Between a Chock and a Hard Place: Some climbing explanations and terminology

Well, since I have a number of friends that aren't climbers, I figured that a page explaining some of this "climber lingo" was in order. So here ya go! Hope this helps.

Yup, that could be a chock

So what's the "chock" in A Chock and A Hard Place? Well, a chock is any type of "passive" protection used in climbing, specifically traditional clean lead climbing. Chocks can be piece of rock that's wedged or "chocked" into place. They can be a block of wood jammed in a crack and slung with webbing (though that's a pretty hardcore "old school" method). Most climbers think of chocks as being just a piece of shaped metal that's either wired or slung with cord or webbing. They might be called nuts, but this generally refers to Stoppers (made by Black Diamond) or something similar and doesn't necessarily cover everything because hexes and tricams can be used as chocks or as a nut (see photos below). The basic design of hexes and nuts has been copied and tweaked by other companies, but the essential principle is that it's a hunk of metal on a wire or cord that you place firmly in the rock, clip the rope to it with a "runner", and trust your life to it that it will hold if you fall on it.

Hexes slung with Dyneema webbing

Wired hexes

Stoppers

Different length draws or runners used to connect protection to the rope

Up until about 1978, most climbing protection used in traditional climbing were chocks or hammer driven pitons. The problem with pitons is that they left an obvious mark in the rock. When climbing a route, the leader would drive the piton into the rock and secure the climbing rope to it with a carabiner. Once the leader finished that section of climbing (called a pitch), the follower (aka the 2nd) would then be belayed up the same route to clean the pitons as he climbed the route. To remove the pitons, the 2nd would have to hammer it to one side and then back to center repeatedly until the piton came out. This constant hammering-in of pitons left "piton scars". As piton scars in one bit of rock became too big to handle another pin, a climbing party would place a pin in an adjacent bit of rock and create yet another scar. In some cases, the scars became so numerous and large enough that the route was able to be free climbed using removable protection. This is the case with Serenity Crack (5.10d) at Royal Arches in Yosemite Valley.

Various types of pitons

A serious rack of pitons

For the heck of it, here's a link to a blogger's page on piton patenting. My friend Katie will love this as she works in a patent office! http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2004/12/chouin_pitons.html

Another odd type of chock is a tri-cam. Invented by Greg Lowe, the tri-cam can be loaded in an "active" mode as well as passive.

Tri-cams. One of my favorite pieces of gear. These are all shown in their "active" mode.

Tri-cam in "passive" chock mode. Yay! Pinky!

By the early 1970s the use of hammer driven pitons for climbing protection were falling out of favor as the advent of 'clean climbing' came about. In 1972 Yvon Chouinard, who had been known for his outstanding pitons, starting selling his 'hexcentrics' or 'hexes' to climbers and the trend took off. Clean climbing was the new standard.

In 1978, Ray Jardine invented the modern spring-loaded camming device (SLCD), the Friend. This piece of gear revolutionized climbing, opening up an incredible amount of new possibilities because of their ease of placement. As with other gear, a lot of companies have come along and tweaked the design. The most popular design is made by Black Diamond Equipment, the company that Chouinard eventually created and then sold. Friends are still made in the UK by Wild Country.

Black Diamond Camalots

Original Wild Country Friend design

Another good link, this one is on the patent for the Friend: http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2005/01/wild_country_fr.html

Two other interesting spring-loaded pieces of protection (not cams) are Camp Ballnuts and Trango Big Bro's.

Invented in 1978 by John Mittendorf, Ballnuts are typically good for certain types of pin scars and thin horizontal cracks, sometimes called "letterboxes".

Ballnuts

Big Bro's were invented in 1984 by Craig Luebben. They are a tubular, spring loaded device used for larger size cracks. They're a specialty piece but can be essential on long, wide crack climbs. They're also significantly lighter than cams that cover the same range of sizes. However, they can be difficult to place and like any type of pro, require a lot of practice to master.