'FRIENDS' & OTHER CAMMING DEVICES

Friends were one of the most significant inventions in climbing since the karabiner and the name is ubiquitously applied to all camming devices. However it should only really be used for those made by Wild Country - the rest all being derived from these. Recent innovations such as reverse cam strength (that means the device will still hold a fall even when the cams are fully open - provided that is that they actually catch on the rock in some way!) are useful, and dyneema slings, forged cams and other advances have made "Friends" a lot lighter than the earlier models, whilst reductions in scale, such as Wild Country's fantastic Zeros, have to be seen to be believed.

Photo: Belinda "BJ" James well cammed up at the start of the main pitch of Kipling Groove, the classic HVS on Gimmer Crag, Langdale in the English Lake District.

Revamped Flexi-Friends with longer, stiffened stems and reverse cam strength. A superb product with 3 Sigma Rating meaning that 99.99% of all production passes its strength ratings. Dearish, but not for the quality.

The small sizes transform many serious harder routes into less worrying undertakings. Medium sizes are perhaps the most useful, especially on grit. These larger sizes (3.5 & 4) are used mainly on grit where they are invaluable: however a 3.5 can be very handy in the Lakes at times. Sizes 5 and 6 are very specialist, their use being almost entirely confined to offwidth cracks such as Elder Crack at Frogatt, and Winking Crack at Gogarth.

NB Individual Technical Friends up to size 4 now come with a free karabiner (it used to be a Wild Wire but there seem to be a lot coming through with Oxygens), but this doesn't apply to sizes 5 and 6, or Friends sold in sets.

WC Technical Friends
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength kN		weight
		mm	mm	Unit	Cam Stop	gm
00	Gold	10-16	34	10	6	60
0	Blue	13-19	43	14	11	79
0.5	Red	17-24	45	14	11	85
1.0	Gold	19-29	48	14	11	95
1.25	Purple	21-33	50	14	11	98
1.5	Silver	23-35	50	14	12	98
1.75	Green	25-41	50	14	12	107
2.0	Red	29-44	53	14	12	111
2.5	Gold	33-55	58	14	12	122
3.0	Purple	43-66	63	14	13	155
3.5	Blue	51-82	63	14	13	178
4.0	Silver	64-100	63	14	14	217
5.0	Red	84-136	87	14	14	346
6.0	Green	116-194	120	14	14	533

 

Quantity:  

Size 00 £40.99 0 £40.99 0.5 £40.99 1 £41.99 1.25 £41.99 1.5 £41.99 1.75 £41.99 2 £42.99 2.5 £42.99 3 £43.99 3.5 £43.99 4 £44.99 5 £64.99 6 £79.99 Size Stock 00 £40.99 5+ 0 £40.99 4 0.5 £40.99 4 1 £41.99 5 1.25 £41.99 1 1.5 £41.99 3 1.75 £41.99 2 2 £42.99 4 2.5 £42.99 5 3 £43.99 5+ 3.5 £43.99 5 4 £44.99 3 5 £64.99 1 6 £79.99 1

Sizes 1,2 and 3 of the Technical Friends listed above at a bargain price. NB - These do not come with free krabs. 

Stock

3

Quantity:  

Sizes 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 of the Technical Friends listed above at a bargain price. NB - These do not come with free krabs. 

Quantity:  

Stock

3

Rewire and new trigger kits to fit all Forged and Technical or Offset Friends produced after January 1st 2001. Each Kit contains wires and triggers to do two Friends, one small and one large - please note that the kits are different for Forged and Technical Friends. Also that the Forged Friend kit is only suitable for Friends sized fro 2 to 4. Smaller Forged Friends need returning to Wild Country to have their wires replaced. 

Quantity:  

Stock

5+

Marvels of minaturisation! These new camming devices are the lightest and smallest on the market and are packed with innovative features. All include a doubled 10mm Dyneema sling and reversed cam strength.

Bargain offer - Full retail is £52.50!

NB Sizes 1 and 2 are the original length, sizes 3, 4, 5, and 6 are the new longer stemmed versions.

WC Zeros
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength	weight
		mm	mm	kN	gm
1	Purple	5.5-7.8	25	3	23
2	Green	7.0-9.2	29	4	29
3	Silver	8.5-12.2	34	6	43
4	Gold	10.3-16.0	35	6	50
5	Blue	13.0-19.0	38	10	57
6	Red	17.0-24.0	38	10	61

 

Quantity:  

Size 1 2 3 4 5 6 Size Stock 1 2 2 2 3 1 4 0 5 0 6 2

DMM's 4 Cam Units are similar in construction to their 3 CUs and offer similar advantages. Having four cams makes them more stable than three cam units but they also take up more space. Though they weigh more they are still very light. Cam sizes are similar to the equivalent Friend.

These new revamped 4CUs are now even lighter.

Please note that the colour-coded karabiner in the photo is not included, and is also not included in the listed weights. These coloured Spectre krabs are available to order below.

DMM 4CU
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength	weight
		mm	mm	kN	gm
0	Blue	13-19	42	14	75
0.5	Red	17-24	42	14	80
1	Gold	19-29	48	14	93
1.25	Purple	21-33	48	14	96
1.5	Silver	23-35	48	14	97
1.75	Green	25-41	48	14	99
2	Red	29-44	48	14	110
2.5	Gold	33-55	53	14	123
3	Purple	43-66	56	14	151
3.5	Blue	51-82	65	14	185
4	Silver	64-100	65	14	224

 

Quantity:  

Size 0 £34.99 0.5 £34.99 1 £34.99 1.25 £34.99 1.5 £34.99 1.75 £35.99 2 £35.99 2.5 £35.99 3 £35.99 3.5 £37.99 4 £37.99 Size Stock 0 £34.99 2 0.5 £34.99 2 1 £34.99 2 1.25 £34.99 1 1.5 £34.99 3 1.75 £35.99 1 2 £35.99 3 2.5 £35.99 3 3 £35.99 3 3.5 £37.99 3 4 £37.99 3

DMM's 4 Cam Units are also available in sets of 3 at a bargain price.

Two sets are available:
Half Sizes: consists of sizes 0.5, 1.5, 2.5.
Whole Sizes: consists of sizes 1, 2, 3. 

Quantity:  

Sizes Half Sizes £94.99 Whole Sizes £94.99 Sizes Stock Half Sizes £94.99 2 Whole Sizes £94.99 0

Add a matching coloured Spectre Karabiner to your DMM Cam!

Even lighter than DMM's incredible Prowire is their new Spectre wiregate, which is the very much the same karabiner but 3g lighter at 33g due to the use of I beam technology. Usual DMM brilliant quality and a fantastic krab for trad climbing, alpine and expedition mountaineering etc - in fact wherever you are trying to shave the grams off. The karabiner is available in a dark coloured silver (Bright Light Titanium - BLT, or Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato as it's referred to here), Silver, Gold, Purple, Red, Blue or Green.

Weight 33g. Strength Closed 24kN, Open 10kN, Cross-loaded 7kN.

Please note that all DMM gear is 3-Sigma tested. Basically this means that statistically 99.99% of all their production will pass its strength ratings. 

Quantity:  

Colour Silver BLT Red Gold Purple Blue Green Colour Stock Silver 5+ BLT 5+ Red 5+ Gold 5+ Purple 5+ Blue 5+ Green 5+

Narrow headed three cam devices for cracks and small pockets. Reverse cam strength means that they will also grip as nuts. The strong springs are designed to hold the cams better in poor placements - though we reckon you could also use the larger sizes as finger strength excercisers! Very lightweight.

BD Camalot C3s
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength	weight
		mm	mm	kN	gm
000	Grey	7.8-12.9	28	4	55
00	Purple	9.0-13.7	28	6	57
0	Green	10.7-15.8	28	7	59
1	Red	12.0-18.8	29	10	62
2	Yellow	14.2-22.6	29	10	66

 

Quantity:  

Size 000 £52.99 00 £52.99 0 £54.99 1 £54.99 2 £54.99 Size Stock 000 £52.99 2 00 £52.99 2 0 £54.99 2 1 £54.99 2 2 £54.99 2

Superb single stemmed devices with reverse cam strength. All are double axled which means they have a greater range than any comparitive camming unit, albeit at some cost in extra weight. The 0.3 equates approximately with a Friend ½ but goes down almost to a Friend 0 in size. 0.4 is about Friend 0.75 size and Camalot 0.75 is about the same as a Friend 1.5. Size 2 is approximatly equivalent to a Friend 2.5/3.

Since their introduction in 1987, Camalots have undergone three generations of refinement. These new cams offer a larger expansion range, significantly lighter weights, better flexibility and smoother action. Please click for a Camalot Size Comparison Chart between old and new Camalots.

One point that is often raised is why do Camelots still have nylon tape rather than Dyneema. Black Diamond say that nylon is longer lasting and harder wearing than Dyneema so that the slings on these devices will last many years without replacement.

Please click the image to see the full size range.

BD Camalot C4s
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength	weight		Approx. Friend equiv.
		mm	mm	kN	gm	previous
0.3	Blue	13.8-23.4	42	10	71	77	0
0.4	Grey	15.5-26.7	42	10	82	97	0.5
0.5	Purple	19.6-33.5	45	12	97	116	1
0.75	Green	23.9-41.2	50	14	116	140	1.5
1	Red	30.2-52.1	52	14	134	151	2
2	Gold	37.2-64.9	56	14	158	184	2.5/3
3	Blue	50.7-87.9	60	14	201	240	3.5
4	Silver	66-114.7	70	14	278	new size	4
5	Purple	85.4-148.5	80	14	381	new size	5
6	Green	114.1-195	90	14	557	new size	6

 

Quantity:  

Size 0.3 £42.99 0.4 £42.99 0.5 £42.99 0.75 £42.99 1 £44.99 2 £44.99 3 £49.99 4 £59.99 5 £69.99 6 £79.99 Size Stock 0.3 £42.99 3 0.4 £42.99 0 0.5 £42.99 1 0.75 £42.99 2 1 £44.99 2 2 £44.99 2 3 £49.99 2 4 £59.99 1 5 £69.99 3 6 £79.99 1

Unfortuntely these are not made as the units are too small to repair. 

For single plastic coated wire loop stemmed Camalots. Unfortuntely size 0.3 is not made as the units are too small to repair.

NB we do not usually stock these but can generally speedily order them in. 

Quantity:  

Size 0.4 0.5 0.75 1 2 3 4 5 6 Size Stock 0.4 1 0.5 1 0.75 1 1 1 2 1 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0

For sizes 0.4 to 0.75 of the single metal stemmed Camalots. Unfortuntely sizes 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 are not made as the units are too small to repair.

NB we do not usually stock these but can generally speedily order them in.

NB we do not stock these but can generally speedily order them in. 

Quantity:  

Size 0.4 0.5 0.75 Size Stock 0.4 0 0.5 1 0.75 1

For single metal stemmed Camalots.

NB we do not stock these but can generally speedily order them in. 

Quantity:  

Size 1 2 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Size Stock 1 1 2 1 3 1 3.5 0 4 0 4.5 0 5 0

For old-style double stemmed Junior Camalots sizes 0.5 and 0.75 (fits both sizes).
 

Quantity:  

Stock

0

For old-style double stemmed Camalots except sizes 0.5 and 0.75.

NB we do not stock these but can generally speedily order them in. 

Quantity:  

Size 1 2 3 4 Size Stock 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0

Much used by US climbers, particularly for aid climbing where the small head of these Three Cam Units (TCUs) proves ideal in old peg scars.

Unfortunately the smaller sizes (00,0) are not available in the UK as they have not been CEN tested.

Metolius TCUs
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength	weight
		mm	mm	kN	gm
00	Grey	8.5-14		5	41
0	Purple	10-15.5		5	43
1	Blue	12.5-19.5	39	8	50
2	Yellow	15.5-24.5	39	10	57
3	Orange	18.5-29	39	10	59
4	Red	23.5-35.5	39	10	68

 

Quantity:  

Size 1 2 3 4 Size Stock 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1

Lightweight double cable four cam units - claimed to be the lightest in the World. Smooth action. They incorporate what Metolius call Direct Axle Technology (DAT) which reduces head-width, making them more likely to fit in pockets.

The sizes marked with an asterisk have Metolius's coloured cam dots which show you when the placement is best (as per illustration).

Metolius Power Cams
number	colour	size-range	head width	strength	weight
		mm	mm	kN	gm
00	Grey	8.5 - 14.0	39	5	45
0	Purple	10.0 - 15.5	39	5	48
1	Blue	11.5 -19.5	40	8	54
2*	Yellow	15.5 - 24.5	43	10	64
3*	Orange	18.5 - 29.0	43	10	68
4*	Red	23.5 - 35.5	43	10	77
5*	Black	28.0 - 41.5	47	10	86
6*	Green	32.5 -50.0	47	10	98
7*	Lt. Blue	40.0 - 61.0	58	10	127
8*	Lt. Purple	48.5 - 74.0	58	10	150

 

Quantity:  

Size 00 £39.99 0 £39.99 1 £39.99 2 £39.99 3 £39.99 4 £39.99 5 £39.99 6 £39.99 7 £42.99 8 £42.99 Size Stock 00 £39.99 1 0 £39.99 0 1 £39.99 1 2 £39.99 1 3 £39.99 1 4 £39.99 2 5 £39.99 1 6 £39.99 1 7 £42.99 1 8 £42.99 1

Unusual devices with one pair of cams much bigger than the other. This is designed for better holding power - see the Metolius Website for more details.

Metolius say that the Supercam has extended the camming range well past that available with other designs while still retaining the increased holding power and safety that can only be achieved with the smaller cam angle of 13.25°. This safer cam angle increases the outward force by a critical 10% over other brands with larger cam angles. The cam faces have more than 30% extra contact surface compared to other brands, making rock fracture much less likely. The new ratchet-style (Shark Fin) tooth pattern helps to set the cam during the initial loading in a fall. The magic in this design relies upon the simple concept of its asymmetry. The smaller-side cam lobes pass within the arc drawn by the larger side, allowing us to use the previously unused portion of the cam’s spiral. They also feel that this revolutionary new design increases overall cam stability in these notoriously unstable large sizes.

Also included is Metolius's Range Finder coding system which tells you at a glance whether or not you’ve chosen the optimum size cam for the placement.

All this is held in a lightweight and flexible U-shaped framework for greater durability and control during placement and retraction and high-strength cam stops.

Definitely designed with wide parallel cracks in mind - the smallest size is similar to a Friend 3.

Metolius Super Cams
size	colour	mm	kN	gm
small	grey	39.5 - 70.5	12	198
medium	maroon	52.5 -91.5	12	255
large	dark blue	66.5 - 118.5	12	312

NB: Only the Small and Medium sizes are available so far. 

Quantity:  

Size S £54.99 M £59.99 Size Stock S £54.99 2 M £59.99 2

A patented wax formula designed to give your cams ultra-smooth performance and seal out dirt and moisture. It goes on wet, but works dry and the self-cleaning action reduces wear by keeping dirt out of the mechanism.
60 ml.

 

Quantity:  

Stock

3

Amazing double-hinged-cam cams with a massive range. Size 1 covers the Friend range of Sizes 1 -2½ (approx) whilst size 2 is around sizes 1½ - 3.

This, in theory, means that you only need to carry two and you'll never fumble for the right size. However you will of course run out of gear after only two placements.

Rather heavier than other cams, and almost twice as expensive, but could