Trad Placements
Gear Guide
Here's some advice I have about the gear to buy: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4al5e9xmt5hlx62/Rob%27s_Mountaineers_Intermediate_Gear.rtf?dl=0 (Keep in mind that those are just my opinions, there are other right answers too.)
Acronyms
Y'all know that I love acronyms as a teaching tool, so I made up two new ones for trad gear. You already know that good anchors strike tradeoffs between the elements of SERENE. You also already know that the most important letter in SERENE is the S, for Solid placements.
So, when placing nuts, you want to think about all these factors to make them SOLID:
Videos
It's optional to watch these. I've picked a few videos from youtube that illustrate things I (mostly) agree with, to give you a head-start on learning to place trad gear.
Before you lead on trad gear!
Here's some advice I have about the gear to buy: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4al5e9xmt5hlx62/Rob%27s_Mountaineers_Intermediate_Gear.rtf?dl=0 (Keep in mind that those are just my opinions, there are other right answers too.)
Acronyms
Y'all know that I love acronyms as a teaching tool, so I made up two new ones for trad gear. You already know that good anchors strike tradeoffs between the elements of SERENE. You also already know that the most important letter in SERENE is the S, for Solid placements.
So, when placing nuts, you want to think about all these factors to make them SOLID:
- Surface Area --> The more contact there is between the nut and the rock, the more likely it is to stay put.
- Outward Pull --> How will this nut handle an outward pull if one happens? Set the nut further back in the crack, so it's not already right at the edge, ready to fall out.
- Large --> If you have options, choosing between two pieces of trad gear that could both fit, choose the larger one. Larger is stronger, and has more surface area.
- Indestructible rock --> Look at the rock around your placement. Only use it if there's zero chance of the rock moving or breaking. The deeper back in a crack you place something, the more rock would have to break-away before that placement failed, increasing our confidence.
- Downward pull --> Obviously, your placement has to hold a downward pull. Make sure the crack narrows or constricts below your placement, and the cable or stem of your gear is pointed downward, in that direction of pull.
- Walking --> Sometimes you can find walk-proof placements, but not always, so just be mindful. We'll always add alpine-draws to extend all placements (nuts, cams & everything,) which helps reduce the risk of walking.
- Expansion Chance --> Don't place cams that are "tipped out," or could otherwise expand to the point where they wouldn't hold anything.
- Angled stem over an edge --> If a cam has a stiff metal stem, don't let it get angled over an edge, it could snap under load, just like we avoid putting carabiners in a place where they'd be bent over and edge. Many modern cams have flexible stems, making this less of an issue.
- Krumbly rock --> Again, this is a reminder to make sure the rock around your placement is indestructible, both at the macro level (could this big flake break off?) and at the micro level (does the inside of this crack provide good contact with clean rock, or is it coated in loose grit & sand?)
Videos
It's optional to watch these. I've picked a few videos from youtube that illustrate things I (mostly) agree with, to give you a head-start on learning to place trad gear.
- Placing nuts, cams, & hexes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_ihWjMIVBw
- Placing nuts, hexes, cams, & using natural pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW3PJhSYPRQ
- More about just cams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNnfGHKgAMI
- I had trouble finding a video that does a decent job covering tri-cam placements. This one kinda does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQwtjVj3pbE (Here's another halfway decent tricam video, but still lacking real rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHYEjqJ_d1I)
- To put this all in context, remember the big picture of swinging leads: http://vimeo.com/33940152
Before you lead on trad gear!
- Learn to climb confidently. Practice the movement of rock climbing enough in the gym so that you can top-rope routes your gym rates as 5.10a cleanly. (Cleanly means climbing the route from bottom without weighting the rope at all until the top, so without falling or "taking" to rest on the rope.)
- Learn to lead on bolts. There is a head-game that comes with climbing above your protection, and it's much better to get used to that while leading on bolts, rather than add to the already complicated subject of placing trad gear.
- Get either the book "Climbing Anchors" by John Long, or "Rock Climbing Anchors" by Craig Luebben, (both books cover essentially the same material) and read that book cover to cover. Twice.
- At ground-level somewhere where there are rocks and cracks, practice placing the trad gear, and try to develop an eye for crack sizes, and the gear sizes that match them. Also, practice rigging SERENE belay anchors that you would trust you & your partner's life to.
- Finally, do a mock-lead on a trad route rated less than 5.5, then have an experienced climber look at all your placements and comment on what's good and what could be improved. Mock-lead means two ropes required: one already up as a top-rope, on which a loose belay is given, and a second that you clip into the pro you place as if you were really leading, ideally with a second belayer on that rope for realism (even though the top-rope will catch the falls, so the lead rope will likely never be weighted.) In the Seattle Mountaineers Intermediate course, the Rock 1 field trip will do trad mock-leads.
Top picture: A decent micro-cam placement on Cat in the Hat in Red Rocks, 10/8/2015