In reply to SiGregory:
> I was thinking 5x quickdraws, slings, and set of nuts, Hexcentrics to start?
> That should at least allow some top roping.
That will be sufficient and shouldn't limit you to top-roping. No reason why you shouldn't lead most routes on Grit up to around Severe with that.
However, as a new climber it is worth some perspective. In many ways, everyone's racks are completely over the top these days. Steve Ashton has an excellent description in one of his 1980's books of what a basic rack used to comprise. It makes for an interesting comparison:
Rocks 3 & 4 on a krab
Rocks 7,8 & 9 on cord on a krab each
A hex 3 and a hex 7 on krab each
2 short slings on a krab each
2 long slings on a screwgate each
That is just 7 pieces of gear, 4 slings and a grand total of ten krabs; no quickdraws in sight.
> And what sort of quickdraws? There are so many.
Any modern wiregates will do you grand. In reality, you don't need as many quickdraws as most people carry, but what is incredibly useful is having 2-3 spare wiregates. Hexes can generally do without being extended, if you have the spare wiregates any sling can be pressed into service as an extension and for wires a single krab do in extremis.
Inexplicably, gear manufacturers complicate things for us as it's generally cheaper to buy quickdraw sets (including the slings) than it is to buy krabs by themselves...
> Or should I just hit the PYB/BMC ready to rock course?
It's a good option (but as someone who instructs climbing I would say that). However there is no need to go to PYB, there are plenty of amazing mountaineering instructors all around the UK who will happily run a similar course or tailor one to suit you. See
http://www.ami.org.uk/find-an-instructor
> Apologies to mods if this has been done to death
It has, but first, searching for stuff on UKC is notoriously hit and miss, second even posts from 5-6 years ago are now a bit dated - DMM Torque Nuts have pretty much completely eclipsed Wild Country Rockcentrics as the 'hex' of choice.