Pro Placement

I just bought some trad gear and am looking to do some low level practicing of some placements around Salt Lake City. Is there anywhere that comes to mind that has a good variety of cracks in relatively close proximity to one another. I've been looking through the guidebook, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas that stand out in their mind. Thanks

the crack between the fridge and freezer, crack between fridge and wall. crack between stove and countertop, all pretty close, proximity wise.

Also, less gear is less rope drag, remember that.

Already placed plenty of cams around the house, I'm looking more for crag ideas. Thanks Again

The crack between my stove to counter takes a #6 really well.

What grade range are you looking for? I want to say bushwack, hatchet crack, and call it what you please in little, but it will be warm.

I'm not actually looking to get on the rock, more so just walk around and get a better feel for the gear. I've got gear up to a #3 cam, so anything that and smaller.

Go to any piece of rock...

TR some routes first.

When you ready to lead Dead Snag area in BCC (need to know how to build anchors here), storm mtn in BCC, school room in LCC.

Better yet go with someone who knows how and watch there gear.

Last thing to remember....yerr goin to die.

Don't forget to leave a piece or two, post up about the loss. Blame the next marmot/pidgeon/baby born In poverty/climbers on the next ridge or any other thieving bastard within a 10 mile radius for stealing your shit. Then duck n cover while the ensuing multi reply shit storm unravels.

Just messin :-P
I remember the first time I placed my first hexentrics and cams quite fondly.
Follow the suggestions above and be safe.

These are the exact things I was looking for! Thanks! Any other advice/ locations for practicing is also greatly appreciated.

Placing without some kind of testing is worthless. Just walk around rocks with your rack and look for placements that are low enough to bounce test vigorously without hurting yourself if the cam blows. If the cam is near eye level, make sure to turn your head while actually bouncing so you don't get hit in the face.

Placements can be marginal for several reasons. Wet, crumbly, or dirty rock in the crack will decrease reliability, as will flared placements. Cracks that are noticeably flared are a major concern and should be avoided if at all possible.

If the initial placement is good but the cam moves while climbing and/or falling, all bets can be off. Because of this, beware placing a cam in a locally narrow section of a crack if the crack widens on either or both sides of the placement. A little walking induced by rope motions and your piece is garbage. Try to see how this happens by purposely placing the cam in such narrow places, and then moving it back and forth gently to see how it repositions itself. Don't forget that you'll usually be better off with a nut in such bottle-necked places.

The way to guard against motion-induced degradation of the placement is to (1) place with the cams as tightly compressed as possible while of course still leaving room for removal---in any case the point of contact should be above the midpoint of the cam, and (2) place in locally wider sections of the crack so there is no place for the cam to migrate and spring open. Don't compress the cams all the way or you are likely to lose it. This means, among other things, that you should be very careful about just pushing the cam into a narrower portion of the crack after you've already inserted it; this is the easiest way to lock the cams down tight.

The bigger cams have much more range, but I'd still consider anything with contact past the midpoint of the cams to be heading into the unreliable range. Small cams have small ranges and so are much more subject to failure from very small motions or local variations in the crack. Eyeball your placements carefully and make sure, by a little wiggling, that some small motion isn't going to spring one of the cams open. If so, you need a bigger cam or a different placement.

Another thing to beware of is a cam in a vertical placement that is sticking straight out of the rock because of some obstruction, rather than with the stem in the direction of the fall. The more flexible the cam stem, the less reliable such placements are, because the loads don't activate the cams in the way required by their design. A more rigid stem in such situations, which in any case are to be avoided if possible, actually contributes to holding power.

My experience with climbers new to trad gear is that they place cams too often (meaning that they are missing better nut placements) and trust them too much, ending up with a less reliable protection system than the rock provides for. When starting out, I'd consider cams in the finger range, below purple Camalot size, to be only semi-reliable. Compensate for that by doubling up or placing more protection nearby when those sizes are called for and nut placements (which can be much better in those small sizes) are not available. This means that practice sessions should give at least equal time to nut placements!

AA: Follow directions to Satan's Corner/Beckey's Wall. Instead of taking the 3rd class approach up to the base of these routes, continue east for another 10-15 feet. You'll reach a series of fins which accept a wide range of cams/stoppers/etc. You'll find a crack of every shape and size and never have to leave the ground. Supplement this hands-on practice w/ John Longs anchor book and you'll be in pretty good shape.

I started out by finding random cracks where ever I could. Then start placing gear.

Then, find another location and try to onsight a gear anchor. You will probably place the most obvious placements you can. Then adjust those placements and find as many places that they will fit. Not just really good places, but as many decent ones as you can find.

Then take the pieces you places and set them aside. Do it again with the rest of the rack. Then again. Then again.

Next go and try to look at a station and predict the gear you will use. Then ONLY use that gear. if it fits, great. When it doesn't, find where it fits in that area.

After all that, climb in the desert. After 100' of any one size, you will have a pretty good idea of what cam should go in when your hand does *this*