Stuck gear

[avit]

When we got to Apron Strings on Sunday morning there was a fixed cam deep in the crack with a bootlace-like cord tied off to it. I think it's a yellow camalot as I recall... (Seems big for that spot but I think that's the colour of webbing I saw hanging from the stem inside the crack.)

Not much higher, we added to the mess when my green camalot was stuffed in there, overcammed. (I confess, it was my partner!) I wrestled it for a good while on second and couldn't get the frontmost lobe to move although the other 3 were free. I have a crappy nut tool though, it's barely good enough for opening beers.

Also this weekend, we ran into a blue camalot in the top of Phlegmish Dance, and a nut in the third pitch of Skywalker... amazingly the nut moves freely inside the crack, but it's a puzzle as to how it went in.

Somehow when I declare something impossibly stuck, someone comes along and hauls the garbage out. I'd like to clean up my own messes, as well as others I find... How do you do it? Are there some higher-level tricks for removing stuck gear, or do you just attack it with a power drill?

If anyone wants to come out and help me clean these out, let me know.

[BlahMatt]

-2 nut tools can often be the key. Can really help if you can apply pressure at 2 different angles

-If you've overcammed something in an expanding flake (and you are confident the flake isn't going to come off!), you can place a smaller cam behind it, weight the smaller cam and usually get the too large cam out

-Yanking hard on cams just gets them more stuck. Way better to be gentle with cams and wiggle them into a bigger section of the crack.

-If you are seconding, place a piece above it and hang so you don't have to be in a stance or hanging on while trying to remove the piece.

-Persistence

[NateDoggOG]

It's actually a yellow link cam that's stuck on Apron Strings...... been there for a couple months now. Feel bad for the sap that got that piece stuck in there.
I'd be willing to come clean some gear with you..... My rack is lacking

[c-plus]

the fixed camalot on apron strings got snagged today by a couple visiting americans. think it was a .75. too bad, i was happy to clip it on my way up

[avit]

the fixed camalot on apron strings got snagged today by a couple visiting americans. think it was a .75. too bad, i was happy to clip it on my way up

Nah, it was mine. My partner stuffed it in there on Sunday. I think the Americans tried to get you to clean it for them and claim the booty...

[c-plus]

ah, I stand corrected. my partner and I were on the second pitch as they tried to pry out the booty while rappelling down the route. thought i heard them say they got it but we didn't exactly have the best vantage point.

[avit]

Sorry, I misunderstood when you wrote "got snagged"... I thought you meant they got it stuck, now I get it.

I guess I'm still ESL after all...

[lylek]

I've had good luck after applying water, usually just a squirt from a waterbottle onto the points where the cams touch the rock. Works well on basalt and sandstone, haven't tried it on granitic rock. lk