Cams pulling in perfectly parallel cracks due to "patina"

from the dutch alpine club ...

youtube.com/watch?v=faKH_cU…

A perfectly placed cam comes without significant effort from the rock. How is that possible?!? The cam is defective? No, not that. The operation of a cam stands or falls by virtue of friction. And if that is not there ...

Patina
Imagine a crevice with walls of glass. Anyone can imagine that the cam is not working here. In certain sectors of Ettringen the rock is almost as smooth as glass. On the rock there is a layer with as little friction cams which without difficulty can be pulled out of the slit. In particular, the three slots in Mayen, and Morphinist sector in particular, are notorious.

Low friction may be a property of the rock itself. Consider slate (slate) or very compact limestone. But in the case of the rock in Ettringen is the cause of a patina of minerals and algae which is sometimes to be found inside of the slits. This patina has especially in humid conditions, a very low friction coefficient, which is comparable to that of glass. Cams can be pulled over without significant resistance when dropped from the gap.

The best cure is to wait until the rock is dry, and to place a double or triple fuses in that case. The most notorious sector in Ettringen is Sektor Morphinist in the Schwarzer Zirkel. The route Einsichten eines Morphinisten 'someone with a grounder off his back. But also in other sectors in Ettringen You encounter such gaps.

It also helps to set cams above narrowing of the gap and also to make them a little bit back and forth during installation. At a sufficiently striking constriction is a passive fuse, such as a utility, 'usually' safer than an active fuse (cam). Also check visually that the cam is on the roughest spot. You cam without looking or thinking indiscriminately places is never a good idea and in such cases, not at all. Importantly, the cam during a fall, is taxed in the right direction and can not move, because if that happens then it is often too late. An additional cam deep in the gap sites can still offer some relief, but is no guarantee.

You should now all crevices in Ettringen distrust? No, with a very simple check, you can overcome the biggest problems. If the rock typically dark gray / black color is of basalt, there is little to worry about. But when a yellow or greenish-yellow coat the rocks covered then you must be careful. Even if the gap is pitch black and you in damp places small white flakes (rock salt) looks must be careful.

Patina is both mineral origin (often iron, manganese and magnesium) and biological (bacteria, algae, lichen). In addition, worries rock salt and clay minerals for smooth rock. Often you will find a combination of these factors. In the dry state is to climb these rocks still fairly safe. All you do then is also wise to install cams double or triple. Moisture allows, especially in the case of salts, clay minerals and biological factors, for a mucus layer that is life-threatening. Select at such conditions for a wall or sector is dry. Not only much safer, but also much more fun .

Bottom line

There are the recent years many accidents and near accidents involving Dutch climbers in Ettringen. The rock seems bombproof and with that new set of cams on the belt nothing can happen to us, right? Error imagined. Besides the sometimes slippery rock for cams, some sources are huge chunks of loose rock which for instance led to an accident in the summer of 2015. Hooks are sometimes placed very far apart or are weird posted. Falling is therefore not always safe. Blindly climbing on top of your game with big lead to falls is simply not advisable in every route. Especially when only one between fuse protects you from a grounder. We see the big boys and girls might do on youtube and the EOFT but in Ettringen is the ground closer than you think.


original article ...

nkbv.nl/kenniscentrum/docum…

;)

TLDR.

watch the vid closely and see the grooves in the rock when he zooms in on the placement. hmmm

Maybe the manufacturers could put some type of crosshatch pattern on the contact area of the lobes? Of course this would eventually wear off, and it would have a loss of friction, potentially, for the surface area would be reduced. Could this crosshatch be done again?

The thought of possible imperfections on the rock surface and cam lobes meshing, so to speak, could improve on the issue of friction lost due to a "glassy on glassy" surface?

Is the patina disintegrating/sluffing off, and causing a ballbearing effect when loaded?

Backup your pro, don't climb on the slick rock when wet, and use constrictions as much as possible in these situations until someone comes up with Gecko Pro.

Interesting topic to discuss.