[leadin]How do you protect the widest, nastiest cracks at the crag? If you’re Evan Deis you invent a new mega-size cam anchor design.[/leadin]
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Invented more than 30 years ago, spring-loaded camming devices changed the game of rock climbing by offering an easy-to-place, solid anchor that fits inside a crack. Climbers clip a rope to a cam, and if they fall the device is made to exert force against the rock, most of the time staying securely in place.
Cams are made now by a few companies, but almost none are large enough for cracks called offwidths, which are a challenging genre of the sport where you squeeze and squirm half-inside the rock to gain upward progress.
Among Biggest Cam Built
A new cam by a Denver mechanical engineer, Evan Deis, is among the biggest ever built. We were tipped off by Pamela Shanti Pack, a pro climber who specializes in offwidth cracks. She is testing Deis’ prototypes on offwidths around the West.