What breaks first?

How much force does a climbing cam exert outward on a rock? Is it 2X the force pulling down? Is it 4X? Something completely different? It’s easy to calculate, they say. It’s just simple math, they say. Then why is there so much discourse about this “simple” matter without a clear answer??? We tested it!

CLIMBING CAM OUTWARD FORCE TEST RESULTS
👉 Short answer: it’s 2x the force outward as you pull on the cam. Detailed answer is in our graphs and spreadsheets. Find those on the downloads page you get when you sign up for emails. If you are already signed up, the "downloads page" is at the bottom of every email we've sent - https://hownot2.com/sign-up

WHY DOES IT MATTER
Accidents are unfortunately a part of every aspect of life, including climbing. And while your climbing gear is designed for and rated to hold a fall, the rock into which it is placed is not. This leads to instances like what happened in Taylors Falls, Minnesota, where an anchor built with three cams placed into a single vertical crack failed when it was weighted. - https://publications.americanalpinecl...
Sometimes your only option for protection is NOT as bomber as you'd like it to be. If that is the case then it’s beneficial to try and minimize how much force would be exerted on the rock in the event of a fall.

👉 Cam Angles, tech specs and our own engineer drawings are on the cams we sell at https://hownot2.com/collections/cams

👉 Discuss these results on Discord Forum

Check out Matt's Channels
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