UKC

Hi, just wandering what an average winter rack would consist of? I have 6 screws, a terrier, a couple of warthogs and hexes, wires, cams, slings and quick draws. Is that enough or do people carry more screws etc for winter in the uk? Thanks Neil

In reply to climber34neil:

More than ample for UK winter in my eyes

People don't seem to carry many cams in the winter as they tend no to work as well in icy cracks.


cheers

Gaz

In reply to climber34neil: The rack you carry for the day depends on what you want to climb so keep it flexible, picking what you need for the day and what to leave behind.
From what you have listed in looks like you would be fine on most routes. 6 screws is alot to carry unless your going to be climbing something that usually takes quite a few. You may want to ditch some/most of those for mixed, double up your wires instead. As gaz was saying alot of people use hexs to replace cams but there is a place for them if the cracks don't have much ice in them. If given the choice between cams and hexs I would go for the hexs hands down though.
You might want to add a few pegs and some ab tat.

In reply to climber34neil: It completely depends on what sort of route and what grade.

For the bigger pure ice routes you don't have enough screws and for mixed routes on the Ben I'd probably still carry one krab of pitons, but otherwise it sound like you have got enough gear from which to select a decent rack depending on venue, conditions and grade.

Quite frankly most people in Winter carry too much gear, at least on routes below Technical 6/7. Scottish grade III/IV routes are basically the Winter equivalent of Diff/VDiff terrain so most climbers with a bit of experience should be fine with a rack fairly similar to the sort of basic rack they would carry on low-grade rock routes somewhere like Llywydd.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer: thanks for the info, may get a few pegs then will have plenty to choose from, cheers Neil

In reply to climber34neil:
On the few occasions I put pegs in in Scotland they were almost always knife blades. I have 2 of them, 1 lost arrow and 1 z one I somehow inherited and never placed.

Pegs are for when you're desperate so don't go carrying 10. Some people have been carrying peckers to great effect...might convince myself to buy one at some point.

In reply to climber34neil:


You haven't said what sort of routes you will be doing, but for most it is far too much. If you carry that much, you will be painfully slow, in Winter like the Alps, speed is safety.

I would almost never carry more than 4 ice-screws on a Scottish winter route, maybe 5 rocks and 5 pegs (various sizes/types), perhaps 5 quick-draws and 3 cams/hexes, also 4-5 slings.

No doubt people take more rock-gear on modern mixed routes, but will you be doing anything harder than say North-East buttress, or Observatory/Tower ridge?

In reply to climber34neil: It all depends on the route in question and what you're comfortable climbing etc and also on the rock type and how icy conditions are on the day and so on.

I normally take a set of nuts, a few hexes, 2 or 3 pegs and a couple of bits of turf gear. I might add some ice screws if it's an ice route. I also carry a bit of tat and a knife for bailing off things.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

I suspect a number of people would challenge that winter III/IV is the equivalent of summer Diff/VDiff? A much quoted rule of thumb is that Scottish grade V can be deemed roughly equivalent to HVS 5a. But with caveat we are comparing apples and bananas!

In reply to the OP the content of winter rack will need to reflect the grade, the actual conditions, the route type and the local geology.

In reply to climber34neil:

Not sure what a terrier is (other than a wee dog) but everything else is fine.

In reply to climber34neil:

http://www.needlesports.com/catalogue/content.aspx?con_id=422892dc-8306-410...

In reply to climber34neil:

I would suggest changing 4 quickdraws to sling draws with a 60cm sling and 3 quickdraws to sling draws with a 120cm sling so you can use them as a sling instead of a draw, as a quick draw or as an extended draw.

My rack yesterday was a set of nuts, torque nuts, a knifeblade and lost arrow (which I do everything to avoid placing, but carry because sometimes you need them,) and a bulldog. I only used nuts, hexes and slings.

If it was an icy mixed route I'd add 4 screws, if it was an ice route (Smiths route on the Ben,) I'd be looking for about ten screws. (4 for belays and 6 for runners.)

In reply to French Erick:

"Some people have been carrying peckers to great effect...might convince myself to buy one at some point."

Might have to convince myself to buy another one at some point !