Maybe I'm late to this, but I just got my new .25 black tricam today. The whites ones were too small and scary (3KN in camming mode) for me! It's so itty bitty and cute!

Aya - Are they in stock at EMS downtown? I was at R&S this weekend and no black available. I did get the white....and agree. It's now the smallest, least beefy piece of gear I own. But I couldn't say no to the little fella once I saw him! I will definitely use it but I sure don't think I'll be interested in falling directly onto it!

Yes. When I left at 3 today, there were 4 white ones and 2 black ones. If there are any there tomorrow morning, I'll put one aside for you, if you want to give a call or come in and pick it up.

I am really excited to get my first new mini-tricam this year!

I can't wait for all these silly TCL's (tri-cam lovers) to set the new micro ones and find out that they are even tougher to clean than the pink...

And based on how many pinks I've bootyed or climbed right on past... I'm guessing there's going to be quite a bonanza of the mini-tricams out there!

So thanks in advance!

I stopped getting suckered into yanking out fixed tri-cams years ago....I mean does someone really need 6 pink ones?

Personal Observation here -

I still don't see the use of tri-Cams. They take to long to fiddle with when a cam will ussualy work and they are not as secure as a well placed nut.
I have nerver cam accross a placement where I thought geez if I hadn't given away all my tricams...

true they are less expensive and lighter then a whole bunch of cams, but hey.. [shrug]

-End personal observation

It sounds, Architect, like you don't feel the tri-cam luv. I guess it takes all kinds.... My personal observation has been that tri-cam placements feel really secure, or else they don't go. of course, some people still climb on a shitty placement, I've seconded that! But it's just very evident, to me, when the placement of a tri-cam in bomber.

Some people surely do not know how to clean them(and place them) - that's for sure.

Aya - I'll call down there and see if they have a black guy(yes, on purpose; I intend to call mine "my black guy"), and pick it up tonight. Thanks though.

I have found placements where nothing else would go other than a tricam. When placed correctly they can be more secure that nuts or cams and they really don't take that long to place. They go it horizontal cracks, vertical cracks, pockets as well as strangely shapped placements where nothing else can quite work. Plus they can be placed both passively and actively.

In other climbing areas where there are water pockets nothing will protect those pockets except a tricam.

Smike...

You know my engineering brain loves the challenge involved in removing "fixed" gear...

And of course I don't need more tricams... I don't even carry the ones I've got!

Seek help

I don't really dig tri cams and never carry them at the gunks but in other areas i've seen pockets that would only really take a tri cam. what i don't get is these tiny new ones that look so hard to place and then the smallest one is only rate to 3kn. I'd rather use a ball nut for that placement. especially because then i get to say BALL NUT...

are the tri cams casted or milled? the rolled sheet metal pin always scares me on those tri cams even though i was told that's one of the stronger points

The rolled pin is the limiting factor on the strength for the new micro ones...

i've had tricams on and off my rack for years. Most recently, carried four of 'em at Red Rocks, and placed one in a pocket where nothing else would have gone, but mostly just because I could; there were other options. I used them passively a fair amount.

I think they are way overrated in camming mode by those that luv 'em. You can usually get a cam in that is as good or better. With an occasional exception, of course. And skilled or not, cleaning them is a pain on steep ground when you are tiring and have only one hand to work with. It seems like the leader placing a tricam means the second will have to use aid, and the party will be slowed down (which is fine in the Gunks but not so good on a long route).

On the other hand, I think tricams are way underrated as passive pro, especially for places like the Gunks where pebbles in the crack can ruin nut placements. Sliding those rails around a pebble and setting a tricam in a constriction guarantees a bombproof placement.

The sewn slings are another problem; people keep using them for years (a practice to which I plead guilty), probably long after the slings are adequate for their purpose. And the nature of tricam placements seems to wear tricam slings far more than cam slings.

So, the tricams are in my pack with the Ballnuts and other swat rack gear. My partners don't like 'em much, so they don't make the trip up the crag very often, but I'm still ambivalent personally. As for the new small sizes, I agree that their primary effect will probably be a wave of ugly fixed gear.

As an engineer, I love 'em as both active and passive pro. As active pro, the maxim being the less moving parts, the better. and also, you can get that thing behind a pebble and make it mo' bomber just as with the passive mode.
as rg said though don't put them in where a second could have trouble getting them out.
they sure are nice to have on the long pitches where you might run out of active cams and need something.
For some reason stopped carrying them so much as of late. the slings on mine are really old. does anyone re-sling these guys? can you send them back to camp do it?

Mountain tools will resling them for $9.50 apiece.

If you looked at the forum first, I clearly posted the same thing about four posts down on the list.

WAAAAA?

There's a new thread about the evils of dogs at the cliff every couple of seconds...

New ones are only $15 or so, as a result I just replace them every 5 years or so as opposed to dealing with getting them reslung.

Because of wear or age?

Cast, no?

The pins are strong, but during detructive tests long ago the the units failed at the shoulders where the pins insert. This makes sense. It is in the thin area of the relatively weaker "cam" material.

I replace the unit after about 5 years or so because the strength of the sling has likely weakened significantly. The cost of a new piece isn't much, so it simpler than having them reslung.

I just bought the little black one on a whim and placed it twice at the Gunks yesterday. Love it. The white one I can't imagine using. I imagine it would be a real pain to clean.

I am reviving this thread to note that I still love my little black tricam! I place it all the time.

I do too, tho I am told it's a pain to clean.

In support of Tricams:

Two weeks ago at the first placement on second pitch of Westward Ha. Its vertical and oddly shaped. I'm climbing with my partners rack. I haven't lead trad more than couple of days in the last year and I have butterflies (over nothing). No piece I try seems secure. I ask "Do you have any tricams" - meaning on the rack. He yells back "yeah I'll send you one up"! I didn't ask why I didn't have it with me, but we were climbing on doubles and I wasn't that far. So in very little time I had the piece popped it right in, and off I went.

I know the placement. Sort of look like the top half of an hourglass? It takes a #8 or 9 stopper perfectly. If that was your first piece you're pretty bold for just getting back into it. There is a move or two between that and the belay.

RR

Yes that placement. I remember it as the first no stress stance and not having done the route before I wanted to conserve my strength. I know I tried nuts, but I plan to do it again and will try them again.

I hadn't found my feet (in general) yet. Each (most/some?) of the moves up to slowed me down until I found the feet, then they were fine, almost easy, and I'm pretty sure I could have down climbed if I'd wanted too. Technically my first pieces were two cams we separated from the anchor. But yeah besides them, that was my first piece. Despite the butterflies I must have been fairly confident. After that I placed several solid pieces in succession before running it out a bit to the top neglecting to place a directional for my second.

I am definitely aware that it is important to prevent a high fall factor fall after a belay which is why we set up the belay as we did.

Through a combination of responsibility, desire to climb, and unfortunate location I have unintentionally become a gym rat, but after 15 years I'm still a bit of a gumby outside.

Nice job, Mark. Perhaps having to climb your way back up in order to head back home helps a bit on the bolder sections of the climb.