UKC

by - BolderLicious on - 12:41 Sun
If I buy a new rack of climbing wires and cams and hexes and karabiners what is the bare minimum I should buy to be covered for most routes up to hvs on grit?
How cheap and safe can I be? Does anyone sell bare minimum kits?

In reply to BolderLicious:

Depends how brave you are surely?!

In reply to BolderLicious: Toprope...

In reply to itsThere: But i would go with a set of wires and some hexes. But it depends on the route. You may find cams give you some more placements, but then again it depends on the route. I dont climb much grit so i would wait for a better response.

In reply to BolderLicious:

Measure a piece of string in inches. The number of inches is the number of wires and cams and hexes and karabiners that you need

In reply to The Norris:
If you want to be as safe as possible without being ridiculously safe!
Pete Livesey said you can ruin a route by overprotecting it.
Where does the balance lie- one wire every ten feet for example?

In reply to BolderLicious:
At tremadog I once ran out 30 or 40 ft above my last runner.
This was okay I thought because the route was easy but not so fair on the belayer if I did fall.

In reply to BolderLicious:
I am going to write a serious answer.
Please let this be the end of the thread.

11 wires
3 hexes
3 cams
8 quickdraws
3 screwgates
2 slings


You don't have to use it all on every route but you want the choice.

In reply to BolderLicious:

When i first went i had 1 set of Wild country rocks (1-9 i think), a pack of WC hexcentrics (3-9) and 3 WC friends size 1-3. Did me fine, though i avoided anything that had a particularly wide crack. You could probably get away without the cams if you cant afford them, but they are very very useful on grit.

Dont forget slings and crabs if you havent already got them.

In reply to The Norris:

seems to be a 3 for 2 deal on all climbing gear at http://www.gear-zone.co.uk/outdoor-equipment/climbing-equipment at the moment.

In reply to BolderLicious:

Depends what you're actually climbing. I find on grit routes from mod - severe, big gear is often very useful. I have a size 11 hex that is often not big enough.

As a general rule though, 1 full set of nuts (ideally wallnuts), 3/4 hexes (ideally torque nuts), 3 cams, 4 standard quickdraws, 4 extendable quickdraws, some slings, 1 or more screwgates.

In reply to BolderLicious:

Considering you claim to have lead E3 on grit, and that it is your favourite rock type; I'm surprised you ask this.

In reply to The Norris:

If you're feeling bold then a retro 1980's beginners rack would work fine.

That would be perhaps a Hex 7, a Hex 3, Rocks 7-9 on cord and Rocks on wire 3 & 4.

In reply to BolderLicious:
You're getting the 'mixed' answers above because some grit HVS are essentially unprotectable.
The 'sensible' answer above is what I started with. Assuming your partner has a similar rack then you'll be fine on most things.

Make sure you get long quickdraws - a couple on slings help. A second set of nuts is useful on some cracks - but you can always borrow your partners.
I have found a couple of small cams (blue and green Alien) really useful and they get used a lot.

In reply to BolderLicious:

Obviously the minimum gear is none, but I don't think that's what you're really asking.

If you're after cheap and minimal I'd go with something like:

full set of WC classic rocks and 2 racking biners
set of DMM torque nuts (or maybe just sizes 3 and 4) plus a biner each
Maybe 2 or 3 cams. DMM 4CUs are excellent and cheap - say sizes 1, 2 and 3 (plus a biner each)
about 8 cheap wire gate quick draws
belay plate and HMS screwgate
3 additional screwgates (2 smallish, one large)
2x120cm slings and 2x60cm slings

That should be enough for the majority of short single pitch routes anywhere.

Jimbo

In reply to BolderLicious:

The formula I use is to multiply the number of hand jams on Peapod by the square root of the number of chipped hold on Downhill Racer, then add the number of pointless posts you've posted, all divided by the cube root of f*ck all.

Does that help? Good.

In reply to BolderLicious:

Not if you fall off at 18 feet!


Chris

In reply to BolderLicious:

well cosidering most of the classics up to E1 were put up without any, the answer is none.

In reply to Dave 88:
I havent climbed E3 for years!
Just getting back into climbing now.Wont be climbing E3 again but fancy my chances at getting back to hvs.
I asked this question because it is interesting to know what other
people do.And what they think is good practise.Many people go up
routes and take the hardware shop with them when you dont need to.

In reply to John Ww:
May be pointless to you but perhaps not everyone knows as much as you do about climbing.

In reply to Jimbo C:
Thanks because I dont want to spend a fortune on gear I dont need.

In reply to BolderLicious:

You are either a troll or a moron, or both.

In reply to The Norris:
This is a good deal.

In reply to Blue Straggler:
Thanks for the advice

In reply to Jimbo C:
3 DMM cams for £89 at
http://www.v12outdoor.com/catalog/index.php?oscsid=fopvo66n19cehmsekiop7rfo...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

<ahem> I think that you'll find that this is the end of the thread.

In reply to Clauso:

Nope, it's not. This is. (So far!)

In reply to Oceanrower:

Regardless of how low that you sink, on this thread, I will always sink lower than you.

In reply to Clauso:

Yeah but no but yeah but I'm, like, Spartacus

In reply to Jimbo C:
Agreed. Currently only £40 at Rock & Run http://www.rockrun.com/products/Wild-Country-Classic-Rock-Set.html

I'd initially go for Torque Nuts 1&2 and a size 3 cam. That covers pretty much the full size range larger than a rock 10. You can then pick up more cams later.
DMM Torque Nuts are available for £11.00 each at Field & Trek http://www.fieldandtrek.com/dmm-torque-nut-773023
You can currently get a new Wild Country Tech Friends for £27.50 from Needlesports http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Camming-Devic...

You should be able to easily get away with 6 on gritstone. Rock and Run has a good deal on 3x Wild Country Nitro quickdraws for £27 http://www.rockrun.com/products/Wild-Country-Nitro-Quickdraw-3%252dPack.htm...

plus 2 spare wiregates (rack wiregates with the 60cm slings, the small screwgates on the 120cm slings)
plus a nutkey or things can get expensive

Yep, that's around about enough.

In reply to Clauso: Ooh. A challenge......

In reply to JayPee630:

Like.

In reply to John Ww: he looks a bit amish