UKC

Anyone know the best places to buy big wall gear in the UK?

The price differences between everywhere here and fish gear seem really really steep! Is it best to buy over here? Get it delivered from US? Get it delivered to US (and not having time to practice over here?)

Alternatively, anyone got anything going? Haul bag, larger ladder aiders, portaledge and fly and chest harness/bandolier are what I'm looking for at the moment

In reply to dutybooty:

Not in the UK but got most of my climbing gear via a reposting friend in the US.

Portaledge excepted because locally, taking into account postage, I got a better deal.

I have an unused Metolius Big Wall Bandolier for sale. Unused, £35 inc postage if you're interested.

(http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Bandoliers/Bi...

Also a wall pulley hauler (used) - £5

Cheers,

Mark

In reply to dutybooty: Cheers for the offer mate,but I'm looking for a bandolier that can be used as chest harnessf too. Like the fish one, but nowhere in the UK seems to do anything similar. Looks like I shall have to bite the bullet and order from fish.

In reply to dutybooty:

Why don't you buy daisies, jumars, aiders, protraxion and fifi over hear. That way you've got the stuff to practice all the basic movement skills with.

Then buy all the stuff from Fish or who ever and get it sent to valley for collection?

Why are you buying a chest harness?

I'll be in the valley in September and October. What have you got planned?

In reply to dutybooty:

Why do you need a chest harness? The Metolious one is what I used in Yosemite.I'd make him an offer if I was you.

If you're determined to fine a more bulky one get in touch with this guy to see if he still has it:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=536880

E

In reply to dutybooty:
When and where are you going?

If you are planning on going to Yosemite you can buy second hand gear at Sunnyside (Camp 4)

In reply to dutybooty:

ebay and UKC.

Someone will end up selling a complete set of big wall kit on here every 2-3 months and other stuff crops up now and then.

Equally there are a fair few bits of gear that don't tend to get overly trashed that it is worth trying to borrow from mates. I lent out my very large cams, a load of hooks, a tag line and some older ascenders to a mate who did The Nose.

However, once it gets to you needing/wanting very specific items, you just need to fork out for them or wait until you get to the Valley.

In reply to dutybooty:

And like you said - I can highly recommend Fish gear. Russ sent me a load of gear to the post office in Yosemite no problem. Top bloke.

E

In reply to dutybooty: Up and under have a slightly different selection to lots of other places http://www.upandunder.co.uk/Outdoor/Climbing/Pegs-and-Aid/

In reply to dutybooty: Was looking for a chest harness as it is more aid intensive routes I fancy doing currently.

I'm not off til end August so I do have plenty of time to practise more than I have already with the basics (been doing simply clean aid on quarries and my house for about a year)

So getting stuff delivered to yosemite is relatively normal instead of having it here to practise with?


Thanks everybody, replies to this have been great and you've been patient with my awesome convoluted way of writing!

In reply to dutybooty:

What you planning on doing? What's wrong with a fifi by your waist?

E

In reply to dutybooty: I'm there for at least a month, so haven't got too much of a specific plan, after shorter climbs around the valley I was planning to start on something like Skull Queen/The Prow/Southern Man, move up to Lurking Fear (have a bit of an attraction to that route).

Hopefully get to climb something like Zodiac or Muir Wall before I leave.

Fifi on my waist would still be the plan, am I wrong in thinking this?

Is a chest harness basically overkill for what I'm looking at doing?

In reply to dutybooty:

I'm no expert but I think so - yes.

E

In reply to dutybooty:

I assumed you wanted the chest harness so you could either jug with a Petzl Croll & Pandin setup (as per cavers) or use a Rock Exotica Soloaid.

If not, then I'm slightly confused about why you'd need one.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

Just read that they're better for heavy aid to stop inverting if you fall.

But general consensus is they're no good, so I think I'm leaning towards a normal bandolier now.

In reply to dutybooty:

The fish rack CANNOT be used as a chest harness, it has (a chunky yes) plastic clip holding it together at the front not a buckle. It is a great gear rack though, more comfortable than the metolius one for a heavy rack (which you'll need for the aid lines you have in mind) and cheaper than the metolius as far as I know. Also unless you are planing on jugging free hanging lines all day, you won't need a chest harness, overkill in my opinion.

Have you got a partner lined up? are you going to practice with them. If this is the case you'll want to have a 'cleaning' gear sling anyway, makes re-racking much easier. In this case you could get the basic metolius (without the pouch ting) and practice with that here (you are unlikely to get crippled by a heavy rack on stuff here) and order a fish one when for when you arrive. I don't know when they'll be back from their winter break but you should still be able to get stuff for the spring season. As Enty says, Russ is a great guy and got all my gear posted to the valley, super easy to pick up from the post office.
O

Also just looked at the list of things you are looking at getting. the only thing that might make a difference having to practice with is the aiders. But form what you said you must have some basic ones already? in which case i'd just get cheaper ones out there. I'm not actually a massive fan of ladder style ones (although it seems 80% of hard core wall climbers use them).

A key to success is your rack of smallish cams, Totem cams are the total bomb, it would be impossible to take too many of these. offsets are also key.

Something that would be handy to practice before hand is using cam hooks (Moses ones), as far as I know you can only buy these in the US, possible to get them posted here but will cost $30-50 to post a box here (you can put other things in the box though!) and you are likely to get hit with a VAT bill (not every time though, some things sneak through).

HeavyDutyBooty:

Only got a minute here.... you do not need a chest harness. I rigged one up with a sling once for exactly 11ft of roof climbing, once in my entire wall career.

Shipping stuff to the Yosemite Post Office is the way to go. Pretty cheap, and very secure until you pick it up.

Enty and Oli are top shelf blokes and know what they are talking about.

Etriers or something similar in size can be shipped from the US in what they call a Small Flat Rate box and costs about $13 (8 pounds?) or so. Not sure how that skews your purchase price for goods available in the UK. Something like a set of cam hooks, maybe 6 Totem cams, or a few adjustable daisy chains will fit in the box. NO idea on VAT or what happens after the stuff leaves the US. I've heard mixed reports.

Order early if you want stuff from us as I'm hopelessly behind all the time, usually have a big waiting list for swag, but will do what it takes to make sure your stuff is there waiting for you in Yosemite.

In reply to Russ Walling:

Oh, and to add:

A hot tip is if you are going on a wall and don't want your wallet and Rolex stolen whilst you are away is to mail it to yourself at the Yos Post Office. It goes nowhere but to the back counter and you can even insure it if you want. When you get down from the wall, just go pick up your valuables. Keep your ID out of the box though as they might need this to release the package to you. Real cheap rate too since you are only shipping it about 30 feet to the back counter.

In reply to Russ Walling: I've sourced some larger ladder aiders (yeah I do have some, but they're the 4 step metolius ones, use them occasionally for alpine stuff but wouldn't want to do a big wall in them)

Sourced a large pig at a decent price.

Once I've got the cash together, I shall be ordering a ledge off you Russ. (In around a month) but I'm not planning on heading over until end of August/September so I hope that should be plenty of time! For delivery to US and I'll practice in the Valley. Thanks for taking time to reply!

I can't remember who asked it but yeah I do have a fairly decent partner to practice with. We climb pretty much exclusively together on larger projects and live only half an hour away to practice lots more before we go!

In reply to dutybooty:

Not perfect, but if you haven't already seen it this site has stacks of reviews:
http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/big-wall


Chest harness wise I'd like one of these...
http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Big-Wall-Gear-Sling-Reviews/Yates-Big-Wall-Ra...

I tend to just get highly/est rated stuff off there.

In reply to dutybooty:

sounds good DutyBooty!
Cheers!

In reply to dutybooty:
+1 for a ledge from Russ delivered to Yosemite. Worked for me.

In reply to Russ Walling:

Russ, how much notice do you need at the moment for a single with fly delivered to Yosemite Post office. Thanks.

In reply to David Coley:

Right now is pretty busy but it is usually about 4 weeks notice to get a ledge made and out the door. If you are from Blackburn, make it 6. If you are from Govan, maybe 3.