Copperhead (clamping wedge)

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A copperhead is a special form of the wedge that is mainly used as a means of locomotion in technical climbing of high difficulty.

Copperheads consist of a three to six millimeter thick copper cylinder that is pressed around a steel cable loop . The copper cylinder is usually driven into small cracks in the rock with the help of a hammer , whereby the copper adapts to the shape of the crack and jams in the process. Copperheads belong to the group of hammerable hardware, the (English) bashies. A pointed chisel and hammer are ideally used to hammer in copperheads.

In contrast to Rocks or Hexentrics , Copperheads are intended for very small rock cracks, where other clamping devices or wedges no longer fit. The holding forces of a copperhead are difficult to estimate and generally only low. They should therefore not really be used as an intermediate backup and should only be used as a last resort.

literature

  • Don Graydon (Ed.): Perfect Mountaineering. The high school of alpinism . 1st edition. Pietsch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-50276-3 , p. 291 f . (English: Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills .).

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