UKC

Afternoon,

Im starting slowly to put my trad rack together buying a bit at a time. Im looking at getting 5 quickdraws just to start out with. Eventually ill add more.

This may be an open ended question, but what size would people recommend for single pitch trad just start with? what size do people commonly use? If i require a long one i can just double up a sling.

Cheers

S

In reply to ojp: depends what grade your climbing at. For me at around HVS i use fairly short ones at 10cm. But i suppose its good to have a range of sizes

In reply to ojp:

I almost exclusively use doubled 60s (so 30cm). Most people seem think this is a little excessive but it suits me.

15 or 18cm 'draws would be a good starting point, you can always modify them later. Or even buy short 10cm draws plus a couple of slings to swap in if they're a really good deal.

jk

In reply to ojp: 15cm and 18cm quick draws and 60cm slings, doubled if required, are the most useful lengths. 10cm tend to lift out much more readily and I only use them for sport.

Al

In reply to ojp: cheers for that i was thinking the 10/12 maybe to small.

besides the 3cm is their really much difference between using 18/15cm QD's?

S

In reply to ojp: I don't have any 18cm. I usually carry about 6 x 15cm and 4 x 60cm doubled up. On multi pitch climbs I also carry a couple of 60cm and two 120cm slings around my shoulder with some spare carabiners. On VS routes I'll carry a few less on extremes a few more.

Al

In reply to ojp:

I use all the same size and same sort for sport or trad (10cm ones) just to keep it nice and simple. If one happens to be a bit short I clip two together - radical eh?

Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs: I just use slings doubled up and wire gate krabs. I do pretty much all my climbing in the mournes and its curvy! that way I always have the perfect length quickdraw to hand.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Or tight.

Al

In reply to ojp: cheers guys. Usually carry a few 120/240 slings anyway for that suppose.

Cheers

S

In reply to ojp:

Are you leading on a single rope? if so you'll be needing to extend runners a fair bit. If you're using doubles I'd still err on the long side. After all it's much better to fall 3cm further but have your runner stay in!

If you're only buying five to start with then for trad I'd get something like 2x12cm, 2x15cm, 1x18cm.

In reply to Chris Craggs:


Although if the OP is only buying 5 to start with, he's already going to be rather short - not too much scope for using up 2 in the same runner.

In reply to ojp: So far just single rope. My climbing partners have their own rack so if i am short ill just use a few of theirs if required.

S

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Non sewn slings for sport or sewn clipped crab to crab?

I use 15/18 and doubled 60 mainly for trad and take these and lots of extra sewn draws for sport. Another thing I do is use my smaller cams and hex's as emergency extenders rather than lugging too many extenders on long trad stuff.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

very smart ......what about the crabs being levered across a rock edge/lip/thing.

cant see how strings of krabs is any good -- i think its the same kind of radical that got us the chocolate fireplace.

4/10

In reply to major stabby:

to really save on hassle and simplfy things why not just saplings collected on the way up?