Outdoor Gear Glossary

	Glossary: Cc
	Camming Device / Cam - Climbing Equipment A cam (or camming device) is a projecting part of a rotating wheel or shaft that strikes a lever at one or more points on its circular path, causing the rope to stop or slow through its grips. Cam's are therefore often used in climbing equipment as a means to brake - see 'Belay Devices'. There are two main types of camming device: passive camming devices and active camming devices. Passive camming devices rely on the brake hand and a karabiner to lock off the rope, whereas active camming devices have a built-in mechanism that locks off the rope without the help of any other pieces of equipment.
	Catenary Cut - MSR Tents The catenary-cut MSR tents patterning ensures a taut pitch, thus causing the rain to run off immediately without pooling and keeping your tent from flapping noisily in the wind.
	CFM - Cubic Feet per Minute CFM is often used as a measure of wind permeability of a particular type of outdoor clothing (and other items). It measures the air (in cubic feet) passing from one space through to another space. Therefore an item of clothing with 0 CFM will not allow any air through that particular fabric. Windproofs and softshells will often use this as part of their product descrption.
	Chalk Bag - Climbing Equipment Chalk bags are hand-sized fabric bags for holding climbers' chalk often attached to the back of a waist belt or harness for easy access during a climb. Chalk is necessary to remove clamminess of the fingers and promote a more solid grip of the rock surface when climbing.
	Climbing Harness - Climbing Equipment Climbing harnesses act as a significantly important climbing device for the user to 'sit in'. A climbing harness will loop around the very upper part of your thigh and around your waist. It will have various gear loops (to attach necessary climbing tools, fittings, ropes, etc) along with a point to attach the climbing rope that is being used to ascend or descend the face of the wall. Different types of climbing call for particular features for harnesses. Sport climbers typically use minimalistic climbing harnesses, some with personalized gear loops. Alpine climbers will often use lightweight harnesses with detachable leg loops. Big wall climbers prefer lots of padding for comfort during their lengthy ascent. Children's harnesses are sometimes come as a full body harnesses, for those whose pelvis bones are not wide or strong enough to be safely held inverted by a sit harness. Some adult climbers may still use a full body harnesses if there is a chance of inverting, or when carrying a heavy bag.
	Climbing Shoes / Climbing Boots Climbing boots has specifically been designed to be worn for climbing as the key purpose is to increase grip of the rock face and also to help increase friction through the use of their vulcanized rubber toe and heal. Climbing boots are often just a few millimeters thick and recommended to be a snug fit, with climbers often buying climbing shoes a size smaller than usual in order to force their feet into smaller gaps in the wall along with causing an increased amount on pressure / grip on key points of the climbing shoes.
	Climbing Uppers and Downers - Climbing Gear Please see Ascenders, Belay Devices, Pulleys and Descenders. For climbing gear visit our climbing gear section in the online shop.
	Comfort Flex midsole - Scarpa Using nylon for its permanent performance qualities, the comfort flex midsole is moulded so it has minimum flex in the heel section of some Scarpa walking boots but gives comfortable flex in the forefoot area. It is used for walking and hillwalking footwear as weight is often distributed on the toes for ascending where flexibity is sometimes required, but rigid and extra support on the heel for descending.
	Crampons - Climbing Equipment Crampons are outdoor footwear that are made from spikes and are worn on walking or mountain boots to provide additional traction to climbers on ice and snow. General-purpose crampons designed for most mountaineering and glacier travel are not well suited for vertical ice climbing. For ice climbing, specialized crampons that provide better support for front pointing (where climbers use their toes to dig into the ice) are advised. Most crampons require welted boots to ensure proper fitting and are often used with walking or hiking axes. There are also three types of crampons: hinged and with straps, multi-purpose crampons with front points and strapping all around the foot with an additional heel, and a fully rigid crampons with a heel clip and toe bar. For most types of mountaineering (not technical ice climbing) hinged crampons are preferred as they provide a flex along the instep and bend with the natural motion of walking. A rigid crampon does not bend at the instep so when climbing up steep technical ice, they allow the climber to keep their heel lower when front-pointing, thus less tiring as a result. Rigid crampons are usually heavier and will often not perform as well as hinged in mixed terrain.
	Crampon grading - Climbing / Mountaineering Equipment Crampons are graded C1, C2 and C3. These grades are used to determine compatibility with a walking or climbing boot. Walking and climbing boots are usually graded B0 (incompatible with crampons), B1 (a sturdy hillwalking boot), B2 (a more rigid mountaineering boot) and B3 (a fully rigid climbing and mountaineering boot). Usually, a B3 mountaineering boot would be compatible with a C3 crampon, a B2 walking boot with a C2 crampon and B1 walking boot with C1 crampon. Importantly though, a B3 mountaineering boot can be used with a C3, C2 or C1 crampon, a B2 boot with a C2 or C1 crampon. A B1 boot can only be used with a C1 crampon.
	Crosta - Walking Boots This is the standard grade of leather used by most leading mountaineering boot manufacturers. It is a premier leather for mountain footwear and gives excellent comfort and general performance. However, without the HS12 treatment, its water repellancy is not as efficient as Reversed Anfibio leather, used by Scarpa walking boots.

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