After some wide climbing this weekend I started thinking about cams that are larger than a #6 bd and all I could think of are the Valley Giants. Sooooo my question is, would the #9 be like a tipped out #6 camalot?

Bigger.

Big bros are cheaper, lighter and easier to come by (used).

Valley Giants are bloody rad if you want to walk the gear and are good if you're on delicate sandstone. Also, placing Big Bros 4 and 5 can be a pain.

Pick your poison. Either way, you're going in the right direction.

The Valley Giant #9 is comfortably mid-range when the #6 (C4) is getting tipped out to the point of being scary. I tried to measure the usable range of the two to give it some hard numbers. I'd call the max range on a #6 C4 to be ~6.5". Putting the Valley Giant in a similar position, I measure closer to ~8.5".

More practically speaking I've really enjoyed having the #9 as I learn to climb that size. I have the bigbros for that range, but I often find them difficult to place in the coarse granite and Front Range sandstone around here. That size is hard enough (knees/quads don't really lock anymore, but I can't really get inside the crack yet) that I don't want to screw around with bigbros. Desert sandstone would likely be different.

The VG's are expensive. I split one with my OW partner. Seems most of our other partners don't want to climb anything that size anyway, so it doesn't really matter who keeps the thing, we pretty much only use it when we're climbing together. That helps with the $160 price tag.

Have fun!

the 9" VG is pretty similar in size/range as the green (#3) big bro. this cam is pretty nice, as that size can be a real mfkr. too big to stack, too tight to wing. nothing left but strenuous arm barring. anybody who has seen my arms realizes that the word "strenuous" can't be in the same sentence.

If you're getting into that size, NOTHING right now beats the #9 VG. Yeah it's expensive BUT it's TRUCK and nothing makes you feel "better" than sliding that sucker along with you.

+1 for the VG9.
Tom Kasper does a very nice job on these cams. They are probably worth the price tag.

They sound like the shit. So where do you get these expensive torture device aids?

(That sentence is for Broadway. You're welcome)

Seriously, what's the story on how to pick up the Giants?

Send Tom an email.

He makes them in batches. Lead time can vary from a couple weeks to a month...

www.valleygiant.com/VGcontact.html

- Luke

Valley Giants also make great dumbbells when training for those hard climbs.

Valley Giant Workout Submitted By: rob.calm on Aug 3, 2011

Did pratts crack a few winters ago, my partner had bought a few vg's...

They're badass!!!

www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=526501&tn=0&m>>>

I would LOVE to get my hands on a few of those!

FWIW, Wired Bliss is coming out with three new sizes of cam : #4, #5 and #9. I don't know exactly how big the #9 is going to be, but I think it will be bigger than the BD #6. They have a few pics on their Facebook site.

talked with Micheal at Wired bliss a few weeks ago and have one of his fives. its a sweet cam and his 9 is going to fill the gap between tipped out 6 and overcammed VG 9

Every now and the you find odd cracks for the 12" that you can't just get in. My route on this thing would be a horror without the big VG.

The route follows the obvious crack systems. Submitted By: John J. Glime on Mar 12, 2007