For people who care, you can find the whole issue of Argus here.
01 December, 2009
Tricams: Rock climbing is easier than mathematics
In the car on the way out to Mt Arapilies the other weekend I was saying how much I liked tricams. Probably in an effort to get me to shut up, Kat asked if I would be able write something about them. I thought it was an odd question and said "yes, probably". It turns out Kat was serious about me writing something: she's the editor of Argus , the magazine of the Victorian Climbing Club. A month later and the article is already in print. This is in contrast with getting something published in mathematics. The last couple of maths articles I had published took a couple of years from being submitted until they appeared in print. Anyway, here's the article. It's no famous Frenchman but I'm pretty happy with it anyway. (Even if the last sentence of the article doesn't really make sense without Ode to a Pink Tricam to go with it as I had intended.)
For people who care, you can find the whole issue of Argus here.
For people who care, you can find the whole issue of Argus here.
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Nice Dion, looks like you are getting more knowledgeable about gears than Travis! :D
ReplyDeleteLooks good! Before I read it I thought you went in to a mathematical analysis of the forces involved in a tri-cam placement. Maybe next issue :-D
ReplyDelete@Romaric I'm already planning an article about how to use hexes like the ones you left behind. "First, find a good tree, preferably live. Next, nail your hex to the tree. If the nail bends, remove it before trying again with another nail."
ReplyDelete@Travis That would be a pretty interesting analysis I think. Even working out the forces involved in a nut placement could be interesting. I wonder how much the strength of the placement depends on the angle of the taper of the nut....
I think that that for Romaric and all the other French climbers out there you should also perform an analysis of the holding power of various types of cheeses.
ReplyDeleteIn france, trad climbing consists of bolting your gear directly to the rock on abseil, then climbing the route (after sitck-clipping the first piece of course).
Here in Australia they use tin cans for pro. Follow the link and scroll down. The guy being interviewed, Simon Mentz, writes the best climbing guides I've seen. Someone should commission him to redo the guide for Whanganui Bay.
ReplyDeleteTravis, I am sure the English cheeses like Cheddar would work best. The fact they don't melt well for cheese fondue is a good sign of their high mechanical properties!
ReplyDeleteWhat about EZ-Cheese in the spray can. It may not be the obvious choice but if you filled a crack with it and let it harden it'd probably be like concrete and you could just sling it! And while you are waiting for it to dry you can treat yourself to some cheese and crackers.
ReplyDeleteEZ-Cheese is definitely the high-tech way to go. It's the Camalot of cheese protection. And after you've used the cheese you've still got the can to make an anchor from.
ReplyDeleteBut don't you think it might make things too easy. People might be tempted to build holds from it.