Cam Review

So lets start out reviewing the cams that started it all.....Wild Country Friends.

Wild Country Forged Friends

Like many climbers, I have a set of forged friends that have been with me a very long time.  I think of the climbing history that was made with this type of cam and plug them in with pleasure.  Ray Jardine must be proud of how his design has held up to the test of time.

Pros:  Can you say dependable?               

            Time proven design.                                 

             Priced Right

Cons:  Exposed trigger wires.

            Smaller sizes have limited use, as the stem is almost as wide as the cam lobes. 

Wild Country Technical Friends

These units took Wild Country into the modern age of caming units.   They are the most beautiful units on the market, and the beauty is more than skin deep.  In the smaller sizes, they are probably just average.  But when you get ready to climb the big wide stuff, these units really shine.  Big green size 6 and red size 5 have the best combination of wide stance and spring stiffness I've come across.  They stay in place, which is worth a lot when you finally stop pushing the piece up as you climb offwidths and try to get past it without kicking it out.  Since Cheryl is the Off Width Crack Queen and all around trad master of the family, these cams end up on her rack.

The weak point of these cams is the trigger wires.  They seem to be in constant need of replacement due to cable fraying.  If Wild Country could find some high grade cable to start with, that would help.  Other than that, the build quality is top notch.  

Metolius Cams

After something like 15 years climbing with my trusted HB quad cams, I bought a set of Ultralight Powercams.  And let me tell you, these babies are light!!!  So much so that you can carry a cam AND a carabiner for the same weight as some cams alone.  Think about that next time you pick up your rack of doubles or triples and lug all that climbing gear into the vertical world.

The second reason I chose Metolius Cams, is that they have a U stem design that protects the cables.  I've not owned them long enough to tell, but I'm hoping the cables last as long as the ones on my beloved HB's.  Some people worry about the U stem design not flexing as much as a single cable and how this affects the cam in a fall... Long story short, get over it.  A properly placed cam is going to hold your fall, and these things are narrow enough to get into most good placements.

So after a couple trips climbing Devils Tower, I'm starting to get used to the slightly smaller camming range of the Metolius units.  They claim this generates additional camming power when you need it.  Well I've not tested that yet, but the winter climbing season is just getting started.  What I have noticed is that they are a lot shorter than my HB cams.  An inch is a lot, so placements that I used to be able to plug my cams into and have clients easily get them out again have changed.  I have to make a conscious effort to keep them closer to the edge.  I've also noticed that these cams live up to their reputation of walking a little more than the average cam.  The Range Finder is a totally geeky marketing gimmick, but whatever, I like the pretty dots.  So all and all I still miss my 15 year old Hugh Banner cams, but am getting used to the shiny new Metolius units!

 Black Diamond Camalots

Many would say that Black Diamond cams are the measuring stick which all other cams must be held up against, and with the new weight saving design, I finally have to agree, they are damn nice cams.  Their strength is the dual axle design, that is supposed to allow a wider range of use than "normal" single axle cams and prevent cam flipping.  Well, look closely when you are comparing, on many sizes, it only amounts to a few millimeters, so who cares?  The added weight of that extra axle has always been a chief complaint of mine, plus I'm a cheap schmuck, and these things are about as expensive as any.   

Above I asked who cares about a couple millimeters, well when you are freaking out on in the crux of a hard climb, and your cam won't go in.... YOU DO.  So as far as a simple to use system, a set or 2 of BD cams will get you up about any route with style.  The smooth action holds up well over time, and the trigger wires seem to be made of pretty high quality cable, but still need to be replaced fairly often if used reguarly.  

Since the cams are supposed to have a larger range, there are fewer of them in a "set" of BD cams.  Now in general, this works, but if you use them long enough, you find the holes in the line up.  So my perfect set of cams would be a double rack of Black Diamond Cams and the Metolious to fill in the holes, and the Wild Country to plug in the wide cracks.

Matt carries these units everywhere, and loves them so much he won't hardly use any of my non BD camming units.  You don't get that kind of loyality by buiding sub-par climbing gear!

Black Diamond C3's

Whoa!  These things are rad.  Sorry to say, but so long Aliens...Hello C3's.  I'd venture to guess that anyone selling climbing gear has been asked a few hundred times to show these babies off.  They are HOT looking!  You can't help but want to try them out in a thin crack.

In use, they preform as good as they look.  The rigid plastic makes them a dream to place and retrieve.  The narrow head lets them go where some other cams might not.

Over time I'll be interested to know how the little wires hold up.  If there are any aid climbers out there who have put them through the paces on a Yosemite Big Wall, I'd love to hear how they held up.   
Getting something that small to be tough as well, is a tall order.

CCH Aliens Cams

These have been standard on all the cool kids climbing racks for a very long time.  The ease of placement with the beautiful narrow head design is something that no other cam could touch. Now they are starting to see some stiff competition from several companies.  The ultra flexible single stem is the best and worst feature of these units.  Its great to be able to fish these little cams into cracks....trouble is, with the flexible stem, it can be very tricky to fish them out again.  The internal trigger wires are a brilliant feature, and I'm sure that there are places where people will swear that they are needed in order to climb or aid climb some routes.  If the C3's prove durable, it might be time for the Colorado Custom Hardware folks building Aliens to come up with an improved design.

Hugh Banner Quad Cams

The BEST CAMS ever built.  Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.  The single trigger design is something that you either love or hate.  I can tell you though, you can place these things where other cams only dream about going.  The U stem frame is long and lean, and the single finger trigger allows you to easily stick them an inch or more deeper into a gnarley crack.  The numbers are correspond with the Wild Country Friends, so they are not as exotic as you might think.  Since these cams held up so long we had the good folks at Yates Climbing sew on new slings, and we spent the extra buck to get the slings doubled, so you could extend them about 4 inches without needing a quickdraw.  Sweet trick!

Alas, HB no longer produces cams, so when the lobes finally started to flatten out on some the more popular sizes, I had to shop for something different.