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Cam failure discussion 27-Apr-2015 At 6:41:54 PM Doug

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On 21/04/2015 Wendy wrote:

>What you call "setting" a cam is what I call simply "placing" a cam. It
>involves a good look, sometimes an adjustment, not usually a tug. Tugging
>a cam you know is in a good spot is pointless.

Can't fully agree with the last sentence, Wendy. On rock with a high friction co-efficient I'd say: "Sure, there's no need to pull on a cam to "set" it."
But on the glassy rock of some of Frog's great routes I'd "set" a cam ( but not on Infinity: the crack isn't one of those perfectly parallel and glassy smooth ones).
Di and I were involved in a rescue of a guy who pulled a cam on Erg. (luckily he landed flat on his back on the ledge at the base and, while sustaining a number of fractures no paralysis resulted, but that's another story). Spoke about it with Scott Camps afterwards and he said he always sets his cams at Frog.

As far as the term "testing" is concerned in relation to cams or nuts ... well, unless you set up some elaborate and time-consuming antics that involve replicating the forces that occur when a real-life load occurs, the notion of "testing" a placement is a total furphy. And I say this even after climbing with Squeak and seeing him attach a sling to a nut and reefing as hard as he could on it. That was still nothing like the forces that are going to come about when a leader fall occurs.

Cheers

Doug