Climbing Related Business Opportunities and Product Ideas

There are plenty of entrepreneurial climbers. What business should they start? What products should they bring to market? Where are the voids? What do you need that hasn’t been made yet? What’s annoying on your harness? What could be made better?

A freaking harness

A large yet light and compact-packing parasol for belays in full sun. 

I’ve thought about making a good cam retriever for cams that get pushed far into cracks.

saign charlesteinwrote:

I’ve thought about making a good cam retriever for cams that get pushed far into cracks.

 Friend of a Friend. Ed Leeper

A sexy rope retriever. (no drones!)

An autonomous AI controlled robot climbing partner that does most of the driving, belays well, leads all the sketchy pitches, tells funny but implausible stories, and pays for beer.  

I hate all existing crag packs. Too small and they take 'minimalist' too litterally.   I would love a durable crag pack at least 60L with water stowage on the outside

In-between sizes of brassies.

The all-new white totem (one size smaller than the black). Preferrably with a standard sling instead of the all-too-bulky totem sling.

A chalkbag that doesn't leak (when closed).

Non-finnicky Ballnuts (feel as solid as cams when placed).

Brassie-sized nuts with a cable made of titanium or carbon nano tubes. This would make the smallest brassies currently rated for aid stronger and useful for lead (4-5kN).

All guide companies should only promote the safety of crag-to-gym classes. Real rock is too frigging scary/dangerous/deadly and should be avoided.

A low hanging fruit would be a tiny buckle with a cinch/bar for nylon runners or slings that I could replace my chalk bag strap with to have a better dual use if needed for emergencies. Make a few different sizes and colors that come with a sling and you would make damn good money.

i made an app to easily find climbing partners/partners for all outdoor activities in your area! we are officially in beta :) check it out on insta @gowith.app and sign up for early access on gowithapartner.com - love any feedback/advice and have already made a lot of great changes based on feedback from a thread I posted about it

Cocoapuffs 1000wrote:

I hate all existing crag packs. Too small and they take 'minimalist' too litterally.   I would love a durable crag pack at least 60L with water stowage on the outside

Misty Mountain Gorge pack is humongous. They might custom add a water bottle holder for you.

Lightweight 5-finger shoes with traction soles that you could carry on multipitches.

Belay goggles with some sort of sunglasses

Device that can both identify a specific bluetooth connection (to speakers or drone) and jam it without jamming other connections (say to a medical device). I recognize that this might not be possible, but still enjoy daydreaming about it.

cocoapuffs: you might look at the BD Mission 75. Big, durable, and the external crampon pouch can hold a water bottle.

Logan Petersonwrote:

Device that can both identify a specific bluetooth connection (to speakers or drone) and jam it without jamming other connections (say to a medical device). I recognize that this might not be possible, but still enjoy daydreaming about it.

To say nothing of illegal. 

Patrikwrote:

All guide companies should only promote the safety of crag-to-gym classes.

Brilliant. But don’t minimize the indoor risks, these classes are very necessary to climb indoors safely and responsibly. Too many older climbers think that just because they’ve been leading old-school 5.9 trad climbs for 30 years, they should be able to do the purple V4 wall-run coordination problem; it’s a recipe for disaster! And placements that are perfectly secure outdoors don’t work as well in gym cracks. Or they never learned about the ethics, so they show up complaining of grid-bolting and clean all of the perma-draws from the lead wall.

AI Grading Bot

I'd love a harness that doesn't sag forward when carrying a double rack! The front attachment point for the front gear loop needs to be higher than the back attachment point so all the gear on the the front loop falls back not forward into your thighs.

Also, all MEDIUM harnesses should have more waist adjustment overlap so they can be cinched down if you're right at the low end of the sizing. I want the gear loops to sit correctly on my hips but need a tight harness on the waist. I can rarely get that tight fit with a women's medium harness. Small harnesses have smaller gear loops than the medium sizes.

I'd also like to see:

• inexpensive gear ring/holder options for organizing gear
• chalk bag grabbies (I dislike chalk socks but like to grab something inside the chalk bag to distribute the chalk evenly on my hand)
• better nut tool tether options with way to attach a knife (i use a retractable key holder)
• longer nut tools

Anna Brownwrote:

I'd also like to see:

• inexpensive gear ring/holder options for organizing gear
• chalk bag grabbies (I dislike chalk socks but like to grab something inside the chalk bag to distribute the chalk evenly on my hand)
• better nut tool tether options with way to attach a knife (i use a retractable key holder)
• longer nut tools

Midnight Lightning sells a Chalktopus that you can leave in your chalk bag. I don't think it's possible to fill it with chalk like a chalk sock, so it's just there to spread the chalk evenly. 

Kouba has a few options for extra long nut tools including ones with dual hooks to retract cam triggers.

Thank you Preetham! Does Kouba distribute through someone in the US or ship here? I can’t tell from their website. They make great looking nut tools! 

I hadn’t come upon the Chalktopus before but this is exactly what I was thinking! I leave my empty chalk sock in my chalk bag with loose chalk all around it and I crab the chalk sock but this is a much better option. The chalk sock doesn’t distribute enough chalk for me.