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Crag & Route Beta

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Topic Date User

Yulludunida (Kaputar NP) 16-Dec-2022 At 8:29:48 AM BA

Message

On 16-Dec-2022 One Day Hero wrote:

>I've always been curious about that approach. Given that you were fabricating
>nuts on the cheap, why didn't you rack up with a dozen of them and a bunch
>of slings? Were carabiners the limiting economic factor, or was it more
>of a cultural thing to run it out with minimal gear?

Carabiners were the limiting factor. They were purchased locally and was partially dependent on stocks arriving from OS when you had the money. It was DEFINITELY NOT part of a cultural thing to run it out

>Also, did you ever carry a hammer and pins on free climbs, or was that
>more hassle than it was worth, or ethically unacceptable at the time?

Yes. It was not a hassle, it enabled more protection, especially when rope lengths went from 120 feet of number 4 to 45m of 11mm and then to 50m of 11mm. When Ewbank started making his Crackers the slings with nuts became redundant. Nylon tape became available about this time and replaced the slings. When Chouinard released all his passive pro the pegs and hammer only ever saw service at Buffalo before everything was freed. It was also the norm to carry a few pegs for quite some time until a proper appreciation of the qualities of passive pro was fully realised.