Remember how SLCs (Spring Loaded Cams) made those downward-opening crack placements tolerable: the cam just hanging in space with “nothing” below it?
Well, your COG guys still have that feeling when placing “pro” in outward-opening, vertical cracks. Sure we could carry offset cams, but who needs a heavier rack? Better to go whine-less and pretend one side (or another) of the SLC will hold the load.
Since the early ‘80s, climbers have relied on Tricams for mechanical camming action for offset, non-parallel, flaring crack protection. The three points of cam contact effectively neutralize many odd crack configurations. Flip the cam over and the rig works passively as a regular nut. Sure, climbers must set Tricams “hard” since three non-spring-loaded camming points want to move around (unloaded) more than four-lobed SLCs, but Tricams’re lightweight, doubly clever and basically unchanged for over 30 years.
CAMP’s new update of the Tricam is even more clever: we’re positive that Greg Lowe must have thought of this during his ‘70s development…but somehow the refinement got lost during production. For 2013, CAMP’s narrowed the base of the cam: turning the basic rectangle into a wedge-shaped “stopper.” Used passively, the Tricam Evo now wedges securely into a narrowing crack, while functioning as usual in camming mode.
But that’s not all. CAMP has substantially stiffened the new Tricam Evo’s attached runner, effectively extending the climber’s overhead “reach” by at least six inches. Greater range, no extra weight: what could be cleverer? The stiffened runner makes a quickdraw even more essential to isolate the Tricam Evo from rope-running oscillations, but that’s axiomatic anyway.
