Rock climbing gear and uses

Question

i need to know what these are used for.

nuts, hexes,

biners, belay devices

cams, tri-cams

Answer 1

Nuts, hexes, cams, and tri-cams are all protection devices that are inserted in rock, and function as removable anchors.  Nuts are like warped little blocks, having 4 sides besides the 2 end sides.  Hexes are like nuts, except that they have 6 sides besides the 2 end sides.  Cams are complicated devices with springs that can be adjusted to fit the hole, while tri-cams are like the huts and hexes, a solid piece, but with a cam face plus a couple of prongs---it's kind of like a cross between the first 3 items.  All of the protection devices have wire loops which usually a runner--a pair of carabiners with a connecting strap--is attached to.. Biners is short for "carabiner", which is a link or loop of aluminum with a gate that can be opened and which snaps shut---they're multi-purpose devices that help connect just about anything with anything else, inluding running a rope through.  Finally, belay devices are thingamajings that the rope goes through, and allows the belayer to control the movement or speed of the rope through it.  It allows the belayer to brake the fall of the lead climber, for instance.  There are many varieties of belay devices, but the most commonly used one would be the ATC, or Air Traffic Controller, which is really a simple thing with 2 holes through it, and you can rapell with this device.  There are others, like the Figure 8, and the Gri-Gri, which some climbers swear by, but ATC is the most comonly one sold in shops.

ADDENDUM: Tri-Cams are passive, not active pro.

Answer 2

There's a discipline of climbing called "traditioinal climbing" in which the leader brings the rope up from the bottom, placing removable anchors along the way. Usually another climber follows them up to retreive their gear. When the climbers leave the cliff, nothing is left in the rock. THis type of climbing requires that there be a crack to place protection (pro) in.

The gear they use can be divided into 2 groups: Passive protection and Active protection.

Passive pro is placed (wedged) in the crack and it can catch a fall without moving or reacting. It just stays wedged in there. Nuts and hexes are examples of passive pro, as they are just little funny shaped wedges that you place in a crack and then clip in to.

Active pro responds to your fall- usually by expanding during a fall against the sides of the crack. Cams and tri-cams are active pro. Cams are a more modern invention, and little ethic-wars sometimes dance around the subject of cams.

"Biners" are just carabiners, which I'm sure you know about. If you don't, they are used by climbers to clip things together, and they work with another peice of gear to form a belay device.

A belay device is simply used by the belayer (the person holding the climber's rope) to catch the climber in case of a fall. There are different kinds, most common are the tubular devices such as the ATC (air traffic controller), the figure 8, and the grigri (autolocking). These create friction that is used to hold the climber up when they fall.

Hope this helped. If your'e interested in climbing, go do a search on www.rockclimbing.com

Z123

Answer 3

Nuts- Used for Trad, or traditional, climbing. Basically acts as a jam in a crack on the rock where you can then attach a carabiner and then clip your rope into.

Hex- Used for Trad climbing, same thing as above, except they're shaped like hexagons as opposed to Nuts' almost .. cowbell shape.

'Biners, aka Carabiners - These are essentially big locking clips used to do many things. You use them when paired with your belay device to attach it to your harness, a "quick-draw" is two carabiners attached by a length of short webbing used in trad/lead/sport etc to clip into a bolt and then clip your rope through.

Belay Devices - The two main belay devices used in climbing are Gri-Gris and ATC's. A gri-gri is a locking belay system that you thread a rope through, clip it to your harness using a carabiner, and can then belay your partner on the wall. An ATC is a non locking belay device that is usually used for lead climbing, as it is easier to give your climber slack.

Cams- These are also used in Trad, they come in many different sizes, and can be wedged into cracks and are quite solid. You then hook a quick draw through, attach your rope and keep climbing.

Cams, nuts and hexes all act as bolts, except they don't damage the rock. Yay.

Trad climbing is not for the inexperienced climber, but if you want to take a better look at the gear used, go to REI.com

Good luck!

Answer 4

the above two answerers give very comprehensive answers, however one other thing i'd add is to do with belay devices.

Some of these, like the ATC (like the DMM 'bug') are able to take two ropes, which is useful if someone is leading trad and needs two ropes to place runners far apart laterally. I don't think the figure of eight belay device can take two..

Also, belay devices can usually be used as abseil devices too, where you would just fit the rope through the device like normal, and then lower yourself down the cliff (usually with some sort of back-up protection though, as ATCs are not auto-locking).

Answer 5

Nuts, hexes, tri-cams, cams - these are inserted into cracks or other features in the rock and become a "piece" of protection where the rope is cliped to them using a carabiner. They will stop a falling climber when the climber falls past piece and the rope tightens up.

A belay device is used by the other climber (belayer) to "lock off" the rope when the climber falls - it just provides extra friction.

Good Luck