Gear to get with $500 budget

oh ya, spend a half hour trying on different shoes making a shoe sales person run around, then bounce. its a dick move for sure, unless you're at REI. zing.

Trent RN wrote: I want to get my own gear, but for now I only have a $500 budget. For $500, what would YOU get?

It totally depends on where you are climbing and with whom...
If your partner has a rope, you buy the rack. If he has the rack, you buy the rope.

I'm presuming you don't have a rope and pro does you no good with out it, so... You can get a reasonable 60M rope off of Ebay, new in bag, for $120. $150 if you want a 70M. That includes shipping.

So now the question is really that you have $360-ish and want to know what else to get.

Are you in an area where you need a helmet and will you use it anyway?
Are you sport climbing 80% of the time?
Do you even use chalk? (I don't, and haven't for at least the last 20 years)
If you trad climb, then where? The Eldo list isn't the alpine list and isn't the lumpy list and I doubt is the Ibex or LCC list...

Alternately, build that collection over time and offer to buy beers for your partner/brother whoever until you can make a larger contribution.

500 bucks eh?

$70 - ebay a set of ABC Heuvos
$80 -set of madrock ultra light draws
$60 -5 longish dyneema slings
$50 - misc webbing & cordage from local store for homemade slings & prussiks
$150 - Ebay some old 4cu dmm cams (not the new dragon cams)

$410 - total

or just get this auction on ebay and be done -

ebay.com/itm/Climbing-Trad-…

tho I wouldn't use that old rope myself.

instead of a standard atc get the gude model and learn how to set it up (it's really easy, but I'm surprised at how many people have them and still don't use the autolocking mode when belaying up a second), eventually you'll start doing mutipitch and it's nice to not have to upgrade later

REI 20% right now you can grab some mammut dyneema slings at a good deal. I think they are already marked down 50% and then another 20% with the discount.

rei.com/product/709160/mamm…

I'd say go for the newer model gear because you will most likely have it for a long time and add more to it.

Mammut Apex 10.5 $159.95

Petzl Locking Ovals X2 $16.95 each

BD Positron Screwgate X2 $7.95 each

PMI 7mm x 30 Accessory Cord $12.95

Black Diamond Poi-Wire Draw Set x2 $79.95 each

Petzl Reverso4 $35.95

Metolius PAS 22 $29.95

Petzl Elios Helmet $65.00

Mostafa wrote:REI 20% right now you can grab some mammut dyneema slings at a good deal. I think they are already marked down 50% and then another 20% with the discount. rei.com/product/709160/mamm… I'd say go for the newer model gear because you will most likely have it for a long time and add more to it.

Nice find dude. That's a great deal for these slings, even without the 20%!

crewdoglm wrote:I would skip a helmet until you're going alpine but I'm old school.

I tell people all the time that when done with the right gear, right training, observance of safety, respect for the sport - rock climbing is no more dangerous than riding a bike or crossing the street. That said, I work in an emergency room and I've seen what happens to people participating in ANY sport where a helmet should be worn and wasn't. Sooo, I have a collection of helmets depending on what I'm doing. Many of them are dinged and banged up - which I look at and think, "that could have been my head". So, I almost always wear a brain bucket when doing something where there's potential for skull fractures. I've seen too many longboarders turned into bed ridden vegetables on vents which later become organ donors because (among other reasons) they weren't wearing a helmet.

I don't go around telling anyone to wear a helmet, but it does surprise me how many people don't. I'm looking for a helmet mohawk, or horns, or something for one of mine... so if you see anyone with a yellow Grivel helmet with a mohawk or horns or spikes or whatever in Rock Canyon or Maple Canyon Utah... that's me!

Now that I'm off that soap box, lol...

Thanks for all of the comments and recommendations. This is what I ended up going with...

-Petzl Xion 60M rope in blue with REI's 20% off discount
-Mammut rope bag with tarp
-Mammut Ophir 3 harness (to supplement the Black Diamond harness I already had, so now I have a loaner harness for friends to belay me)
-Grigri
-Half Dome helmet
-8 Posiwire quick draws
-Guide ATC
-Kong hydrobot
-Variety of slings
-Daisy chain
-Metolious PAS22
-Non-locking biners
-2 more locking biners
-Black Diamond transition gloves
-Solar panel to recharge my iPhone

I spent a little more than $500... oops!

Next up, a static rope for some slot canyons over the summer in southern Utah.

helmets are good on ice or places where shit will be falling out of the sky and onto your noggin. for sportcragging and most trad I usually go without, as long as you mind the rope and land on your feet the unpleasant reality of looking like a noobish mounty can be avoided.

and most helmet wearers at the sport crag I've seen have also been avid backclippers. just learn how to climb right and you'll be fine.

Ryan Williams wrote: I also made the same assumption (that someone asking on the internet was probably talking about sport or TR, because that's all most people do these days). But if someone wanted to trad climb I don't think I'd tell them to learn how to sport climb first. I actually think it makes sense to go the other way around.

It seems reasonable to me to go tr-->sport-->trad, but that's also how I learned. Either approach has its drawbacks, so being aware of what those shortcomings are is probably more important.

crewdoglm wrote:Glad you got it figured out. I can respect the perspective of an ER nurse BTW. Keenan makes a good point as to helmets: they primarily protect you from falling stuff not from impacts where you fall ONTO something. (The exception could be a sliding/swinging fall as in a snow gully or on traverse.) Also, at terminal velocity falling rocks become lethal no matter what at around baseball size especially if there's a direct hit. And yes you will see helmeted types back-clipping, sticking brand-new cams, placing shitty gear, wearing full-body Gore-tex on warm sunny days, using hand-held radios a mile from the car and dropping their partners because the cord's too short. (Stupid is unstoppable as I am sure the ER proves also.) I think viking horns painted to match the helmet would be interesting. Just use a soft material so you don't accidentally gore your partner.

Thanks for the comments. I can agree with and understand your perspective as well. You hit the nail on the head with "stupid is unstoppable". Working in the ER is a testament to that. Not being a trad climber myself (just sport and TR for now), I'm not sure I understand the sticking brand-new cams comment. What's the danger there and how do you break in new cams for proper use?

Also, yeah...if I add anything to my helmet, it would be rubber-ish... nothing "real" and hard. I'm leaning towards mohawk, but just not sure.

Keenan Waeschle wrote:and most helmet wearers at the sport crag I've seen have also been avid backclippers. just learn how to climb right and you'll be fine.

I've noticed that as well. The rope needs to come in from the rear and exit the front. I've also seen some of them pass their fingers or thumb through the gate... just waiting to witness a degloving or broken finger when they slip at the same time their finger is in the gate.

He was being sarcastic about the new cams - implying they don't know how to use them because everthing's shiny-new as though they've never been placed.

I learned how to place gear before I clipped bolts and I turned out alright. just go with someone who can give you constructive feedback. I tried to teach my buddy and was kinda horrified when every piece he placed was absolute shit, cams plugged directly in, not anticipating the direction of pull at all, sketchball nuts placed 3 inches from a bomber constriction. Glad it was just a 5.5.

I never did that when I was learning so I didn't think it was possible to fuck up that badly, maybe I'm just speshial.

Seriously, you had to ask WHAT to get? Most people have a very long list of shit they don't really need but want.

I would find someone in your area, climb with them on some sport routes (since it seems you are interested in sport), and check out their gear. This will let you decide if you like their gear (free trial), and also help you understand what you will need to be more independent in your adventures.

One of the scariest things I have seen at a crag is a couple guys walking up, unwrapping a brand new rope and taking tags off of gear they have never used before and proceeding to climb. Don't be that person! Better to go with someone who is already geared up and has a good idea of the workings of everything before jumping in and buying a bunch of stuff. Your REI dividend will be good til the end of the year, so no hurry!

As far as progression, if you are going to get into trad, I would learn trad first. That's what I did. What that did for me is help me learn how to place gear on easier climbs. If you jump into sport and get really strong, and then try to start trad, you will find yourself trying harder routes without knowing how to place gear very well, which is a good recipe for getting hurt really bad when your placement sucks and your gear pulls. I led 5.8 trad for like a year before I even tried sport climbing. The transition into sport is much easier if you already know trad.

12-16 Draws and a rope + tarp.

If that is all you have (plus your basic gear) That will get you up almost any sport climb.

(not trying to flame, just my opinion)Dont buy a PAS or daisy or anything like that. It's pointless for now, just girth hitch a sling or a quick draw to your harness. Cheaper, more versitile and equally effective.

Ethan Henderson wrote:12-16 Draws and a rope + tarp. If that is all you have (plus your basic gear) That will get you up almost any sport climb. (not trying to flame, just my opinion)Dont buy a PAS or daisy or anything like that. It's pointless for now, just girth hitch a sling or a quick draw to your harness. Cheaper, more versitile and equally effective.

PAS's are soooooo dangerous, if you climb above the anchor on one and then jump off you'll get super hurt!

Keenan Waeschle wrote: PAS's are soooooo dangerous, if you climb above the anchor on one and then jump off you'll get super hurt!

Are you advocating them?
I don't mean any disrespect, I just can't tell which way you feel.

It just seems that with 500 bucks spending 30 bucks on a PAS isnt the way to go, when something else you already have will do the same job.

But i may have misinterpreted your post, if so sorry.

don't get a PAS, not because they're dangerous, but because you can either tie in with the rope or a sling.

sarcasm doesn't transfer well on the internet...