trad climbing what gear to buy?

Hey fellow climbers, I climb in red river gorge and was wondering what I need for a trad rack. What products are must-haves and what to stay away from. I have no gear trad gear whatsoever. So anything will help me.

Jodey, I suggest finding a person willing to take you out a couple of times so you have an idea what you might need and start to get some lessons on how to use it safely.   That said, I got into trad self teaching by watching videos, reading, and doing lots of practice placing gear between sport routes.   Offset nuts and a set of double cams from any major brand works along with slings and such.

Thank you

Q: I have no gear, what should I buy?
A: ... and a set of double cams

Cmon guys, you can do better.  How about nuts, and fold in cams as affordable, slowly building towards a single set?  IMO double cams for a new trad climber could be a crutch.  Or is RRG really splitter??!?

Most of the moderate classics are going to require doubles and occasionally triples to be comfortable.  Routes I wouldn't want to do on singles would include most of my favorites... Roadside Attraction, Africa, Underling, Blue Biner, Crack Attack, Rock Wars, Whiteout, Autumn, Bonzo.  I mean, you CAN do them on singles, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're pretty solid at the grade.

A set of DMM offsets (plus non-offsets above and below), and a double rack from 0.3 to #3 plus a #4 is what I'd consider a good general purpose RRG kit.  If you're starting with singles, get doubles building outward from .5-#2 or find a partner with their own gear...

(Disclaimer: I have never climbed at RRG and know nothing about it; I climb Mt Lemmon granite in Tucson, AZ)

The concept of a "beginner trad rack" is a bit of a catch-22.  Early on, your skills in gear placement, gear management (choosing what/how much gear to use early in a pitch and how much to save for later), and trad-specific climbing technique (crack technique) are low.  This means you generally want to sew things up with a bunch of gear, so you need a lot of gear.

Then, as you get better at all those skills, you learn to travel lighter and can get by carrying less gear (by only bringing along the right gear)

What I did was start with:
-a full set of nuts (DMM wallnuts)
-a single rack of cams (DMM dragon 2, small blue up to big silver)
-set of tricams (useful in my area, might not be good for you)
-lots of alpine slings and quickdraws

This is what I would consider the minimum beginner rack.

I started by climbing easy 5.4-5.6 trad pitches absurdly sewing it up (my goal was to place every single piece I had on every pitch), then building up into a double set of cams based on what sizes were most useful, then got micro nuts and offset nuts, etc.

Hamish Malin wrote: Q: I have no gear, what should I buy?
A: ... and a set of double cams

Cmon guys, you can do better.  How about nuts, and fold in cams as affordable, slowly building towards a single set?  IMO double cams for a new trad climber could be a crutch.  Or is RRG really splitter??!?

Assume I don’t have a budget. What is the all-around best gear?

My climbing partner said he’d buy a set of cams from BD sizes .5-4.I would need a set as well to double everything up wouldn’t I? Do they make cams smaller or would I even need those?

If you want to trad climb a lot, you will want a double rack. Aim for that. Some great deals to be had on pre2019 Black Diamond C4 Cams

Joey Jarrell wrote: If you want to trad climb a lot, you will want a double rack. Aim for that. Some great deals to be had on pre2019 Black Diamond C4 Cams

.5-4 pretty much get most size cracks?

Buy all the tri cams and hexes

Jodey Rust wrote:

.5-4 pretty much get most size cracks?

No, but a 'standard rack' (what is normally taken on a climb) is doubles from fingers to wide hands. (BD 0.3 to 3) plus a set of nuts. 

I have not climbed in RRG though.

Do you have a trad mentor? If not, I'd seek one out for sure

Jodey Rust wrote:

.5-4 pretty much get most size cracks?

Pretty much impossible to say. I got a .4 and .3 in my first rack and have used them pretty extensively. Definitely use them more than my 4. But each route and area are different so we can only really help you so much. 

https://mojagear.com/learn/2014/05/16/how-to-build-first-rock-climbing-trad-rack/

or you know, buy a book

save up and get totems...you'll end up there eventually anyways....camalots are a gateway drug

Big B wrote: save up and get totems...you'll end up there eventually anyways....camalots are a gateway drug

So much truth in this post.

Big B wrote: camalots are a gateway drug

Dude you have to make this into a shirt hahaha

Jodey Rust wrote:

Assume I don’t have a budget. What is the all-around best gear?

My climbing partner said he’d buy a set of cams from BD sizes .5-4.I would need a set as well to double everything up wouldn’t I? Do they make cams smaller or would I even need those?

My real point earlier is that (IMO) an over-reliance on cams early on while learning to place trad gear could become a crutch; depending on the type of routes in your area it could be better to really learn your nut craft, and subsidize that with a single rack of cams so that you are forced to learn to choose smartly between the two.  For a general trad area (read: not super splitter like IC) that could look like:

- full set nuts

- hexes from largest nut upwards

- Cams  from ~0.5 up to ~4 (BD is a good benchmark brand)

- alpine draws
- various anchor stuff

Unless you’re climbing super hard, you can often get by w/out the smaller cam sizes (<.5ish) as there are often nut placements to be had, that are often more secure and much cheaper by the placement.

YMMV and I’ve never been to RRG

@Jodey I started out with just a single rack of C4's (.5-3) and some nuts. I also added 6 alpines to the quick draws I already had. My partner also had the same so we'd double up. I watched a few videos, worked on placements on the ground, and then sketched myself out at fortress wall. Spend some time there and that'll give you a little taste of trad at the Red. Welcome to the beauty that is trad in the northern gorge. feel free to shoot me a pm if you want some more beta. 

BD nuts 4-13. Offset Dmm 7-11, Tricams black through brown (it’s the RED, pockets everywhere), single rack totems black through red, single rack BD .3-1, doubles BD 2-3, hexes if you want a cowbell, 6 draws, 6-10 alpines, 1 double length sling, 2 lockers, a guidebook (pretty sure the RRG North and South books have a recommended rack), and beer.

Eventually you’ll want microcams, I would recommend the new dragonflies, Metolius tcu’s or maybe the x4’s. I think the Red might be too flaring and abnormal for microcams like x4’s that aren’t as narrow as tcu’s.

Useful link for new trad climbers, written by rgold:
https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/109609726/tips-for-a-new-trad-climbers

Stay safe, sew it up with gear.

Hamish Malin wrote: Q: I have no gear, what should I buy?
A: ... and a set of double cams

Cmon guys, you can do better.  How about nuts, and fold in cams as affordable, slowly building towards a single set?  IMO double cams for a new trad climber could be a crutch.  Or is RRG really splitter??!?

True but, actually it is a great time to buy a Dbl rack of 2018 C4's... I just built a dbl rack for the price of a single myself.  Found some steals on #4's and #6's...  But they are disappearing fast. I figure that if I pass up such good deals now I'll kick my own ass when it comes time to buy full priced cams.

Beginner trad rack for the red, in my experience,

Quads or at least triples in 2s
Triples in 3s
Doubles  in .75, 1, 4
Singles in .3, .4., .5, 5 ( you wont use much under .75, but you'll be glad to have them if you need them)
Set of nuts ( I dont use them much, but good to have)
12-14 alpine draws
Good to go sew up any easy line in the Red

The best is to get a double rack, especially in the critical sizes, then talk a buddy into the same setup, and bam, you'll have a quad rack.

Dont listen to anyone telling you to focus on nuts over cams, unless you're unable to afford cams. If you're learning to lead at the Red, you'll be plugging cams for the most part. I place 1 nut ever 5 routes, and I'm putting in a lot of pro.