think he picked up a whole set of them on ebay for $50 brand new.

No offense.....but those are the worst pieces of shit gear I have ever used. The fixed wires don't allow them to be placed passively and when placing them actively you need two hands to compress them to fit into cracks.

Now if they could just wire them with a swivel like a traditional tri-cam them might be good...even great.

Galibier_Numero_Un wrote:Never leave home without my "pinkie" and red. Learned how to use them in the Gunks and continue to love them in Eldo and other places here in the West. I think (as has been stated several times), if you don't have experience placing them, you won't use them. Cheers, Thom

Totally agree with you. I have found them the most useful for horizontal cracks, and easily placed with one hand. The Tri-Cams I'm used to come with sewn webbing.

tricams=god...

Steven Crisp wrote:tricams=god...

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.

So worship Gore-Tex or polypropylene if you want, but nothing forged or molten.

I still own the complete and original set, including the half sizes.
This year I reslung them for about the tenth time.
Everyone raves about the obvious advantages of the two smallest, but I also love the three largest sizes, which cover ranges larger than the #3 Friend. On occasion the larger sizes are stackable.

Whoa, stacking the big guys, I had never even though of that. Ever fallen on them in that configuration?

I learned to climb at the gunks back home and at that time I carried two pink, two red, two brown, and one of each size larger than that. Since I moved to Colorado I still carry them all and use them often. People like to give me a hard time about them, but it just makes me like them more. Never leave the deck with out. (placed one this weekend at vedauwoo) I am also told that the new tiny ones, made for aid, rated 2KN actually fail at a much higher degree ~5-6KN. Pretty sweet if you ask me, however I have not used them yet.

I use my single, passed down, tricam as a rearview mirror ornament.