I have read several emails that say Hollow Flake can be partially protected witha #7 Big Dude. Is that equal to the BD #5?? If not, who makes the Dude??

-- Doug Nurock (dnurock@yahoo.com), March 20, 2002

Answers

Yates used to make the Big Dudes oversize cams. Yates doesn't make them anymore. The biggest one (the #7) was about as big as the Wild Country #6 Technical Friend (about 7 inches) The #5 Camalot is smaller, only about 6 inches wide.

I've heard that the Hollow Flake is only protectable near the bottom with the #6 Friend. At the top, the crack leans off to the left (facing the rock) as it gets wider, so there is less chance of falling out of it there. You can probably walk the #6 up until the last place you can fit it, and then leave it there. A Big Bro further up is an option. Or, you can duct-tape a piece of 2x4 to one side of the #6 to get another 1.5 inches of width.

I'm going to do the Excalibur, which has many cracks too wide for even the #6 Friend. My solution? Check it out:

http://home.pacbell.net/takasper/slcd/no9cam.html

I've got a whole rack of those, plus two of the #12s.

I am still trying to figure out the legal aspects of selling some of them.

-- Tom Kasper (takasper@pacbell.net), April 09, 2002.