So I've come into some money and I want to replace my current rack and ropes with the rack and ropes I would have bought had I had the money when I started climbing.

This is what I have:
2x Beal Jokers
9x Rock Empire Cams
1x BD camalot
11x CT nuts
Bunch of slings and biners

This is what I want to get:
2x Edelrid Shikra 8.5s
DMM Dragon Cams 1-5
BD C3 00-2
Going to keep the nuts because I like the colours

Any thoughts/opinions/substitutions? Blue Water Excellence 8.4mm ropes, BD C4 Camalots, Wild Country Z-cams?

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Happy climbing
Nic

Get the #6 dragon too, it is very nice.
If you can still get aliens, rather go for them or master cams for the little ones. I haven't used z cams, but apparently they are really cool.
If you have money left, build some draws with phantom biners.
Those ropes are on my dream list too.

Whoopeee!!!

Living vicariously!!!

Check out needlesports, they have special on Phantom gates and wild country zeros.
The yellow, blue and red ones are quality, anything smaller is for aiding and daft pricks.
They also sell Phantom quickdraws.

Apparently not much to choose between the BD C4 and Dragon cams. Would look around for Aliens. There was a post somewhere this last week with somebody selling some second hand. Could do worse that than the Bluewater Excellence.

Cheers
Ian

I can second that, on the Dragon #6...and in fact, all sizes. Right now I'm fiddling with two brand new Dragons, #0 and #00 ...... very very nice... and available soon, so keeps some cash aside for them.

Phantom quickdraws are available, so ask your retailers!!

Hi Nic

As far as the ropes go I have the Beal Cobra 8.6mm ropes and love them. Have also climbed on Mammut and Edilrid and have had no probs with them. I am just a Beal whore and would buy them again, yes !
I love the smooth trigger action of the BD cams, superior imo to the other stuff I have played with. ALTHOUGH, if i could afford the Omega pacific cams, I would certainly start adding them to my rack gradually. But very pricey at this stage.
So that probably didn't help you at all......
happy shopping !

mastercams dude!! one of my trad buddies confessed this week that he was desperately longing to place them while he had to do with his own C4s last weekend.....
i have tried different nuts but nothing beats the metolius curve nuts imho (reviewers either absolutely love them or hate them) btw, strange thing that people invest so much debate into cams whereas nuts gets placed more often and there is material design differences on the market dmm wallnuts seems to be the leader of the pack.
and get some skinny dyneema slings since you're throwing your life savings at it
love toys! not jealous at all

ps: go check out "supertopo" for some great reviews on just about any trad gear
http://www.supertopo.com/review/Metolius-Master-Cam

Right...

So Metolius Master Cams instead of C3s (any one know what they retail for in SA? The online retailers don't have them)

I think I'm gonna stick with the Edelrid ropes, I've had Beal ropes before and haven't been overwhelmed by the durability of the sheath. I'm also considering PMI ropes but those will have to come from the US as no one here stocks them.

I like my CT nuts, they may be cheap but I'm used to them and I'd miss them.

Black Diamond make some really nice Dyneema slings that I'll get and make extendable 'draws out of.

I'm sorted for quickdraws already.

Apologies for making everyone jealous

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Happy climbing
Nic

as always, a little disclaimer: go test some gear in shop and then make up your own mind! (if you happen to be in CT any time soon i'm happy to lend you the mastercams for a test-yourself outing. i'm coming along though )

and i think city rock stocks 'em.

So when might they be available? I'm going to be back in SA in October and will want to buy the gear then.

Are the #0 and #00 the same size roughly as the equivalent C3s or are they like the 0.3 and 0.4 C4s?

I've thought about the Omega Pacifics but some friends and I had a less than ideal experience with them when they came out in SA initially. They are rather gimmicky, I'd rather buy multiples of sizes of the Dragons.

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Happy climbing
Nic

My TM rack (we sell all of the items) -
Metolius Master cams for smaller sizes (#00-#3, 1 of each); Aliens no longer made.
BD Camalots for larger sizes (#0.5 - #2, 2 of each)
BD Camalot #3 one of, for some routes
two of BlueWater Excellence double-dry 8.4mm x 60m
1 set DMM Walnuts
1 set Wild Country superlight Rocks.
DMM Bugette for belaying with skinny ropes (mandatory for skinny ropes)
Wild Country Nutpick
a whole bunch of Trango Superfly wire biners
slings
and yes do check out http://www.supertopo.com/reviews/gear.php for great gear reviews.

Not entirely sure yet, but will get back to you on that asap!



Closer to C4's (re range, and the fact that they have 4 lobes)



I like how you're thinking!

So bright... so beautiful... ah, prrrecioussss.

I'd recommend this new rack.

@Shorti: Hexs are for old people

@Wes: I prefer 4 lobes to 2...

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Happy climbing
Nic

haha, sure Nic, but I'd rather be an old climber than a bold one...

Wes, we're going for light weight here.

wes, i know the guys here actually stared longer at the hexes

nic; small cams - don't go dragon or c4s; the narrower heads on mastercams / aliens / c3s gives you a lot more placement options. i think robert's rack is the berries

Hey Nic,

Regarding ropes, I have a set of the Blue Water Excellence and although I haven't seen the Edelrid Shikra age, I have to be honest and say I'd much rather have the Edelrid skinnys. I say this because of the way my Edelrid sport 10mm has aged with heavy use compared to the way both my Blue Water Dominator 10.2 sport ropes have aged with heavy use. Edelrid just makes more durable ropes IMO.

Mid to large size cams...Dragons vs C4? Yeah I'm biased, but I'd go for the company that invented the double axle cam and has refined them a whole bunch rather than another companies version 1.0; and there has already been one recall (yes I know there have been at least one recall of the C4s, but BD have been at for like 20 years while longer).

Tiny cams: I've got both the Mastercams and C3s and shorti would be chuffed to hear the more I use them the more I'm swaying towards the Mastercams... There I said it. I hope you're happy now.

Wes, that's not a new rack, just one that has been looked after well.

Could do with a bit of tweaking though.

Woohoo! Now to convert you to dragons... Seriously, there's not much in it (between c4s and dragons). The extendible sling is the only real difference, and to be honest it is a little tricky to extend it with one hand. Maybe I'm not used to it yet, but it's almost like it wants me to unclip the wrong loop. You have to keep the stitched end on the biner, but for some reason I still struggle with it.

That "rack" looks rather new to me...

Not got my paws on them yet, but the new WC Helium Friends look soooo sexy

http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/products/f ... m-friends/

For large passive gear I really rate the large WC rocks (size 9-14); easy to place, lightweight and bomber, since I got some I never carry hex / rockcentrics anymore.

I've had a rack of single axle cams for ages now and well, the double axle of the C4s and the Dragons is just better. Wild Country missed a trick by not making their new Friends double axle. They might be lighter per unit but the camming range is way smaller.

Nope it is the Dragons for me.

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Happy climbing
Nic

Guess it's a personal preference; you can carry 6 double axles or 8 single axles* for the same weight and size range. As I generally climb long pitches I'd rather have the extra cams! If I was climbing short grit routes the whole time I guess the 6 double axles would be better.

*(give or take for argument's sake)

I said, because my Edelrid movement 10 mm year-old compared to my two blue water supremacy "movement rope old Wedding Cufflinks 10.2 way of extensive use of heavy use.

Best. Engrish. Bot-spam. Ever!

We're very sure that bots are not getting through... so someone is actually taking the time to make up the wording and insert the link (the link has been removed)

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Climb ZA - Administrator