I can still remember the very first cam I ever saw. It was stuck irretrievably in a crack on Arrowhead Spire in Yosemite. Man o man, did Tisha and I spend a lot of time trying to get that piece of booty freed up. Alas, to no avail, for it was going to be stuck in that crack until the end of time. Being a skint, piss poor climber that didn’t have two penny’s to rub together this would have been a real prize. This thing probably would have cost almost twenty bucks at the time.
When I started out in this game, climbing was going through a bit of a transition; well I suppose isn’t it always? What I mean was, that it was still relatively common for a fellow to carry a piton hammer and have a few pegs on his rack. But mostly we were moving to so-called ‘clean’ climbing, and those pins were being replaced by nuts, stoppers, and hexcentrics. There were some oddball things as well, such as Titons, and Leeper Z section chocks. Both of which I quite liked incidentally.
Then seemingly out of the blue…. Friends appeared. A brand name for a new piece of protection that falls under the category of Spring Loaded Camming Devices, or SLCD’s for short. Much like the Leibniz – Newton Calculus debate there is a bit of controversy as to the creator. Vitali Abalakov devised a camming device in the 1930’s and Greg Lowe’s one’s in the late 60’s and early 70’s. But it is generally accepted that Ray Jardine was the mastermind behind the first modern SLCD. The ubiquitous Friend. And besides, Friends were the first to make it to market, and mass usage.
The oft used and abused phrase ‘revolutionized’ is appropriate for what happened next in climbing. Now there was essentially a single device that could be used to protect a range of crack sizes. This allowed for quicker placements, and sometimes even the ability to carry less gear. There were of course detractors back in the day, as there always are with new things. Hell, even 40 years later there are still detractors. I know some very good solid climbers that climb at a pretty reasonable level that still eschew the use of cams.
Eventually other manufacturers followed suit with variations and novel designs of their own. The original Friend such as the one I was trying to extricate, and the first ones I purchased were of a rigid stem design. Exceptionally strong and relatively easy to place, but not without some drawbacks. First, they were pretty heavy with all of that metal. Secondly, whilst the rigid stem allowed them to be inserted easily into a crack, it also required an additional extension sling to help minimize the tendency of the unit to walk itself out of the crack from the movement of the rope. And thirdly, they weren’t really suitable for safely protecting horizontal cracks, without a lot of futzing around like tying them off.
Enter the flexible stem. This single innovation somewhat effectively addressed the weight, the walking, and the horizontal crack issues. Rigid cams are no more, but today cams do come in a variety of styles and configurations. All types have their purpose, and you’ll find adherents to each style. One of the biggest differences are in the number of axles the cam employs. There are Double Axle, and Single Axle designs.
Double axle cams offer a greater expansion range, and tend to be stronger than their single axle counterparts. The trade off usually being a weight penalty. Single axle cams having the opposite attributes. Often times expansion range is touted as an attribute, but it is usually directly related to axle design.
Another difference is the number of lobes the cam has, with the standard offerings being three or four. Four lobe cams being more common, offer greater surface contact, equating to greater holding power, resulting in generally more secure placements. The trade offs however are several. Weight being one, as usually four lobes will weigh more than three. Four lobe cams have a wider profile, and thus won’t fit as well in smaller and shallower cracks. The other advantage a three lobe design offers, is that they are a bit less likely to walk in a crack than a four lobe one. That being said, four lobe designs are the more prevalent.
I mentioned that we no longer have rigid stems, but we do have different stem designs. There are single cable stems and double or ‘U’ cable stems. Both work well, and often it comes down to the climbers hand size as to which is preferable. Climbers with larger hands usually find single stems easier to use. The trigger being actuated by forefinger, middle finger, and thumb. Single stems will also work better in narrower cracks. U stems are operated by thumb and forefinger only, but again, climbers with larger hands may find them awkward to use.
Finally we come to what are called offset cams or hybrid cams. The standard cams we have been discussing feature evenly shaped and sized lobes. An offset cam differs in that it has two larger, and two smaller lobes. The reasoning being that this configuration allows the cam to securely fit in non-uniform or flaring cracks. These type of cams are also good for aid climbing, if that’s your bag.
There are a couple of specialty devices out there that deserve mentioning. One is the Link Cam. No longer being made (although rumors abound about a comeback), this was a unique triple axle design that kept a constant camming angle across a very wide expansion range. They were heavy, and there were some failure issues.
And then whilst not a cam per se, there is the spring actuated slider nut. This clever little device will fit in very thin cracks and behind flakes, where no other clean climbing gear will fit. I almost always carry a couple on my rack.
Currently available cam offerings:
(Note: Size ranges given are from the minimum of the smallest unit to the maximum of the largest unit offered)
Totem MT.
Made in Gipuzoka, Spain. $95.00 ea. Double stem. Single axle. Four lobes. (that can be loaded on two lobes for body weight only aid placements)) Seven sizes from .46” to 2.53”
Alien.
Made in Spain. $80.00 ea. Single stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Six sizes from .33” to 1.3”. Comes both in regular and hybrid designs. The hybrids (offsets) having a bit of a cult following amongst aid specialists.
Trango.
Flex Stem. Made in Korea. $60.00 – $70.00 ea. Single stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Nine sizes from 11mm to 107mm
DMM.
Made in Llanberis, Wales. $80.00. – $130.00 ea. Dragon Cams Single stem. Double axle. Four lobes. Ten sizes from 14mm to 195mm Dragonfly Micro Cam Single stem. Single axle. Four Lobes. Six sizes from 7.8mm – 28.3mm. Dragonfly Offsets Single stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Four sizes from 8.7mm to 28.3mm
Wild Country.
Made in China. $80.00 – $90.00 ea. Friends: Single Stem. Double axle. Four lobes. Seven sizes from 0.62” to 4.41” Zeros: Single Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Six sizes from 0.33” to 1.58” Offset Zeros: Single Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Five sizes 0.33” to 1.62”.
Metolius.
Made in Bend, Oregon. $70.00 – $100.00 Master Cam: Single Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Ten sizes from .34” to 2.81”. General purpose cam. Offset Master Cam: Single Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Six sizes from .34” to 1.56”. Power Cam: Double Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Eight sizes from .34” to 2.81”. TCU: Double Stem. Single axle. Three lobes. Six sizes from .34” to 1.32”. Good for shallow, narrow, and/or bottoming placements. Offset TCU: Double Stem. Single axle. Three lobes. Five sizes from .34” to 1.19”. Good for flaring cracks and pin scars. Super Cams: Double Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Three sizes from 1.65” to 4.67”. Designed for wide cracks. Fat Cams: Double Stem. Single axle. Four lobes. Seven sizes from .62” to 2.81”. Fat cams with their wider cam lobes are designed specifically for soft rock like desert sandstone.
Black Diamond.
Assembled in Utah. From $80.00 to $240.00 ea. C4: Single Stem. Double axle. Four lobes. Twelve sizes from .54” to a whopping 12.6”. Ultralight. Single Stem. Double axle. Four lobes. Seven sizes from .61” to 4.51”. As the name implies, designed for fast and light missions. Z4. Single Stem. Double axle. Four lobes. Seven sizes from .29” to 1.66”. Designed for tight small spaces, similar in a way to the old C3. Has a very unique stem that is rigid when being placed, but flexes once placed. Z4 Offset. Single Stem. Double axle. Four lobes.Five sizes from .41” to 1.60”. Designed for small non-uniform cracks, and also features the same stem as the Z4.
Oftentimes you will see charts like the one below that will compare crack sizes to the various cam sizes that will fit in those cracks. Many guidebooks however will tell you what gear is needed for a given climb, rendering charts such as this moot. The best it will do is tell you that if you need to protect a wide crack, only an C4 or Friend will do. Additionally manufacturers routinely change, or discontinue their products, further reducing the practicality of these charts. Case in point… Friends no longer come in the larger sizes, C4’s actually come in larger sizes, and C3’s are discontinued. That being said, lots of us have obsolete gear on our racks.
Speaking of cam size ranges…
Enough talk. Time to go climbing…