Racking for a trad climb
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Saw this from Metolius, thought it was pretty informative and similar to how I set up, though I go back and forth on using a gear sling. |
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That's about how I rack (for the Gunks) as well except that I use a gear sling with separate loops. I find that makes it even easier to quickly find the cam i need. I keep my stoppers on the gear sling. When I climb ice I use a vanilla gear sling without separate loops. |
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I use a gear sling for longer trad routes where I'm carrying a lot of gear. |
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I usually don't see people climb with a gear sling. Old school mountaineers do and I started with one but found that with a lot of cams (borrowed, as a noob), it made me off balance if I ever lean back or shift my upper body. Whereas racking on the harness puts the weight around the hips and legs, making it more stable and comfortable. I'm thinking about going back to using a sling though after suffering too many "oh shit I need my gear but it is on the other side and I can't get to it" moments. |
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I don't rack too disimilar to that. Stuff I don't need, lockers, belay devices, prussik, 4ft runners, cordellete, etc go on the back loops. My draws (12 alpine, 3 short) go on the front gear loops. I don't like over the shoulder extended runners. Just doesn't work well for me. |
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The biggest advantage to using a gear sling over racking on the harness is if you are swinging leads on multi pitch routes. Handing off the sling is much quicker than stripping one harness to reload the other. |
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Different climbs, different racking systems. For slab or sport routes everything on the harness. Especially for a slab route, since gear on a sling can get in the way of looking for footholds. For tight chimneys and offwidths all gear on a sling with nothing in the back (in fact, I have a special harness for such climbs, which has only 2 front gear loops). For trad face climbs or hand cracks, I usually place gear on the gear sling and place carabiners on gear loops with the precise selection depending on the climb. |
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Maybe it was poor balance on my part, but often the gear sling would swing right where I least wanted it while climbing. I do like the bit with doubling the sling then just twisting it and hooking both sides with a carabiner, I will try that. I always do some half baked loose knot or coil and all I get is a tangled mess. |
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Huh, I thought you take everything you own? |
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What I picked up with the over the shoulder runners that has worked great is to not put your arm through the loop of them, but to wrap it around as a bight and connect the ends with a carabiner. Works great when swinging the gear sling or if you are wearing a pack, just unclip one end and pull it. It comes right out without having to stretch it up and over your head and around your arm. |
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wankel7 wrote:Huh, I thought you take everything you own? What was that one accident where the leader was hung by their gear sling?Unfortunately, there've been at least a couple of accidents involving strangulation by gear sling: summitpost.org/account-of-o… http://www.mountainproject.com/v/racking-on-shoulder-sling-/107091936__2 rob.calm |