Climbing Protection

This covers all the shiny cool things that some people seem to take up climbing for; it also includes the not quite so glamorous slings.

Climbing protection can first be split into passive or mechanical protection. Passive protection includes most of the basic rack, nuts, hexes and slings and mechanical protection includes all the various designs of camming units.

Passive Protection:

Nuts/Rocks/Wires:
    Small chock shaped metal wedges normally threaded on wire. A light and cheap (ish) way of carrying a large number of pieces of protection, nuts are awesome and should be the basis of most racks.

Hexes/Rockcentrics:
     Larger chocks on wire, cord or dyneema. These are a cheap and simple type of protection for larger cracks. Great in the winter when cams aren't so reliable. they are also a good weapon when attacked by sea birds. The disadvantages are that they are noisy and can get in the way as they tend to be slung on quite long tape, new versions have recently produced that double back the sling and reduce these problems.
 
Slings:
     Dyneema or tubular tape sewn into loops. These can be used to extend gear, sling trees or rock spikes, create a chicken sling/cows tale or as washing line in the tent. 

Mechanical Protection:

Mechanical protection relies on movement of part of the protection creating a force that stops it coming out and therefore catches you. These units are almost all reliant on camming devices, which try to expand when a force is put through them. The greater the force (the falling climber for example) the greater their holding power. If you want to find out the mechanics of how cams work then I suggest you have a look on Wild Country's website…http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/


Camming devices have seen a lot of development since Jay Jardines first experiments in the early 1970's; there are now a wide variety of designs available with different advantages. They all work on the same principle using three or four cams to create an expansion force greater than the falling force.

A camming unit can have either three or four cams opposing each other to create the holding force. Three cam units have narrower heads and are lighter but are not as stable as four cam units.

Cams can have either one or two stems. Single stem units have the cams opposing each other on each side of the stem and twin stems have the cams between the stems. Single stems are generally easier to handle and are normally more flexible in all directions so they can be easier to place. Twin stems are a more stable design and are less likely to walk in a crack or twist in a placement. The twin stem design often allows a lighter camming unit.

Black Diamond Cammalots use twin axles for the cams to rotate around. This allows a wider camming range so each unit can be used in a bigger selection of cracks. The new version is also much lighter than the old ones so the increased weight of this design is no longer an issue.
 
A mixture of passive and mechanical protection will make up the bulk of most peoples traditional climbing rack. Different rock types suit some types of gear better and the route itself will determine the size range and quantity of gear you need to take with you. Unfortunately this is all quite expensive so most people start of with a set of wires and some slings and add the more expensive cams when a project requires them or the bank allows.