Advice for first trip

My girlfriend and I are planning our first sport climbing trip. There’s not a lot of climbing opportunities in our area.  We’ve done plenty of gym climbing and outdoor TR. We have all of the basic kit. Rope quick draws grigri etc. we’ve done some highlining and other things. We are comfortable operating ropes. We aren’t total beginners. My question is: is there any gear that might not be intuitive that you would recommend we bring. Or skills you recommend we learn. Things that might be needed in unforeseen circumstances. I’ll list my gear below.

• 1 40m rope
• 3 24” slings
• 6 Quick draws
• 2 hollowblocks 
• 4 locking D carabiners
• 2 pear shaped lockers
• 4 triple lockers 
• 2 atc 
• 2 person anchor systems 
• 2 10’ static ropes

Where's your normal climbing area?

A 40 m rope is way too short at a minimum 60m .Two extra draws for the anchor are usually adequate. If you’re paranoid you can put a locking biner on the bottom of each one. A stick clip is highly recommended. 

I would go with a dozen quick draws, and a couple of alpine or extendable, draws, or at least longer quick draws. Two  locking biners a piece should be adequate. one for your belay device and one for your PAS, although if you get someplace with quick clips you shouldn’t need them.
there should be no need to rappel when you are  sport climbing, unless you’re doing multi pitch, which I wouldn’t advise as this is your first trip.

FrankPS wrote:

Where's your normal climbing area?

Botslandia

Hank Caylor wrote:

Botslandia

Or Botswana. Or Reddit.

Edit: What are "10’ stack ropes"? Is that like a static rope? 

Well, for starters, a 40m won't get you very far at most crags, so unless you know you're going to a very short crag, you probably need a longer rope. Similarly, 6 draws may be enough to get you up a route here and there, but many crags will hold routes that required double that or more. Then you've got two more for a temporary anchor at the top, or you'll need to use slings/cordelette and some of those biners to build an anchor for the leader to lower off of.

You've got hollowblocks on your list. I'm guessing you know how to set up a rappel safely? Do you know how to clean anchors? Not sure what you mean by "stack ropes". I'm seeing enough red flags here, that I'd have questions for sure.

But then, you're a bot, so...

Natalie Blackburn wrote:

Well, for starters, a 40m won't get you very far at most crags, so unless you know you're going to a very short crag, you probably need a longer rope. Similarly, 6 draws may be enough to get you up a route here and there, but many crags will hold routes that required double that or more. Then you've got two more for a temporary anchor at the top, or you'll need to use slings/cordelette and some of those biners to build an anchor for the leader to lower off of.

You've got hollowblocks on your list. I'm guessing you know how to set up a rappel safely? Do you know how to clean anchors? Not sure what you mean by "stack ropes". I'm seeing enough red flags here, that I'd have questions for sure.

But then, you're a bot, so...

Not a bot… just haven’t done a lot of out door climbing. Yes I’m familiar with setting up safe rappels and cleaning anchors. “Stack” was a typo. I meant static*

FrankPS wrote:

Or Botswana. Or Reddit.

Edit: What are "10’ stack ropes"? Is that like a static rope? 

Static**

You need an outdoor climbing rope -- at least 70 meters (zero reason to buy anything shorter). You should plan on acquiring 8 to 10 additional quickdraws (14 to 16 total).  This should see you through the vast majority of outdoor sport climbs you may encounter. The rest of your gear is more than sufficient.

Where are you taking a trip to? As others have said, 6 draws is almost certainly not enough, neither is a 40m rope.

I assume you have actually done some lead climbing at your gym and are comfortable clipping correctly and managing the rope around your legs. If not, maybe take a lead climbing class at your gym to get a bit of hands on experience and advice before going on your trip.

You said you know how to clean anchors, make sure you practice it multiple times at home or at the gym. You can skin that cat many ways, just make sure you understand the concepts of cleaning an anchor safely, not just mindlessly following a process. You will encounter different types of anchors and maybe will forget some equipment on the ground, so you may need to improvise. Definitely consume content from a variety of sources so you can see multiple different methods/scenarios. 

Discuss how you want to communicate during cleaning before you leave the ground. Often you can't hear your partner, make sure you can both handle this situation without decking. In general, the belayer should never take you off-belay during sport anchor cleaning, and the person cleaning can almost always clean in a way that keeps them protected by the belayer during the whole process. Alongside that idea, you should almost never need to rappel off a single pitch sport anchor, this takes the belayer out of the equation and has been part of many accidents. 

For gear, if I am going out to single pitch sport climb only, I bring harness, belay device, helmet(this is critical imo), shoes, rope, quickdraws, a single double length sling + locker(PAS), 1 extra locker. If you aren't planning on top roping a route all day, you don't need anchor tat, just 2 extra quickdraws is fine 99% of the time. A stickclip is very nice for many areas. Depending on the area, I often prefer a guidebook over pure mountain project, guidebooks have good pictures and usually have cool stories/history about the area. 

Last time I saw somebody climbing outdoors with a 40 m rope , they got lowered off the end of the rope fell 35 feet and had to be evacuated. Not pretty.

Well, OP is in TX. If he goes to Reimers, he’ll be just fine with a 40m and six draws…even on the North shore 40’ enduro-monsters. 

I agree with the suggestions above. Depending on where you will be going, a stick-clip is strongly recommended. A good number of sport climbing routes are bolted in the assumption that climbers will be using a clip, and as newer climbers you likely won’t want to be soloing up to those high first bolts. It might also be worth investing in a longer ‘stiff-y’ quick draw for those ‘just out of reach’ bolts you sometimes run into-especially if one of you is in the shorter side.

I don’t know what your budget is, but I think bringing a second rope on a trip is a worthwhile investment. Things happen, and having that second rope available can save your trip. I also recommend having a good rope bag—it makes a lot of rope handling easier and also helps your rope last longer.

Going the other direction, there is really no need for so many ( and so varied) locking biners—2 a person should be sufficient.

I know that you were just listing your climbing gear—but don’t forget things like water bottles ( sport climbing is thirsty work), basic first aid kit, and headlamps. I very much agree with the previous poster, that wherever possible try to get and use the local guidebooks, rather than relying on MP. MP can be a worthwhile supplement, but not a real replacement for a decent book.

If you go to Reimers, 40m will be fine. Pick up another few QuickDraws, and leave most of the static rope, slings, lockers in the car. Not many routes over 8 bolts, use 2 opposed QuickDraws in the anchor, lower off the permanent gear. Ask people at the crag if you can borrow their stick clip for any of the difficult first bolts. 

What about a bong and sone juicy dank nugs for the apres-climb?

Your gear is perfect ; you will learn twice as fast if you restrict yourself to what you currently have, plus it won't cost you a dime more. 

unless you die because your rope is too short.  get a 70m rope.  if your only going to have one rope  then the 70 is the one.  your 40m is a specialty rope and dosent really count as a general purpose rope.  get 6 more draws and a few alpine slings with biners.  I have several 60m and 70m ropes but if I could only bring one single rope  on a trip it would be the 70m.

A 40 meter rope is called a "gym rope."Just think of your sport routes as gym routes and you won't die.

Hank Caylor called you a bot. This is a big deal. If you are not a bot watch The Sharp End and ask no more questions until you do this. Or for one year after.

j mo wrote:

Hank Caylor called you a bot. This is a big deal. If you are not a bot watch The Sharp End and ask no more questions until you do this. Or for one year after.

To be fair, it was in the top 5 of bot-like posts I have read on MP.  It actually frightens me on behalf of their safety that it's a real human.