Beware of salespeople convincing you to buy a size so tight that your feet scream out in pain. While climbing boots are not designed to be as comfortable as street shoes, the trad fit should be snug, not painful. If your toes curl in the toe box, try a larger shoe. Spend some time in the boots you’re considering; take a stroll around the shop a few times. Do some bouldering if the shop has an artificial wall for that purpose.
Although you’re looking for comfort, make sure the fit isn’t sloppy. If your feet slide around or rotate inside the boots when you lace them, they’re probably too big. Most climbing shoes stretch a little but not a lot. Stretch occurs mostly in width, and more with shoes sans lining. Socks are a personal choice. I don’t wear them but my boots collect perspiration odor, and I suffer when temperatures drop. If you prefer socks, try a thin, polyester-blend liner sock. The bulkier the sock, the more sensitivity is lost.
Harness
Choose a harness for trad climbing with five important features: a padded waist belt, a minimum of two gear loops, one rear haul loop, and easily released, padded leg loops. Leg loops that easily unhitch are essential for when nature calls and are an absolute must for women. They also allow their wearer to put on another layer of clothing without unbuckling his or her harness. Surprisingly, some available harnesses do not offer this feature. Many harnesses on the market also lack a haul loop. In terms of padding, you will definitely appreciate the comfort of wide, significantly padded waist belts and leg loops on long routes, at hanging belays, and on descents that require multiple rappels. While adjustable leg loops are not absolutely necessary, they do allow adjustment for the varied thickness of your clothing. And if you gain or lose a few pounds, you probably won’t have to purchase a new harness.
A properly fitting harness should be snug but not tight. If possible, try on the harness you’re thinking of purchasing and, literally, hang in it. If the waist belt rides high up on your ribs, or if the leg loops tend to dangle loosely below your crotch instead of becoming taut, try something smaller. The waist belt should have at least a 3-inch (7.5-millimeter) tail after doubling back.
Female climbers should closely examine what manufacturer’s market as “women’s harnesses” before purchasing one. Often the “special” features of these genderspecific items amount to nothing more than a harness shaved down to the bare minimum with very little padding. Such harnesses can prove to be extremely uncomfortable, particularly in the trad climbing environment.
Belay/Rappel Device
Tubes, plates, figure eights, mechanized auto-locking, and a few others make up the vast assortment of belay devices on the market today. When selecting one, first consider:
| 1. | Ease of use. Is the device known for easy rope feeding? Your partner counts on this. The leader needs rope fed out quickly and smoothly at all times, particularly when he or she is runout, teetering on a small stance, and trying to coax the rope into the safe cradle of a carabiner. |
| 2. | Design. You’re going to be carrying it around for hundreds of feet at a time. Is it light? Is it bulky? |
| 3. | Versatility. Can it double as a rappel device? It should, as rappelling is a common practice on the trad front. |
Various tube model belay devices
The ideal device is lightweight, lacks bulk, and can be used for rappelling. You must also be able to feed out rope smoothly and quickly without sacrificing too much braking quality.
The aforementioned criteria eliminate most mechanized camming devices (such as the GriGri). The average figure eight is bulky and tends to twist the rope. Now consider the diameter of your rope. What remains is still a considerable lot. I am partial to tube and plate models (see photo). While you want a device that has both excellent braking capability and allows for easy rope-feeding, you can’t have both. Unfortunately when you buy a device featuring one of these attributes, you sacrifice the other. If a device allows effortless rope feeding, a more alert, proactive belayer is required for optimal braking. There is certainly nothing wrong with this. In fact the majority of trad climbers I know, including guides, prefer such a device (like Black Diamond’s ATC), known by some as a “slick” device. Other devices (like Wild Country’s VC Pro) offer increased braking quality; if a belayer isn’t paying attention and does little to arrest a partner’s fall, the device cinches down significantly anyway. The tradeoff is that it’s trickier to feed rope through these devices, particularly after braking. These units are sometimes described as “grabbing” devices. Between the two are “intermediate” devices like HB’s Sprung Sticht Plate, lacking somewhat in easy feed-out, but a good piece of gear, nevertheless, in the hands of a skilled belayer.
With such a huge variety of specialized gear, when you gain a desirable feature, you often give up another. My favorites are “slick” tube devices (like the ATC-XP and XP Guide) featuring unilateral grooves that offer increased friction when you need it (on steep terrain with thinner ropes) and less when you don’t (low-angle terrain, yo-yo top-roping, and thicker ropes). If you decide on a tube device, choose one with thick walls for optimal heat dissipation. Narrow-walled devices heat up to flesh-searing temperatures and are subject to grooving that can create undetectable sharp edges that can harm your rope. The good thing about belay devices is that they are relatively inexpensive. If you’re unhappy with your choice, you won’t have to sell the farm to get a different one.
Locking Carabiners
You must use a locking carabiner (locker)—the bigger, the better—as your primary carabiner, linking you to your partner while belaying and to the rope while rappelling. Choose one with a large diameter opening to easily accommodate more knots and slings if needed. A variety of lock styles are available, the most common of which is the screw gate. These are fine, as long as you are diligent about locking them, and choose a “gate lock” instead of a “nose lock.” The latter can become stuck in the gate-locked position. Spring-loaded auto-locking ‘biners are also available. I like both styles. If you choose an auto-locker but also have screw gates on your rack, be sure you don’t get so used to the mindless auto-lock feature that you neglect to close the other gates manually.
Another locking carabiner is necessary for clipping yourself into anchors. Although it doesn’t need to be as big as your primary locker, the larger it is the more versatile it will be. Eventually, you’ll need a few more medium-sized lockers for self-rescue, as well as one small one for key lead pieces.
Assortment of large locking carabiners
Ropes
Lead-climbing ropes must be dynamic (rather than static)—they stretch to absorb shock and dissipate energy generated by a fall. Made from nylon, they have a kernmantle construction: a tough inner core (kern) that is the main load-bearing portion of the rope and an outer sheath (mantle) that protects it from abrasion.
Most trad leaders use either a single-rope or double-rope system for leading, with a twin-rope system being less common. Each system has its pros and cons. Throughout this book, I refer predominantly to the single-rope system, which requires ropes identified by a circled number “1” on a label located at one end of the rope.
The standard length of lead ropes for general rock climbing is gradually shifting