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Booroomba accident 20-Apr-2016 At 10:17:02 AM One Day Hero

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On 19/04/2016 Ithomas wrote:
>I wonder at the utility and sense of suggesting 'essential'
>pieces of gear for climbs like Hermes which have had countless ascents
>using every type of protection imaginable. I think that the phrase 'is
>best prorected by a #5 Camalot' is not necessarily true nor useful in the
>long term.

Hi Ian, thanks for your input. I do generally agree with what you're saying, however there are a couple of situations where I feel specific gear info is justified.
Since there are such a high proportion of routes at Booroomba on which lead falls are seriously ill-advised, I thought a list of "routes which won't kill you too much" might be worthwhile. Hermes is one of the routes I was planning to put on that list (I'm now a bit more hesitant about doing so).
The reasons for specifying a #5 cam on Hermes are that;
a) there is almost nowhere else at Booroomba that a piece that big is useful. If you aren't planning to climb Hermes, you probably shouldn't carry it up the hill.
b) there is a 4m section of climbing (as hard as anything else on the route) where the only possible protection is a #4 cam buried in at arms depth or the #5 cam placed easily.
c) as long as I was armed with the big cam and placed sufficient pro, I'd be confident that I could jump off anywhere on that pitch and not get hurt