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New DMM cams coming?

Original Post
Eric LaRoche · · West Swanzey, NH · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 25

DMM just made this Facebook post. Looks like new cams are coming.

DMM Announcement

Trondheim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2015 · Points: 35

Looks nice

Pavel Burov · · Russia · Joined May 2013 · Points: 50
Eric LaRoche wrote:DMM just made this Facebook post. Looks like new cams are coming.
Let me guess. Those small grooves (two on each lobe) are to be gone in a couple months of using although to be advertised as "more stability" blah-blah-blah.
Trondheim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2015 · Points: 35
Pavel Burov wrote: Let me guess. Those small grooves (two on each lobe) are to be gone in a couple months of using although to be advertised as "more stability" blah-blah-blah.
Maybe its steel? Maybe part of it is strong aluminium alloy or steel.
nathanael · · Riverside, CA · Joined May 2011 · Points: 525

I love new cams

Eric LaRoche · · West Swanzey, NH · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 25

I was hoping they'd make some micros to go below the baby dragons and the next size up from their biggest.

Tony B · · Around Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 24,665

Well, if they want to be a player in the cam market, something had to change...

Pavel Burov · · Russia · Joined May 2013 · Points: 50
Eric LaRoche wrote:I was hoping they'd make some micros to go below the baby dragons and the next size up from their biggest.
Blue Demon #0 is half size smaller then the blue Dragon #00. I love 'em both.

Although the blue Dragon #5 (equiv C4 #3) is the biggest useful Dragon. Gray Dragon #6 is awkward to place and clean, double sling is almost of no use in that size (when you need to elongate #4, most likely you need at least shoulder sling), gray C4 #4 is better.

Dragons are nice in blue #00, gray #0, red #3, and yellow #4 sizes. In purple to green DMM 3CU #1, #1.25, #1.5, and #1.75 are better. In bigger sizes C4s are the way to go. In smaller sizes it is better to have a mix of different brands and types.
Hiro Protagonist · · Colorado · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 290

FWIW, I totally agree that the two biggest sizes of Dragons are not useful with the sling setup, they are too hard to place and push along when needed. I own(ed) and climbed both sizes, definitely prefer C4s for both (BD #3-4 equiv).

Eric LaRoche · · West Swanzey, NH · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 25

Looks like a slight modification to the Dragon and Demon cams. The contact surface is machined down to remove the anodized surface and create a flat surface and a change to the thumb press. dmmclimbing.com/news/2015/0…

Larry S · · Easton, PA · Joined May 2010 · Points: 872

The lobe faces are also a bit wider.

There are new WC Friends coming too, which are in the middle between the BD C4's and Dragons - Similar head to the dragons - wide lobe faces, machined contact surface, double axle, but retains the thumb loop and has an extendable sling.

outside.co.uk/latest/news/T…

Pavel Burov · · Russia · Joined May 2013 · Points: 50

See 'em stacked on easier routes around popular crags next year.

Eric LaRoche · · West Swanzey, NH · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 25

Excellent. Now there will be 3 players in the Double Axle Cam market.

Pavel Burov · · Russia · Joined May 2013 · Points: 50
Eric LaRoche wrote:Excellent. Now there will be 3 players in the Double Axle Cam market.
More, weighmyrack.com/Cam/gear4ro…
Chris D · · the couch · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 2,230
Larry S wrote:The lobe faces are also a bit wider. There are new WC Friends coming too, which are in the middle between the BD C4's and Dragons - Similar head to the dragons - wide lobe faces, machined contact surface, double axle, but retains the thumb loop and has an extendable sling. outside.co.uk/latest/news/T…
I like this paragraph from that (UK-based) website:

"Since Ray Jardine came up with the idea of the Friend in 1978 Wild Country have built single axle cams. Noting the growing popularity of double axle cams, they decided to do something about it. So the latest incarnation is not a radical jump for the climbing world but takes everything people want from the all different cams out there and puts them all in one piece of awesome kit! Now before you say they “but haven't they just copied the competition?” just remember who invented the cam; they have been copied for 37 years!"

Overlooking the mis-statements (neither Ray Jardine, nor WC "invented the cam") the paragraph got me to thinking about climbing gear history, which is pretty interesting. Then thinking about Ray Jardine, whose life is perhaps even more interesting than climbing history.

Aside from his pivotal role in popularizing SLCDs, he started, pretty much all by himself, the ultralight backpacking "revolution" that now dictates the rules for an entire industry. That's just the tip of the iceberg too. You gotta check out his website.

He's still bonkers. At the moment, he's doing wacky stuff like going 40 days without consuming anything but water and inventing a device. "What does it do? It kills or disables pathogens in a person's blood stream." There was a little blurb about it on his website, but it's gone now. A vestige of the news post turns up in this google search but it appears to have been removed, and ray's site is blocked from archive.org, so I suppose it was supposed to be a secret. With his track record for innovative thinking and inventing, there's no reason to doubt that it will be his "contribution to humanity" as he wrote on his site.

Off-topic, I suppose. Still, climbers are interesting people. Time spent reading that dude's website is time spent at least as well as that spent reading about yet another cam. Ha!
Tony B · · Around Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 24,665
Chris D wrote: At the moment, he's doing wacky stuff like going 40 days without consuming anything but water and inventing a device. "What does it do? It kills or disables pathogens in a person's blood stream." There was a little blurb about it on his website, but it's gone now. A vestige of the news post turns up in this google search but it appears to have been removed, and ray's site is blocked from archive.org, so I suppose it was supposed to be a secret. With his track record for innovative thinking and inventing, there's no reason to doubt that it will be his "contribution to humanity" as he wrote on his site. Off-topic, I suppose. Still, climbers are interesting people.
Or the many rules, regulations, provisions, provisos, etc etc etc on the discussion/advertisement of a medical device were somehow applied...
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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