UKC

Following discussion on another thread.

I climb with a wide variety of people. Some can only climb with their rack (great, it saves mine!!), some are happy to climb with mine. Some want to save their rack as much as I do, so we mix and match.

I climb most routes with the following (amount of cams and runners- and set of RPs- may vary depending on route and rock type):

• 1 complete set of WC wires 1-8 (not all coloured)
• 1 complete set of  DMM wires 1-8 (not all coloured)
• 1 set of mixed wires 9-12
• 1 set of RPs which is a real mix of stuff acquired over time but all brass.
• C4 from 0.3 to 3 (with occasional addition of biggies if required)
• 1 X4 0.4
• 1 C3 000 and 1C 00
• and 1 wee alien (size?)
• 3/4 60cm runners
• 3 20cm runners
• and a number of shorter BD runners to make an overall runner total of 10 to 14 depending on route.

I have become a fan, through winter climbing, of racking my wires by types: 1 set of WC all sizes, 1 set of DMM all sizes. If I drop 1 set, I have a full range in the other. I used to change that in summer to 3 krabs of small, medium and big... may be I am lazier now.

I also rack my cams as follow: #3 C4 alone, #2, 1 C4 together, #0.75, 0.5 together, #0.4 C4, X4 together and finally all small remaining cams together.

I regularly fail to achieve my goals...but I doubt it comes from my racking and more from my being weak!

My pals rack their stuff very differently, and over the year with 3 particular partners at least, I learned their system and get on alright with it.

Climbed for the first time with a new person and her rack- a very different one- this weekend and I can firmly say that my fall on Seeds of Destruction (E3 5c) as feck all to do with it.

I'm happier with mine (of course) but don't mind climbing with other peoples.  Metalwork seems to last long enough that I don't see "saving" my rack as a major consideration.

I'll happily climb on anyone's rack however I've only ever pushed my grade on my own or using gear this is comparable. If using some one else's I'll still bring my own brass and micro cams. Maybe this is just because one or two of my regular partners racks has a hole or two in it that has the potential to scare me mid cruise (or perhaps they just know how to use gear more efficiently/ climb in a bolder fashion).

 I did my best lead O/S with a pal's rack... but it was bold so gear almost did not matterVoyage of the Beagle (E5 6a) I led the traverse and up 6a pitch (low in 6a)

Same here actually! I'm still at the stage where my partners tend to have more/better gear than me though

Nearly got a "full" rack now though (small cams, duplicate medium cams and micro wires etc) so will be nice to just use my own and be familiar with it

It's not a showstopper but I do think "knowing" every bit of gear and being familiar with it helps!

The only things I'm wary of on other people's racks (but generally not to prevent me using them except at my absolute limit):

Oval karibiners for racking wires.  Unless the owner has an infinite supply of wires and doesn't mind losing a few per pitch.

Racking more than one hex on a krab

Even worse - Racking more than one cam on a krab

I've got to the point where I tolerate sling draws and long slings twisted up rather than over the shoulder.

No problem with oval krabs (i actually think you drop fewer as less prone to gate opening). Firmly agree with you on this:

Very happy to climb on partner's racks, the thing that gets my goat is overly elaborate racking systems for wires, or having way too many on one krab.  Small, Medium, large, bunches please, with no more than 6 or 7 on the large one. 

That, and enough tripled extenders.

Provided the rack is reasonable, it doesn’t really matter.

However, I find it curious that you bundle the small cams and keep the big ones separate. Perhaps this is due to the rock, but at least where I climb (fenno-skandian granite), if you need small cams, it generally is hard going and extra faff from fiddling with QDs and such is generally a recipe for failure. Where as on #1 and #2 terrain, it is generally much mellower (or by very least, you’ll be hanging from a solid hand ham).

I'll happily second on anyone's rack.

Mine, but I'm a bit odd.  Tiny, small, medium and large wires in 4 groups, but all aligned so that they curve the same way - it took me decades to work out that I could find the right size far faster that way (not many of them are colour-coded).  Those and QDs go on a bandolier.  Longer QDs go on the right hand side of my harness, cams on the left.  Usual partner tends to add a lot more and he's happy with my rack (except for the bandolier)