Camming Device Survey

Survey by Anthony Gates

Article by Lee Skidmore

Cams! The holy grail of protection for beginners. Everyone knows once you have cams, you can climb any route you want. They are mystical, magical devices. But they are expensive, so which should you buy?   Anthony Gates was faced with the decision recently, and having the Vulcan mind he does, he set about gathering and collating all the information he could about camming devices, and then comparing the results. He thought the tables would be useful to qurank readers, and so submitted them.   Click on the two tables to the right to view a larger version. Maybe you could print them out? I find the best table is the lower one, sorted by size. Highlight the cams you already have, examine the size ranges, and look for gaps in crack sizes that your rack won't fill! Then pick something that will fill it, and buy it!   Suggestions? I'm not going to be silly enough to give you tips - that would start a cam war! Hopefully these tables will make your selection a little easier. Just keep in mind once you have your cams that hexes and wires are still necessary equipment!

Cams by brand                   Cams by minimum size

Above: Cams are more important to some of us than others! Climber preparing at Frog, July 1999