1st Trad Rack

I'm new to climbing and slowly beginning to acquire gear, as I begin to piece together a rack what are absolute must haves for the area? I'll be climbing mostly in NH with a few trips to areas in NY (probably gunks).

I don't place them as often anymore, but I found Tricams to be quite helpful when I was just getting into leading on gear. You'll definitely be happy that you have them if you've got plans to climb on the slabs on Whitehorse. .25-1.5 would be the sizes that I'd recommend.

Sully,

A rack can generally be used everywhere, with a few specialty pieces for certain areas.

Start with a single set of cams up to 3 or 4 inches. A set of nuts, runners, quickdraws and a bunch of carabiners. Eventually, you will want "doubles" in cams.

Some of the Gunkers ("Gunkies"?) like tricams, so they can comment on that.

There have been a ton of threads on first rack, starting to buy gear, etc. Use the search feature to find them.

Have fun.

One more thing, climb with some experienced people so you can get some idea what they like and use. Make sure you have a mentor or experienced climber to go out with, before you start buying gear and building your own anchors.

Cams - 0.5-3, I prefer DMM Dragons over BD C4's, a couple of smaller cams are good, I love my WC Zeros but they are out of production, I like my master cams too, blue and yellow to start but the purple is a great size. If you go the alien route for small cams, buy Totem basics for sure.

Might also want to consider when you go to buy doubles going for a single axle design like the DMM Demons or 4CU's, single axle cams can fit in shallow cracks and be more stable than a corresponding double axle.

Nuts - I have a set of DMM Wallnuts and a set of WC Rocks. Really just pick a set and go with it. ABC's are clones of BD's and are less expensive.

Tricams - I love tricams. definitely need pink, brown and red for stuff at whitehorse, maybe double pinks.

Draws - wiregates and double length slings, at least 6-8.

Then you just need your stuff for anchors, cordlette, couple of double length slings, lockers, etc.

I think that would cover a basic rack. But I agree to climb a bit with others and see what you like.

To get started:

- 1 set of nuts (DMM Wallnuts are good, I have BD nuts but if a friend has Wallnuts I take those instead. I would get the full set of 1-11.)

- Cams: I use BD C4s from .5 to 3 and X4s from .1 to .4... Honestly, though you can use any cams, I have heard really good things about the Metolius cams and Totem Basics. New England gear placements vary enough that I would get the full range ASAP. I had a friend who tried to go just from .5 to 3 and it didn't take long for him to breakdown and by the smaller gear.

- 10-14 alpine draws (60 " dyneema or spectra slings). I don't carry quickdraws on trad climbs unless I am going to be hitting a lot of bolts. They are less versatile

- OPTIONAL: 2 double length alpine draws (120" dyneema or slings). The double lengths come in useful at the gunks if you have a single rope and on wandering routes in NH.

As you progress you will probably want a set of Tricams. A lot of people get along fine with just pink and red. They are very useful and versatile and they can save a cam for you when you are building a belay, they also can make placements work where nothing else will. Most gunks climbers have them and a few climbs on whitehorse require them if you don't want them to be R.

.3 to 3 BD or equalivent and a single set of stoppers will get you up 90% of routes in New England. Start here and you won't be limited to any one place. Over time you'll gain a better understanding of what you want to carry with you.

For NH trad WC rocks on wire, cams to 3" and lotsa biners.That will cover most routes.

i can't stand tri-cams and you don't need tons of slings..cams are a personal choice, they all work, some better than others.

i like WC and metolius,,but that's because i have used them for a million years w/o any problems

A single rack of cams, set of bd stoppers, and a set of tri cams will get you up all kinds of stuff. Plan on 12ish draws as well.

12 QD..? really??? For where............

amazon.com/Climbing-Anchors…

I'm sorry but i gotta be that guy, hasn't this topic been beaten to death? Like seriously i havn't even been on this forum for long and i must have seen rack building for the gunks come up at least 3 times while I've been here, i really need to just copy and past my response for all new climbers building up a rack.
Start with out cams until about 5.10ish then you either go bold or get cams, i like to take pride in the idea that when i climb it's often got terrible protection, often worse than the original ascent (at least they had pitons), that being said once you have reached mid 5.10 your probably ready to start getting some cams into your rack. Being in the gunks, tricams. Alpine draws are beast, carry 8 you wont regret it.

Most people will tell you to get a set of C4s .3 to 3 but a couple things I found that are cheap that will help a shit ton for me are
-a green alien ( this thing has saved my life more than once)
- a set of dmm torque nuts. People bitch about them because they are hexes and people say they are a waste of time but I have place mine A TON!! They are super lightweight for hexes and are offset so they place better than a normal hex and sized the same as a BD C4 from .75 to 3. They are also color coded to BD which is nice. Even if you don't place them a Tom on lead they are amazing first pieces for directions so you don't reverse zipper and build easy into anchors. Plus they are cheap and come with an extendable runner
-and if your buying large cams I would buy Kong Bonoti since they are dirt cheap and work well for me. However the small sizes suck absolute as but the BD equivalent of 3,3.5,and 4 are awesome

Learn your passive gear well but fuck what seb said! Even on 5.9 go try and lead a fist crack with nothing but nuts and hexes and you'll start to think you hate trad climbing. Can be fun if you choose to but doing it out of necessity sucks. See how good you feel at the gunks building an anchor in horizontals with nothing but nuts all sticky outy!!!

Sam Spuds wrote:Learn your passive gear well but fuck what seb said! Even on 5.9 go try and lead a fist crack with nothing but nuts and hexes and you'll start to think you hate trad climbing. Can be fun if you choose to but doing it out of necessity sucks. See how good you feel at the gunks building an anchor in horizontals with nothing but nuts all sticky outy!!!

I live in the land of horizontal cracks, nuts are great and hexes are to, tricams are kinda useless for me so i haven't bothered but cams certainly aren't needed for horizontal cracks, also it's the gunks not indian creek pretty sure you could find placements that are suitable for hexes.

that guy named seb wrote:I'm sorry but i gotta be that guy, hasn't this topic been beaten to death? Like seriously i havn't even been on this forum for long and i must have seen rack building for the gunks come up at least 3 times while I've been here, i really need to just copy and past my response for all new climbers building up a rack.

If you're tired of replying to the same questions, stop replying. No one is asking YOU specifically. And regardless of how many times you have seen the same question asked, this is the first time for the OP.

Also, when exactly was the last time you climbed at the Gunks? I'm curious because you're obviously from the UK, climbing in the UK, and posting go pro footage of you in the UK. You've got nothing on your tick list, and certainly no climbs in the US. So what experience exactly do you have to be telling people whether or not they need cams for under 5.10 at the Gunks?

Sully017 wrote:I'm new to climbing and slowly beginning to acquire gear, as I begin to piece together a rack what are absolute must haves for the area? I'll be climbing mostly in NH with a few trips to areas in NY (probably gunks).

Idk, you could maybe start here:

mountainproject.com/scripts…

Seeing as how this question gets asked once a week, I'll answer the question simply in hopes that maybe someday someone will do a search and actually read before asking such a general question to everyone.

There is no such thing as a "trad rack for an area". In every "area" I've been to, I've found routes that require multiples of one size to protect adequately, I've found routes that protect fine with .4-3 with a set of stoppers, I've found routes that needed several large stoppers so I had to bring two sets, I've found routes that needed more than one tricam placement.

What really determines what gear you start collecting depends on what you want to climb. If you like cracks, start in the hands/tight hands sizes and get multiples and start going above and below those sizes with multiples as well. Once you do that, you'll likely have a rack that you can use anywhere. It's rare that you can protect any long pitch not needing any multiples as a new leader. More experienced climbers can do it because they can spot more placements, and can place more easily in tricky spots.

The short answer is: Get .4 to 4 singles. Start doubling up on the hands and fingers sizes. Then start adding multiples to the upper and lower ranges. Get a set of stoppers and 8 alpine draws. A couple of double length alpine draws. Get blue, brown, red and pink tricams. Add shit as needed. That's a rack you can take anywhere. But until you do that, mark your gear clearly, and partner up with other people that have racks so you can augment one another.

Mathias wrote: If you're tired of replying to the same questions, stop replying. No one is asking YOU specifically. And regardless of how many times you have seen the same question asked, this is the first time for the OP. Also, when exactly was the last time you climbed at the Gunks? I'm curious because you're obviously from the UK, climbing in the UK, and posting go pro footage of you in the UK. You've got nothing on your tick list, and certainly no climbs in the US. So what experience exactly do you have to be telling people whether or not they need cams for under 5.10 at the Gunks?

This question has been asked enough and i have read enough answers to know you the rock is featured enough to not all ways need cams. Never said i'm tired of replying, i'm tired of constantly seeing these in the forum every week.

Dont get tricams. Buy variety at first. Its not hard.

Mountain project should have a forum FAQ - here are some ideas for it:

1st trad rack
Where to camp at Jtree
Dogs at the crag
Best sport climbs at Red Rock
How hot will Moab be

Recently got my first rack, mainly for Gunks and various places in New England. So far I have:

Single BD Camalots from .3 to #3.
A couple of small cams I picked up at various points - yellow X4, green Alien, small red Friend, plus an odd Trango equivalent to the .75 Camalot
Full set (10 sizes) of assorted nuts an old climbing partner gave me so he could upgrade
A bunch of assorted slings and quickdraws

It's not much, but it's been enough to get by on most easy Gunks routes. I'm probably going to double up on the #1 next, although I find myself using the medium and small cams the most. Tricams are personal preference - I placed them a bunch when learning how to lead, but since I got my own rack I haven't found the need to buy a set. If you prefer cams and can afford them, then doubling up or even getting assorted sets in the smaller ranges should solve your horizontal crack needs.

Thanks for all the responses. Seems like BD cams are by far the most popular. I'm hoping for a July 4th sale so I can grab a set.