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Climbing Equipment

Rock Climbing - Credit Glenmore Lodge Rock Climbing - Credit Glenmore Lodge Rock Climbing - Credit Glenmore Lodge

Basic Rack For Rock Climbing by George McEwan, Head of Mountain Sports at Glenmore Lodge National Outdoor Centre

This would be a suggested rack suitable for most short climbs

Placing your own protection in the rock is an essential part of trad climbing. Below is a suggested rack, which will get you by on most short climbs (5 – 10m in length) up to VS/HVS. If you go for long, sustained pitches you will need more in the way of krabs, quick-draws, and extra rocks on wires. If climbing jamming cracks is your bag then you will need to invest in larger protection pieces such as hexes or cams.

  • 120cm (circ) sling + 1 screw gate
  • 1 Belay Plate + 1 screw gate krab (HMS type preferable)
  • Rocks on wires (Sizes 1-8)
  • 1 Hex 8 on rope/tape
  • 1 Hex 7 on rope/tape
  • Assorted lengths of quick-draws (12cm-30cm circ) x6
  • 1 nut key
  • 1 HMS type krab
  • 2x Screw gate krabs
  • 16 Snap link krabs

For those long, knarly pitches your nerves may appreciate the following additions:-

  • 4x 12cm (circ) quick-draws
  • 8 Snap links
  • 60cm (circ) sling
  • Duplicate set of wired rocks
  • Friends (Flex. 0.5 & 1, Rigid 2&3=)

Carrying it all or Racking by George McEwan, Head of Mountain Sports at Glenmore Lodge National Outdoor Centre

The choice is yours….

You have several choices - on a bandolier (or gear sling), on the harness or a mix of both. Bandolier allows easy pass over on stances, allows easier examination and selection of gear, and keeps your hexes from kneecapping you. However, it does mean that all the gear is in one big bunch, which means that on steep ground everything will swing behind you out of reach, which may result in some mental anguish when you can’t reach gear to place it.

With racking your gear on your harness, it allows the weight to be spread around your waist. Such a system also allows a logical arrangement of gear e.g. wires on right front gear loop, belay plate and spare krabs on rear left gear loop etc.

The best system may be a compromise – quick-draws, hexes etc. on the bandolier, wires krabs etc. on the harness. Experiment, the main point is to always know where the appropriate bits are.

Climbing Harnesses by George McEwan, Head of Mountain Sports at Glenmore Lodge National Outdoor Centre

When choosing a harness it is worth factoring in how you wish to rack your gear. Some harnesses have few gear loops on them, being designed primarily for sport climbing where all the climber has to carry are a load of quick draws or ‘clips’.

You may wish to use your harness for a variety of types of climbing e.g. winter climbing. This means that the harness may have to accommodate a range of waist sizes due to you going from honed outdoor rock athlete to honed, but warm and bulky snow and ice climbing machine. Having adjustable leg loops also makes putting a harness on over crampons/bulky clothing easier.

Finding one harness to do all that and still feel comfortable for both activities can be a challenge. It may well be worth considering having two harnesses. One for summer use, the other for winter/alpine use. Whatever you decide make sure you try it on (if it has to do winter and summer make sure you try it on with lots of clothes on, then clothing off. Keep in mind getting naked in the middle of a busy shop may case distress to other shoppers). Also try hanging from it and see how comfortable it is. After all you will spend a lot of climbing time wearing it.

Climbing Helmets

Regardless of where you climb, and what grade you climb, some hard object impacting on your skull will seriously spoil your day. Helmets are designed to absorb the energy of such a hard object - be it a stone, lump of ice or even hitting the crag itself in the event of a fall – damaging your head. Helmets are now available in a variety of styles and materials. Generally all are reasonably lightweight although some are lighter than others.

Lightweight construction is sometimes bought at the expense of durability so your shiny new helmet may not stand up to the long-term use and abuse of being stuffed into a rucksack. At the end of the day though all will do the job they are designed to do, namely absorb the energy of a falling object. So how do you choose?

First decide whether you plan on climbing/escaping from climbs in the dark. If so, then you will need some way of attaching a head torch to the helmet. Most helmets have some sort of clip system built into the helmet, which allow the headband of a torch to be clipped on. Some don’t so check that out. If you also plan to wear variable amounts of headgear e.g. winter use where you may be wearing a thick hat/balaclava underneath then it would be an idea to ensure that the inside headband can adjust to accommodate this. Once you have narrowed down your range try one on for size and find one that is comfortable for you and is in a colour you like!

Climbing Ropes

Over the past few years’ rope technology has developed a pace. Nowadays ropes are lighter, easier to handle and are available in smaller diameters.

Some truths about ropes.
The thinner the rope the lighter it is, the less wear resistant it is, the more care required when using a belay device and the stretchier it is.

There are three main rope systems used in personal climbing - single, double, and less commonly (in the UK) twin.

Single means you climb and protect yourself on one rope. Although the easiest system to use (and hence used a lot by novices) care has to be taken when leading long or complicated pitches to avoid rope drag caused by the rope following the twists and turns of the climb. The distance you can abseil is limited to half the rope length e.g. a 50m allows a 25m abseil assuming you want to recover the rope! These are available in diameters from 9.1mm through to 11mm.

Double ropes are the commonest system used in climbing in the UK. Here the climber climbs using two ropes and clips protection into either thus allowing long complicated pitches to be climbed with less drag. Two ropes also allow you to abseil the full length of the rope as the two ropes can be joined together, and still recovered. Available in diameters from 8mm through to 9mm.

Twin ropes are not commonly used in the UK. With this system both ropes MUST be clipped through the protection. They are mostly used on climbs that don’t have wandering pitches but may require an abseil descent. They come in diameters from 7mm to about 8mm.

Top Tip
If you are new to climbing buy yourself a ‘Single’ rope, something around 9.8 – 10.2mm diameter. As you develop experience you can always team this rope up with a half rope thus allowing you to use double rope technique. Learning the rope works skills is easier in the short term using a single rope.