CTOMS presents their new GREEN Kit (Assault Lead Climbers Rack) as part of their TRACE Systems colored kits series. This is purpose built mountaineering equipment for military/para-military climbing operations, solving problems that aren’t an issue in sport climbing, like sound and visual signature as well as armor, weapon and radio integration. It is compatible with both traditional and CTOMS’ TRACE rope systems.
It can be worn alone or attached to an armor vest and incorporates PALS compatible climber’s dump pouches with rear mounted compression straps to help manage the load.
This thing is freakin’ amazing! Check out the full specs in this brochure.
CTOMS™ TRACE™ Systems GREEN Kit by CTOMS Inc.
Tags: CTOMS
I just sent this to my company’s lead climbers to check out. I think this is clearly a pretty nice setup and a looks to be a huge improvement over the tubular webbing they issue to students at AMWS.
Terrible idea. We’ve tried out the “tactical” cams and nuts- they suck. Why? They are all the same damned colour. If the colour of your cams give you away then you shouldn’t be climbing there. Simple.
The sling itself is interesting but overkill. All that gear stays packed in your ruck/patrol pack until needed, it gets silenced in there. The rest is just more pouches to get in the way.
It’s a fair opinion, and at the risk of starting an internet debate, I’ll respectfully state my opinion; that that is a naïve perspective relative to the intent of the product. By ‘they suck’ I’m assuming that you are choosing your cam and chock choice, while climbing, by their color. And to that I’ll say that for years I climbed with a set of silver BD chocks where the only color on them was a little sticker under the shrink tubing that was barely noticeable. The original rigid stem cams were not anodized rainbow colors either. Chocks (and cams) on lead were chosen by their size to fit the crack, not their color to fit the crack. It’s a direct visual reference as opposed to an abstract one. Lack of color never slowed me down. I rack them smallest to the front, largest to the rear and usually know what I need to grab by counting carabiners by feel with no need to look, but that is just my personal experience. If you’ve come to rely on color, then you’re right, mono-colored cams and chocks would be a steeper learning curve. On NVG lead, how are you determining the color of your cams and chocks?
As for the color of your cams giving you away you shouldn’t climb there, you don’t always get to choose where you work climb, and in fact, the color of one sling or cam, especially under optics can certainly be a component to revealing your position, especially red or blue. When you add a full rainbow of cams and slings together on a rack, then the color signature intensifies and can be seen from much further and especially with movement. Color should be an essential characteristic of tactical environment equipment choice. That is basic battle school fieldcraft.
The sling system reduces sound and snag signature on the climb, not just the approach. Carabiner wind chimes will echo off rock walls, especially at night when the wind dies down. You aren’t (or shouldn’t) be yelling ‘on belay’, ‘off belay’, so you’re gear rack shouldn’t be yelling either.
Thanks again for your opinion.
This a excellent setup for military mountain mobility especially in a small discrete unit. I would agree with the comments of ChrisK, organizing your rack by size is the way to go. There is enough loops in the sling to allow for that.
The problem with civilian mountain gear for military climbing is the lack of IRR compliance. No sense losing the initiative because your lead gear glows like a beacon on the side of a rack wall.
Fair enough, however I still disagree. Yes I too rack my cams biggest to smallest, however if things are getting dicy and a blue doesn’t fit, I know the next applicable colour will (which will depend on brand). I too have climbed with older chocks with little colour, but I find that chocks are easy to fit as small sets on single biners, while cams are more difficult. I am not grabbing from my rack by colour- but it saves time to be able to switch out a piece that doesn’t fit by relating it to another. Generally placements are much faster that way, and speed is safety (when applied correctly).
Perhaps I don’t fully understand the sling itself, but the idea of constraining gear while on lead in the interest of noise discipline seems rather extreme. Again, it’s a decent concept but I think it is overkill. You might have a point if setting up a fixed line or only using a few pieces here and there- but the word “lead” to me invokes the thought of being in a position where speed is safety, and I’m VERY unlikely to choose a route close enough to potential enemy contact that small noises will be a concern.
Then again I’m not a tier one sof type so perhaps this was not marketed to me at all.
Yeah, I’m with you. When I’m sketched on lead, the LAST friggin’ thing I need to do is parse gear by order to find what I want.
The right answer is more likely go with the mono-colored cams, but damnit, give additional colored plastic stem clips so you can have them with color on the stem at least, and then remove that in the incredibly unlikely case that you need to “climb tactical,” whatever the hell that means.
As an aside, but still relevant, I used and was frankly quite thankful for my COLORED cams and nuts while doing two 4 pitch first ascents on the rock behind Firebase Ghecko, the SF base on Mullah Mohammed Omar’s old compound just north of Kandahar City. I can 100% guarantee that if the cams had been florescent pink vs. cammo we wouldn’t have been any easier to spot on the wall. So again, I’m with you. Monocolor is a bad choice. At least give optional colored clips.
PS- if you tell me how to post them, I’ve got some sweet pics from that little jaunt… although it was way back in ’04.
Gents, if you’re not sure what tactical climbing is, I’d hazard a guess and say you’re critiquing outside your lane. If you’re pulling a dyno on a 5.11, sketchin for a cam based on its color, you’re probably doing it wrong. I’m not about to belch out assault climbing doctrine and TTPs here for you and the rest of the world to learn. If you don’t get it, you probably don’t need it and that’s ok. Just because youre in the military and a recreational climber, doesnt mean you get a free pass as an expert in tactical climbing. Climbing behind the FOB for fun isnt tactical climbing. If you’re dependant on color, you’re going to be screwed on nods. Put color tape on the ends, but that’s not really the point anymore.
Again guys, thanks for the opinion, though it isnt going to stop the project, there is simply too much demand. But like i said, thats ok, if you dont get it, obviously you dont need it. Keep on rockin in the free world.
http://privatebloggins.ca/?p=720
Fair enough!
Lots of tac application for that rack. Use it. Love it. Great for fixing lines and leaving a fixed line in place for a while. Great for work positioning for edge work/ shoots and short roping fellows that are sketched on steep terrain/ gable rooftops. Don’t need any of the colours that are easily detected with optics. Some guys on this chat are talking like they’re chalking up for the final assault and are dodging tracer doing dynos’s on 5.12. All good and I’d be honoured to be privy to the hotwash notes on those ops (or are we talking about internal conceptualizations instead of op mileage?).
I don’t usually defend my posts, but I will note that yes I DO KNOW what tactical climbing is. I have run the gammut from top rope 5.4 to full on NVG. I learned to climb in the Army FIRST, then recreationally later. The first cams I saw in my cage were the original wild country friends- so yeah I know the difference. Differing opinion does not ignorance make.
My point essentially is that the few small coloured cams on my rack are no more likely to give me away then the fact that I’m exposed on the rock. And to ME (an opinion), the time I might save in building an anchor doing a daylight rescue, or on the occasion that I overestimate my ability to pull that one cruxy move (that I thought was simple enough in boots), outweighs the risk of “non-tactical” cams. No need to assume that I’m completely out of my lane.