UKC

Right guys, Im new here so go easy on me.
Ive been climbing for about 3 months at my local gym 2/3 times a week. I love the sport and so have organised a sports climbing trip to siurana in spain with a more experienced climbing friend.
I just bought these quickdraws as they were on at massive discount prices(ex-display i think).
Here they are http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/products/quickdraws/wild-wire-quickdraws/
I managed to get 4x10cm, 1x15cm, 4x20cm thats 9, all for £64 which i thought was very good.
Any way i was just wondering what your thoughts were on that setup and whether i would need and others for a simple sport climbing route, p.s i also puchased a 120cm sling in case i need to extend any.
Thanks people

In reply to joshfinz: There is nothing wrong with what you have bought although I tend to favour short QD's (10/11cm for sport)with a couple of longer ones (18 cm)thrown in for the odd situation where a bolt is off to one side. 12 QD's in total is enough for most routes although 15 can be handy in many cases especially abroad. You might consider attaching 2 krabs to the 120 cm sling and passing one krab through the other to shorten it. This gives you the option of either a full length sling or another QD.

Al

In reply to joshfinz: You're going to need more than 9 for a trip to Suirana..

In reply to Tris: Presumably the more experienced partner will contribute some???

Al

In reply to Tris: Just to add - there will be stuff that you can climb with only 9, but you will miss out on many of the longer 25m+ classics unless you are happy running it out...

In reply to Gaston Rubberpants:

That would work too

yes, he has got loads of gear he can bring along, however i just really wanted 'my own rack' to play about with. Ok so would you guys recommend trying to swap those 20cm QD's for some more 10cm ones or should i just buy some more 10's on top of what I already have? Basically are those 20's just going to go to waste?
Thanks again people

In reply to joshfinz:
no, a 20 wont be a waste, longer QD's are useful when you have a wobbly line to go up, or going over/round overhangs as they allow the rope to stay more central, reducing rope drag.

In reply to joshfinz:

Keep the 20s. 10cm extra fall is almost always negligible. Where you genuinely think it would make a difference, use a shorter QD. Use the 20s where the line of bolts bends to straighten out the line of the rope.

If you get into trad, protecting the gear placement is much more important than limiting the fall by a tiny amount, and you'll find your 20s very useful.

In reply to joshfinz:

When i started sport climbing (it seems embarrassingly stupid now) but i used buy nice short draws. Because by my newb logic, short draws, meant shorter falls.

Of course, now i think about it, a softer catch is good and after rope stretch and a dynamic belay a few inches of quick draw makes absolutely no difference.

With choice i wouldn't buy any draws under 20cm, longer the draws the straighter the rope will run and the lower the fall factor.

I love the wildwire krabs, so i think that's a great purchase for the price. Though i bought a bunch of petzl tapes to replace the dynema on mine. I really dislike thin dynema draws for sport climbing because they have a real habit of twisting (especially the longer ones) which makes it quite easy to back clip by mistake. The other problem you might have on steep routes is that the nose of the gate gets caught on the bolt while cleaning which also is a pain.

For me the perfect draw is a wild-wiregate for clipping. A nice long and sturdy nylon petzl tape and then a solid gate keylock krab for the bolt. Perfection

On a 70 meter rope, i've never used more than 15 draws

In reply to Kemics:

As other have said, what you have is good. Use a short draw for your first clip, then it doesn't matter really, although as people have said the 20s are good for evening out wonky bolt lines or overhangs etc.

Have fun!

In reply to Kemics:


It might if it's the first clip above the ground or above a ledge. The difference between a 10cm and 25cm draw may only be 15cm, but that becomes an extra 30cm if you fall from above the clip.

In reply to bpmclimb:

To be honest I have mine on extendable slings so they can be short/ or long quick draws and I like that flexibility.

Your advice has been invaluable guys, thank you.
One last question as i still don't trust myself to make the decision. What sizes should i buy to have enough to enjoy most basic routes in siurana?

In reply to joshfinz:

I have no idea about Siurana, but for the longer routes on Portland I generally load up with ten short draws, four longer draws and two tripled 60cm sling draws, this is because whilst I know I won't need all of them, if I take up the bare minimum there is a good chance I'll run out on one side of my harness or the other, when I'm hugging the rock and clinging on by my fingernails I don't want to have to reach across myself because the only draws I have left are on the wrong side.

In reply to joshfinz: I would reccomend you take around 12+, I have twelve 12cm QD's, and I have never found a problem with this.So i'd say your set up is fine.