Beginning Aid and Ladders
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I'm sure this has been asked before. But what are some good beginner aid ladders? |
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No such thing as a "beginner" ladder. I like Yates. |
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+1 for yates. i got the big wall ladders as a gift. they are color coded for easy identification (left/right), they have a spreader bar at top to keep them easy to step in and doubles as a bar to pull up on, they have the sewn runner to pull up on as well. the biggest plus are the elastic straps under each step that you can loop over your foot to keep it in place while jumaring. |
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FISH |
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john strand wrote:FISHEvery new wall climber should waste at least 12 hours of their life at the Fish website. fishproducts.com/ Then waste another 12 hours once you have some walls under your belt. I love my Fish ledge, and their wall bags are money. |
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Any ladder with a spreader bar will work. No spreader bar = sad times for you on an aid-intensive pitch. |
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Best explanation on a climbing website |
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Why don't you like the spreader bar Jeremy? Adds to the cluster? |
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I made my own from webbing. They were ok but were very cumbersome and were hard on the feet. Then got the Yates. Awesome product. World of difference. |
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The best ones are ones you borrow to make sure you really want to get into this crap, and see what your preferences are like. Borrow what you can, or tie some webbing up and go do laps on something at your local crag until you figure out the systems. Get proficient at as many variations as you can tolerate (adjustables vs. not, 2, 3, or 4 aiders, etc). If you are still liking this aid crap at that point, then go for it and you'll know pretty well what works best for you. |
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I like using Metolius 8 step aiders (2), adjustable daisies (2), and the Kong adjustable Fifi (1). The Yates are overkill IMO. |
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Watch out for that there 8-Step... |
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If going with just 2 ladder style aiders, I strongly recommend a spreader bar style (Fish or Yates, and some Euro ones). Walking up a single aider without a spreader bar makes it really hard to get into the top couple steps without lots of wrestling and frigging your foot in. |
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Definitely go ladder style with spreader bar. Fish's kick ass and look stylish as all hell (and rule #1 is always Look Good). |
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^^^ |