Tips for buying gear

I have a number of friends that ask what the entry cost to climbing is. I never know how to answer as I don't know how far they want to go with it or where they want to start, and without really climbing before, they don't either.

I tried to come up with a functional list for just about any interest level. I tailored it to NYC areas climbers as that is more or less where the bulk of my non-climber but interested friends are.

I don't presume to know anything about just about anything. I am not going to start a beginner climber blog. I am not going to post this list anywhere (but here that is), so please don't get all mad about a know nothing climber instructing other climbers. This is a limited exercise in cost projections so they know what to look up and price out.

Please let me know if this list is tragically flawed and will lead my buddies into ruin:

Equipment list for various climbing stages: each stage requires the equipment listed for all previous stages.

Disclaimers: All outdoor recommendations are targeted toward climbing in the NYC area (Gunks, West Point). Every rock type and area best takes different types of gear. Climbing in the ADKs, for example, you will find use for larger pro I don’t mention. I also use a fair amount of links to websites. If you can possibly manage it, buy all climbing gear from a local shop. Use the internet for reviews and general price references.

Gym rat:
Harness (to start, no need to spend more than 60 bucks, go with a well known brand, Mammut, Black Diamond, etc, and keep peeing in the woods in mind)
Shoes (You are dropping over 100 bucks on these, and don’t even try to order online. Try them on. Try them on a wall.)
Chalk
Chalk bag

Climbing outdoors with a guide or friend who has all the gear:
Helmet
Belay device - I think nothing beats the ubiquitous Black Diamond atc xp: backcountry.com/black-diamo… - classic for a reason
That said, get what feels good to you. Many people love the Gri Gri, particularly sport climbers.

Sport Climbing (single pitch):
Rope – My personal opinion is that Petzl ropes feels fuzzy fast, not a plus for me. I climb with: backcountry.com/mammut-supe… but it is not a cheap or light option.
I like to have some means of keeping it in nice shape. It is way too pricey to crush in the mud. I suggest a bag with a built in footprint.
Rope bag – I use this: backcountry.com/metolius-ro… It is inexpensive and works really well.
Quickdraws – Black Diamond Quickwires and Quicksilvers are good. If you’re climbing sport in the area, then you are likely at a gym learning to lead (which means the quickdraws are provided) or you are at West Point. Six will not do it there, so buy two packs or one pack and a few extra single quickdraws. If you are a millionaire, get Wild Country, they are amazingly light, and they cost an equally amazing amount of money.

Top Rope on Bolts:
We are lucky enough to live in an area where this exists. Peterskill is the main place, $7.00 climbing pass is not too bad either.
Rope – not a climbing rope this time, but ropes for anchor building. Static rope. Get at least 30 feet. I recommend stopping at Rock and Snow on the way and tell them want you want to do, and they will advise as to what you need. Get the guidebook while you are there.
Locking carabiners – Buy good ones. Black Diamond Vaporlock has a great reputation, but Petzl and Mammut make a lot of other good options, but there are many great brands. No matter how many you buy, you will use them. Start with eight or so.
Non-Locking Carabiners – See above more or less, you could technically get all locking, but save yourself some cash and weight. Once again, no matter how many you buy, you will use them. Once again, trust fund babies and lottery winners should indulge in the Wild Country Heliums.

Top Rope on Mixed Anchors (welcome to anchorbuilding):
Slings – you may have needed these already if you are belaying someone much larger than you. Slings are a common basis of belay anchors and are insanely useful in slinging trees and rocks. About a dozen regular sized slings (24”) and a couple long runners (48”) should do you. I like rei.com/product/709160.
More rope – Some trees are opinionated and do not grow right on the edge of a wall. This is selfish and requires some extra rope for slinging. Get 80 feet, static.
When you run out of bolts, trees and rocks, you will have to use pro. The full rack for climbing in our area (and pretty much anywhere else) is listed below, but I will note that when building anchors, it is best to depend on larger cams (#1, #2 and #3) as they can take the most force when placed correctly. Most anchors in the Gunks can be set with naturally occurring objects. If you also have the three cams noted above, you can top rope almost anywhere (once again, in the Gunks).

Trad Climbing (Just hand them your wallet and hope for the best):
One caveat, seasoned climbers looking at my list may say that I am wrong to minimize the importance of micronuts and aliens. This is because I assume beginner trad climbers will be sticking to lower grades rated G, PG at worst. In these cases, you will generally have nice fatty places for gear. When one starts leading very advanced routes, your life will regularly be hanging on smaller gear. I will let you cross that bridge when you come to it.
In my unqualified order of preference:
Camalots (#.5, #.75, #1, #2, #3) (the #3 will not be over-used in our immediate area if you’re cutting costs) rei.com/product/718303 (double as many of these you can afford)
Wired Nuts – while not the easiest to set well (in the Gunks), these are relatively cheap and very reliable once you can set them (well). Practice early and often. rei.com/product/696253
Tricams (pink, red and brown, get two red instead of a blue if you buy them individually) - rei.com/product/737494 (double as many of these you can afford)
C3s – smaller cams by Black Diamond. Metolius makes MasterCams, which cover a lot of the same range. People like what they like. I like c3s. They work for me. Aliens get all the hype – blue, green, yellow, gray and red if you get Aliens. Aliens are no longer produced, but we can still get ahold of them used: cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d…
Micronuts – I am scared to trust these in general. moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/…
More slings

Once you get all that, if you are a sultan, you can pad your rack further with these add ons:
Camalots (double up on the #.75, #1 and #2 you can even get a #4, but it will not get frequent use)
A black Alien (1/3”)
Trango Ball Nutz (#1, #2, #3) – never used them, but some people love them spadout.com/p/trango-ball-n…
Blue Tricam (if you didn’t get one in the set)
A set of hexes
There is more gear. There is gear for hauling gear up ropes, specialized rescue gear, specialized belay loops, etc. By the time you realize you need/want it, you won’t need someone else to tell you about it.

information overload...

i would just tell them to check it out at the gym first. pay a day pass and rent gears. if they are afraid of heights, just rent shoes and boulder. if they want to try climbing, also rent a harness. after that, if they are hooked to it, then you can dump all these info to them.

for me though, i will tell them to get a cheap pair of shoes to start. over $100 on first pair is a waste of money IMO. then you can usually find a combo of harness, chalk bag, and atc w/ locker online for a decent price. if they are interested in going outside, couple slings and lockers for personal anchor system and a helmet would be my recommendation. after they learn more, they will find out what they need in terms of if they are into bouldering, sport, or trad. then you buy different equipments like a trad rack, quick draws, or crash pad.

I agree with the above suggestions. If you have a friend interested, take them to the local gym and have them rent shoes/harness for the day and see if they really are into it or not. It's not worth going out and buying all that stuff if they're not super psyched on it. Then just go from there. And in the beginning they should be going out w/ experienced climber-friends anyways, who hopefully already have a lot of the equipment needed (a rope, draws, ect...)

Unless they are rich I'd advise to take it slow with the climbing gear, and over time you'll figure out what you like/need!!

Kai Huang wrote:information overload... i would just tell them to check it out at the gym first. pay a day pass and rent gears. if they are afraid of heights, just rent shoes and boulder. if they want to try climbing, also rent a harness. after that, if they are hooked to it, then you can dump all these info to them. for me though, i will tell them to get a cheap pair of shoes to start. over $100 on first pair is a waste of money IMO. then you can usually find a combo of harness, chalk bag, and atc w/ locker online for a decent price. if they are interested in going outside, couple slings and lockers for personal anchor system and a helmet would be my recommendation. after they learn more, they will find out what they need in terms of if they are into bouldering, sport, or trad. then you buy different equipments like a trad rack, quick draws, or crash pad.

Thanks, this is helpful. It's way too much information for someone to process.

Also, thanks for the comment about the shoes. I thought it was better to go with good shoes right off, but I see what you're saying, particularly if they don't stick with it.

I agree with what you say about the gym, but everyone seems to want to go straight outside, and I don't know any place that rents harnesses. Shoes and helmets, sure, but no harnesses.

I think I'll stick to shoes, harness, helmet and let them determine if they want to go further.

I think every beginner should buy alot of gear I means tons of it! Then when they find out it's not there sport sell it on MP for %40-60 off retail. I love buying snowboard gear from the same type of people. "snowboard gear, used twice $100 obo" happens every year to my benefit.

Kbird wrote:I agree with the above suggestions. If you have a friend interested, take them to the local gym and have them rent shoes/harness for the day and see if they really are into it or not. It's not worth going out and buying all that stuff if they're not super psyched on it. Then just go from there. And in the beginning they should be going out w/ experienced climber-friends anyways, who hopefully already have a lot of the equipment needed (a rope, draws, ect...) Unless they are rich I'd advise to take it slow with the climbing gear, and over time you'll figure out what you like/need!!

I agree with this. The first few times someone is trying out climbing it will hopefully be in a gym or with someone who knows what they are doing and has enough gear to share. Once the person has tried climbing a little and decide they like it hopefully they will have enough smarts to figure out what they need to keep climbing without paying rent or using their friends old harness.

Personally I think that anyone who can't figure out what they need to remain relatively safe in their climbing adventures should not be climbing on their own. While a noob might need help selecting which rope/harness/shoes/protection is the best they should be able to identify what items are actually needed.

You seem to mention lots of brand specific items. Cut the brand names and stick to descriptions.

Saying things like "My personal opinion is that _____ rope is_____" isn't helpful to someone looking to get into the game. Offering advice like "When buying a harness, make sure to buy something that is comfortable and has gear loops," or "When buying your first pair of shoes, buy something comfortable and non-expensive," would be better advice to give beginner climbers. If they come to you asking specific questions or you see they're looking at buying something that may be suspect then I say step in with a word of wisdom.

As far as advanced topics like climbing on gear, then maybe you should start breaking things down like you did.

I did a podcast on this exact topic a couple weeks ago. Check it out at: rockclimberlife.com/gear-st…

I tried to keep things really simple and basic. Also, I agree to not recommend brand names right off the bat.

Alicia Sokolowski wrote: I think I'll stick to shoes, harness, helmet and let them determine if they want to go further.

I think that's a good idea. Don't forget about the belay device and 'biner, tho. And, it never hurts to have an extra 'biner on the harness.

I recently saw a "dude" at the climbing gym with a chalk bag on a locking carabiner, a single brand new Spirit quickdraw, an atc, and a figure-eight descender. This is at a gym that supplies anchored GriGris and has no lead climbing. It seemed like he was trying very hard to make the statement: "look at me, I has climbing equipment"

DannyUncanny wrote:I recently saw a "dude" at the climbing gym with a chalk bag on a locking carabiner, a single brand new Spirit quickdraw, an atc, and a figure-eight descender. This is at a gym that supplies anchored GriGris and has no lead climbing. It seemed like he was trying very hard to make the statement: "look at me, I has climbing equipment"

Everybody has a uniform, even you, you just may not realize it.

Shumin Wu wrote:...and don't recommend board-lasted shoes or anything else marketed for "trad".

Completely depends on the size and ability of the climber.

Nice effort. This looks useful to someone trying to gauge entry costs.

Trivial point: eight lockers for top roping on bolts sounds like a lot. One for the master point is good? Add in 3 or 4 biners to tie things together.

Just wondering I have quite a bit of climbing experience. whould it be easier if there was a YouTube video that you chould link people to if so I whould gladly make one. What would your take on this be?

Sam Stephens wrote:You seem to mention lots of brand specific items. Cut the brand names and stick to descriptions. Saying things like "My personal opinion is that _____ rope is_____" isn't helpful to someone looking to get into the game. Offering advice like "When buying a harness, make sure to buy something that is comfortable and has gear loops," or "When buying your first pair of shoes, buy something comfortable and non-expensive," would be better advice to give beginner climbers. If they come to you asking specific questions or you see they're looking at buying something that may be suspect then I say step in with a word of wisdom. As far as advanced topics like climbing on gear, then maybe you should start breaking things down like you did.

Thank you, this is really spot-on and useful. I certainly get too caught up in what I personally like, but personal preference is just that, personal, and not so useful to others.

Seriously, thanks for good advice!

Alex g wrote:Just wondering I have quite a bit of climbing experience. whould it be easier if there was a YouTube video that you chould link people to if so I whould gladly make one. What would your take on this be?

I would be ALLLLLLLLLL in for a youtube video made by someone that knows more than myself. It would take pressure off me and provide my friends that are interested with better information.

I was just doing my best with my limited knowledge and have no problem with just circulating a link from someone that can provide a better idea of what is needed for different types of climbing.

I honestly thought that the list/description was a fairly succinct rundown for a person that has been doing some climbing and is seriously interested in the simple logistics of what it will cost to get into the sport.

I would also tend to agree w/ you on the point that if someone is psyched on climbing and is going to do any amount of climbing (even if it's only indoors) a good pair of shoes is worth the investment... it's been my experience that most folks who get psyched to climb end up throwing down for a good pair of shoes sooner than later anyway. And a good pair of shoes makes a huge difference in how well you can use your feet and how comfortable/enjoyable the climbing will be.

This is a video i put together a few days ago explining the costs of indoor climbing.
youtube.com/watch?v=nWxFPCt…
its not hollywood quality but it effectively tell prices of climbing
The Youtube Channel is Outdoorsification

Brent Apgar wrote:I honestly thought that the list/description was a fairly succinct rundown for a person that has been doing some climbing and is seriously interested in the simple logistics of what it will cost to get into the sport. I would also tend to agree w/ you on the point that if someone is psyched on climbing and is going to do any amount of climbing (even if it's only indoors) a good pair of shoes is worth the investment... it's been my experience that most folks who get psyched to climb end up throwing down for a good pair of shoes sooner than later anyway. And a good pair of shoes makes a huge difference in how well you can use your feet and how comfortable/enjoyable the climbing will be.

Thanks Brent! I was honestly surprised at how few people shared my opinion that footwear is worth a little extra money right from the outset. I am a big fan of comfort and super-grippy rubber. I employ the "got no style? smear a while" method of climbing ;)

Alex g wrote:This is a video i put together a few days ago explining the costs of indoor climbing.

Thanks for the video, Alex. I wouldn't mind seeing you going beyond the setup for climbing inside. Most people I know what to hit real rock ASAP.

Ya im goona be working on others in the near future. i know just what you mean once the snow started to melt every one at the gym was asking how to get out.