The Gear of Heights

A Climbing Gear Guide

Picture this: You’re 2,500 feet above the Yosemite Valley, hugging the sheer vertical face of the granite monolith El Capitan. Your chalked and calloused hands are wedged into a dark narrow crack meandering upwards in front of you. A half-mile of empty space below you, breathtaking scenery all around you, and three more pitches to go before you’ll finally reach the top. Here, you have only your climbing gear to depend on for safety.

Acrophobics need not apply.

Climbing, whether straight up rock faces or along mountain ridgelines, is a sport that involves a lot of height… and requires a lot of climbing gear. If you’re new to climbing, you’ll need to learn some basics about climbing gear to get started. You should start by checking out a local climbing gym and talking with the instructors there. They can get you headed in the right direction and start showing you beginning climbing techniques. But if you’ve already been to the climbing gym or have hit some outdoor routes with your climbing buddies, you may be ready for the next step: buying your own climbing gear.

This climbing gear guide will lay out which types of gear you need for each climbing discipline and explain what each type of climbing gear does. So get the info, get the climbing gear, and then get out there and feel the natural high of climbing!

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The Climbing Disciplines

Climbing encompasses multiple disciplines, which in some cases have nothing more in common than the upward movement of the climber. Here’s a brief rundown on the major categories of climbing:

Rock Climbing Categories

Top Roping is rock climbing using the protection of a rope that is already suspended through an anchor above a climbing route. A climbing partner is necessary to belay or control the tautness of the rope in case of a fall, so that the climber will not fall far. This form of climbing requires minimal gear and is typically seen in climbing gyms.

Lead Climbing is “ground-up" rock climbing done without clipping a rope to the top of a route prior to climbing. A leader climbs with the end of a safety rope attached so they can clip it to progressive anchor points throughout a climb, while a belay partner controls the slack on the climbing rope from below. There are two types of lead climbing:

• Sport Climbing – Climbing on any pre-bolted route using permanent anchors fixed to the rock face. This type of lead climbing requires minimal climbing gear usage, and emphasizes strength and gymnastic ability.
• Trad Climbing (Traditional Climbing) – This technical form of climbing is gear intensive and emphasizes the skills needed to establish a new climbing route, which including finding that route and placing the climbing anchors needed to complete the route.

Indoor Climbing is done on a climbing wall, usually at a gym, in either top-rope or sport styles. This is the best and most controlled way to get started on learning to rock climb and is a good way to get familiar with climbing gear.

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Mountaineering/ Ice Climbing

Mountaineering is synonymous with mountain climbing, which refers to the summiting of high points. This sport doesn’t necessarily require ascending vertical faces or using climbing gear to prevent a fall. Most mountain climbing requires warm, protective clothing, a good pack and heavy-duty mountaineering boots, unless you are only summiting non-technical peaks in mid-summer. There are several divisions to this type of climbing:

Mountaineering can be defined as either climbing or hiking up mountains, and may require both skills. Terrain may include rock, snow, dirt and glacial ice. Depending on the mountain, vertical rock or ice climbing (and the appropriate ice climbing gear) may be required to reach the summit. In Europe this sport is generally called “alpinism."

Ice Climbing refers to ascending vertical ice walls, which may be in the form of glaciers or frozen waterfalls. Much of the same clothing and climbing gear is used as when mountain climbing, but extra ice climbing gear like crampons, an ice axe, etc., are always necessary. “Dry tooling" is the use of ice climbing gear to ascend dry rock faces.

Mixed Climbing is a combination, of rock, snow and ice climbing.

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Bouldering

Bouldering is defined as climbing up short, often vertical rock routes without the use of standard rock climbing safety gear like ropes and harnesses. Often, the climbing obstacles are large boulders, hence the name of the sport. Many bouldering enthusiasts place a thickly cushioned crash pad below them and are watched by a “spotter." In the event of a short fall, the spotter ensures that the climber breaks his or her fall on the crash pad.

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Strength Ratings

Because climbing covers such a wide range of activities, it also covers a wide range of climbing gear. But before you look into climbing gear, you should be familiar with strength ratings for climbing gear, since they appear on many items like ropes and connectors.

Most climbing gear strength ratings appear in metric units, specifically in kilonewtons (kN). One kN is equal to about 225 lbs. of force, or the strain of about 225 lbs. of weight hanging motionless without added force from falling. To put this into perspective, a 150-pound person hanging from a rope is exerting 0.67 kN on the rope and other connective gear. However, if that person falls 15 feet, they are putting a much greater force on the rope and gear than 0.67 kN. Climbing gear is generally designed to withstand any reasonable forces encountered on a route, however.

The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA – Union Internationale des Associations D’Alpinisme) and European Community (CE) equipment safety organization test the designs of new climbing gear prior to production and help set safety ratings. All safe and tested climbing equipment will depict the UIAA safety label and/or the “CE mark," both seen below. You can check out the UIAA safety standards on their website.

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Climbing Gear

To help simplify which gear you need for which sport, below is a gear checklist for each climbing discipline.

Gear Type	Climbing Type
	Bouldering	Mountaineering	Ice Wall	Top Rope	Traditional	Sport
Active Protection		X		X	X
Avalanche Safety Gear		X	X
Backpack/ Daypack	X	X	X	X	X	X
Belay Device		X	X	X	X	X
Boots-Mountaineering		X	X
Bouldering/ Crash Pad	X
Carabiners		X	X	X	X	X
Chalk	X			X	X	X
Chalk Bag	X			X	X	X
Climbing Helmet		X	X	X	X	X
Crampons		X	X
Hammer					X
Harness		X	X	X	X	X
Hydration System	X	X	X	X	X	X
Ice Axe/ Ice Tools		X	X
Ice Pitons/ Ice Screws		X	X
Passive Protection		X	X	X	X
Piolet		X
Pitons		X
Quick Draws		X	X	X	X	X
Ropes		X	X	X	X	X
Shoes-Rock	X			X	X	X
Slings/Webbing/Cords		X	X	X	X	X
Snow Shovel		X	X

Note: Always bring backcountry items like a headlamp, first aid kit, GPS, etc. when applicable.

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Climbing Ropes & Accessories

Climbing ropes are your safety lines when climbing to any respectable height above the ground. Many of these ropes are considered “dynamic," meaning they are much more elastic than regular ropes, and designed to elongate in the event of a fall to prevent injury. For activities like rappelling or top-roping, low-elongation climbing ropes should be used, which stretch much less than dynamic climbing ropes.

Some important things to consider when selecting a climbing rope include:

• Single vs. double climbing ropes: Use a double climbing rope if you plan to hit very technical routes. These ropes are intended to be used in pairs and are clipped alternately into anchors along a route. (Note: Unless otherwise stated, climbing ropes at Sierra Trading Post are single ropes.)
• Dry climbing ropes: Dry climbing ropes have a core that will not absorb water; double dry ropes have a core and sheath that both repel water. These ropes are necessary for climbing in ice, snow and wet weather, because wet or frozen ropes are unsafe and heavy.
• Climbing rope diameter: Always given in mm, ranging from about 8 to 11 mm. A thicker climbing rope is heavier, but stronger and longer lasting.
• Climbing rope length: Given in meters; more climbing rope length means more distance you can ascend per pitch.

Pay attention to the strength ratings of climbing ropes when making a purchase. Here are some brief descriptions of strength ratings:

• Static elongation refers to the length the climbing rope will extend when a climber is suspended motionless from it.
• Dynamic elongation refers to the maximum amount the climbing rope will stretch in the event of a fall. For both this rating and static elongation, a higher number means more stretch to absorb farther falls.
• Number of falls refers to the maximum number of falls the climbing rope can take prior to needing replacement. You should always replace any climbing rope after just one major fall, though, since its integrity may become compromised.
• Impact force is the maximum impact the climbing rope can withstand without breaking.

Quick Tip: Start a diary to record all climbing rope usage. This will help you replace the climbing rope at the right time, before it loses its ability to prevent a fall.

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Climbing rope accessories are needed for mountaineering and rock or ice wall climbs. These may consist of webbing, cords or slings.

• Webbing is tubular nylon used to make “runners," which are loops that link the climbing rope to the anchors along your climbing route.
• Accessory Cords can also be used to make runners, and can additionally be used for slings (for chocks or Prusik slings) or cordelettes.
• Slings are measured lengths of webbing or cord with specific intended uses.

Connectors & Belay Devices

Carabiners (Also “karabiners" or simply “biners" in the climbing world) are rounded metal links designed to snap open or closed to connect gear together. They can accommodate your climbing rope, harness attachment points, etc. Some have straight gates that snap open, others have bent gates for easier clip-in, while still others have locking gates that literally lock into place to prevent accidental opening. True climbing carabiners should always be engraved with strength ratings (in kN, also always provided at SierraTradingPost.com).

Note: If a carabiner isn’t engraved with strength ratings, don’t use it for climbing… it’s probably only designed as a non-weight-bearing gear clip.

Quickdraws (or “draws" in climbing circles) are devices comprised of two carabiners linked together with a strip of strong nylon webbing. They are designed for use by lead climbers, to attach the climbing rope to anchors on a route but allow the rope to run freely.

Belay Devices make belaying your partner possible because they create friction by acting as a brake on the climbing rope when a climber falls. Belay devices come in several forms:

• Tubular - Versatile and light, but may be too slow for rappelling.
• Auto-Locking – For sport climbing, they lock without requiring the application of extra force from a belayer.
• Figure 8 – For top roping and rappelling.

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Climbing Harnesses

Select your climbing harness based on your climbing style: Multi-purpose, competition, sport, big wall, or alpine (mountaineering). Each climbing harness style has the right amount of padding and appropriate leg and gear loops for the intended climbing style. Be sure your climbing harness fits well when you’re wearing the type of clothing you’ll use when actually climbing.

Climbing Protection

Climbing “protection" refers to the anchors that keep a climber safe in the event of a fall by linking rock to climbing rope. There are multiple types of protection to choose from:

• Active Protection refers to any protection with moving parts or mechanisms, such as spring-loaded camming devices that are wedged into cracks on a face.
• Passive Protection is similar to active protection, but simply uses a wedge shape instead of moving parts to anchor you to a crack. Examples: Aluminum tapers and chocks.
• Pitons are metal spikes that are permanently anchored into a crack in a cliff face by the lead climber during trad climbing.
• Hammers are used to set pitons.
• Ice Screws/ Ice Pitons are used as anchors when climbing an ice wall.

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Ice & Snow Gear

Ice Axes are curved metal tools with jagged edges that climbers use to create holds on a vertical ice wall.

Piolets (mountaineering axes) are longer than ice axes and have a straight handle. They are used primarily as walking aids when summiting up steep snowfields, and are designed to facilitate a “self-arrest" if a climber loses his or her footing.

Crampons strap onto mountaineering boots and are designed either for ice climbing or mountaineering.

Snow Shovels are collapsible and are carried for safety in the winter and spring backcountry, to be used in the event of an avalanche.

Avalanche Probes are also necessary if you will be climbing in avalanche country.

Other Climbing Gear

Climbing Helmets should be used for every type of climbing except non-technical mountain climbing and bouldering, to protect your head from falling objects or actual falls.

Crash Pads/ Bouldering Pads are necessary to limit injury if a climber falls when bouldering, since no ropes or other protection are used for this sport.

Headlamps

Backpacks/Daypacks

Chalk & Chalk Bags

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Climbing Footwear

There are three main types of climbing-specific footwear: heavy-duty mountaineering boots, rock climbing shoes and approach shoes.

Mountaineering Boots are much sturdier than backpacking boots, with a very stiff sole and a crampon-ready design. These boots are needed for both mountaineering and ice climbing.

Rock Climbing Shoes (or “climbing slippers") are lightweight, form-fitting shoes that fit very snugly on a climber’s foot. They have turned-down toes, protective side panels and sticky, wrap-around rubber soles designed for utilizing small footholds on vertical rock faces.

Approach Shoes are a hybrid type of shoe somewhere between climbing slippers and hiking shoes, and are good for clambering up steep rock faces thanks to their sticky rubber outsoles.

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Climbing Clothing

Climbing clothing and outerwear ranges from light, comfy and non-restrictive rock climbing apparel to down parkas for summiting winter peaks. A few of the clothing categories Sierra Trading Post offers that you may be interested in include:

General Climbing Clothing is a category that contains a variety of clothing, with everything from casual shorts and pants to insulated gloves necessary for summiting higher mountains.

Winter/ Ski Jackets and Ski Pants are necessary for summiting higher mountains, with the exception of the warmest summer months.

Gloves/ Hats come in many forms, from leather work gloves for rappelling to down mittens for mountaineering, breathable sun hats to insulated wool hats.

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Useful Climbing Tips

• If just learning to climb, try to hook up with an experienced climber and use his or her equipment. Not only can you learn from him, you can also decide which gear works best for you before you go out and buy it.
• Always be sure to knot the ends of your ropes when rappelling. This is especially important to remember for multiple-pitch rappelling, so you don’t allow the rope to slide through your rappel/ belay device.
• Never head into the winter backcountry without first knowing how to recognize avalanche conditions and without checking with local authorities on the current snow conditions.
• When bouldering, climbing back down is a great way to build strength and improve technique. Try lowering yourself down the same route you just went up.
• If just getting into trad climbing from having done sport climbing, remember that frequent falling is not acceptable in this discipline. Since you set your own temporary anchors in trad, they may be prone to pull free.

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Climbing Disclaimer

Climbing and other related activities are inherently dangerous; anyone purchasing or using equipment for this purpose is personally responsible for getting proper instruction on its correct and safe use. Please seek out a professional climbing guide or certified climbing instructor to address any questions you may have about climbing gear or gear usage.

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