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Cam failure discussion 21-Apr-2015 At 3:05:08 PM Wendy

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On 21/04/2015 patto wrote:
>The notion that cams can pull out of slick rock shouldn't be news to anybody.

>
>On 21/04/2015 Wendy wrote:
>>Do people really "set" cams? I place, assess and run most of the time.
>>Unlike wires, where setting actually has some purpose of preventing them
>>getting lifted or knocked out, "setting" a cam seem like a waste of energy
>>- it will function exactly the same way after setting as before and will
>>walk, twist or lift in whatever manner is not managed through appropriate
>>placement and ropework. And you could still kick them on the way past.
>>"Setting" cams seems more like a nervous habit then a useful thing to
>do.
>Absolutely you should give a cam a quick tug. Waste of energy? Ha!
>It is a quick tug and you are on your way. It is a good test of a cam.

I don't need to test most of my cams. I can look and tell if they are any good. If they look at all questionable, i will tug them, but then, I'm not "setting" them. I'm testing them. Good cams don't need "setting" - they will just "unset" themselves straight away, so it's pointless. I'm asking if anyone does because someone of that thread suggested you should always set your cams, which seemed both nonsensical and unnecessary. Think of some of the stonker cracks at Frog. Would you "set" every cam in Infinity? I doubt I'd set a single one because they are all straight forward and great. I love the feeling of place, clip, go on terrain like that - it all flows together. Testing a questionable placement is different.
>
>My habit of doing this saved me the other day on the watchtower faces.
> I had a great 0.3 C4 in a bomber seam. I tugged it and the whole face
>opened up! It turned out to be a barely attached flake, yet on observation
>by myself and my partner it didn't appear to be a flake.

Your habit could also have gotten you hurt - if you had dislodged the flake onto yourself or knocked your self off balance and taken an awkward fall. And equally well, you could have climbed past it uneventfully, never loaded it and never known about the flake at all. Or you could have whipped onto it, ripped the flake and come flying down with it after you, but who knows?