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NARROW CRACK PROTECTION - WIRES | | |
|  Sally Baxendale and Richard Tolley on Harry Kelly's ultra-classic Rib and Slab Climb (HS), Pillar Rock, the English lake District. | | |
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Standard Wires: | | |
| | Wires: Narrow cracks are best protect by nuts on wire (commonly known as “wires”). A minimum for beginners would be a full set from 1 - 10. On gritstone and granite outcrops this may be enough when combined with wide crack protection. Elsewhere, most leaders would double up on wires or at least on the smaller sizes. Most climbers carry wires of a similar size on Karabiners in lots of 5 - 10 wires. They place the wire in the crack and then use a quickdraw to link it to the rope. The best known, best value and probably the best designed are Wild Country Rocks. Having bought one set of these it is worth buying a differeent type of wire for your second set as they will offer slightly different placement possibilities. DMM Wallnuts are a good alternative. Please note that any karabiners pictured are NOT included in the price of the wires! | | |
| For a history of climbing protection devices, check out Stephane Pennequin's Nuts Museum. Stephane has the mosty comprehensive museum of climbing gear in the world - but is still looking for some items, so if you have a boxful of mouldering Moacs lurking in the garage, get in touch with him! | |
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Micro-Wires: | | | Micro-Wires are the smallest protection available - A Black Diamond Micro Stopper 1 for instance is about the size of a matchhead. They are not that strong so do not expect them to hold a high fall factor fall, but they are comforting when they are all you can get. For many years the best known have been RPs, but these are no longer available. A good rack these days would probably contain almost full sets of Black Diamond Micro Stoppers and HB Brass Offsets, plus a couple of DMM or WC micro nuts as well. | |
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| | DMM & Wild Country Micros: Wild Country and DMM Micro Wires are the same thing, made in the same factory, though just to confuse you they are sized differently! A 00 Wallnut is the same as a 0 Rock and a 0 Wallnut the same as a ¼ Rock. | | | |
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