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Has anyone ever invented trad gear for climbing tufas?

Original Post
Loren Trager · · Flagstaff, AZ · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 165

I don't know why I thought of this, but I vaguely remember some random video on climbing.com that featured a guy that used an acrobatic net to protect a certain climb, and he was working on some piece of gear that would pinch the tufas, serving as protection if he fell. Did he actually get any of these devices to work? Would it damage the limestone rib if someone took a fall on it? Name suggestions for this type of gear?

JesseT · · Portland, OR · Joined May 2011 · Points: 100

I think you're talking about the anticam.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2332943;page=unread

http://climbingnarc.com/2010/05/the-anti-cam/

Dom Caron · · Welsford, New Brunswick Canada · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 1,370
Lorenzo Tragen wrote:I don't know why I thought of this, but I vaguely remember some random video on climbing.com that featured a guy that used an acrobatic net to protect a certain climb, and he was working on some piece of gear that would pinch the tufas, serving as protection if he fell. Did he actually get any of these devices to work? Would it damage the limestone rib if someone took a fall on it? Name suggestions for this type of gear?
By tufas, I think you mean huge flakes??

Regular cams will work in most Tufas

youtube.com/watch?v=-TeTejh…
Watch this video @ 2:40
Evan S · · Denver, Co · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 510
Justin Brunson · · Tacoma WA · Joined Jun 2010 · Points: 2,266

Is it just me, or is using cams on limestone routes a really sketchy practice?
I'm just thinking of the time I was ruthlessly betrayed by what I thought was a bomber undercling. It broke, and I took a 40 footer.
I could see using passive pro, but It just seems too unpredictable for cams.

Loren Trager · · Flagstaff, AZ · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 165

It's the anticam that I was thinking about, of which there's another forum post already.

By "tufa", I was refering to the limestone rib formations that protrude from the wall which can sometimes fit within the pinching grasp of a climber's hand.

I've never climbed on tufas before, but they look much more solid (being perpendicular from the wall) than limestone flakes that seem like they could pull from the wall. Flakes on other types of rock do feel more solid, in general, but I guess any type of rock can have thin, hollow and insecure flakes. Other people have noted that limestone is much more conducive to being bolted than protected with gear. In Flagstaff, it seems like all the limestone is either bolted or bouldered, and all the basalt has cracks that make for great gear placements.

JJNS · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2008 · Points: 531

This guy choose not to clip the bolts: youtube.com/watch?v=-TeTejh…

Colonel Mustard · · Sacramento, CA · Joined Sep 2005 · Points: 1,241

Nice vid! His ascent couldn't have been done with the bolts for rehearsal, I'm guessing, but that was some exciting, well shot climbing nonetheless.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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