Gear advice for my first trad rack

Well as the title states I need some gear advice for my first trad rack. First id like to give my background as a boulderer with no previous rope experience. I'll most likely climb some lead routes in a gym before going for trad but it's expensive for a college kid. So where do I start? The gear I own is a harness, BD atc, shoes, chalk bag, and some crash pads. 

I suggest you climb on some ropes before even thinking about investing.

Find some climbers who already have stuff and are willing to take you out. Climb in the gym and outside. Follow some trad routes first.

 Maybe you'll love trad, maybe you'll absolutely despise it. Regardless, get some experience first, then start thinking about what you want.

Full set of nuts: DMM or WC

Full set DMM offsets 

Full set of BD C4s

Totems black to red 

X4 up to .04

Cordelette 

10 alpine draws

Four locking carabiners  

70m rope, 9.7mm

That’s what I wish I had when I started. Buy it all if you have the dough and climb your butt off. You can sell it all (except maybe the rope) here for 60-70% of retail if you stop climbing. 

You can also break into a climber’s car and steal it if you live in Denver.  Better yet rob someone living in Boulder. 

Search it’s been discussed many times. Imo a set of offset nuts. Set of cams 0.2 to 3 with doubles of 0.3 to 2. Dozen slings. 

A top rope setup is $200-300. A sport rack of a dozen quality quickdraws is $240. A trad rack is $1200-$1600. I’d say learn TR first. Then sport. Then trad. Everything you learn will apply to the next progression. 

Like Amy said above, if you have no experience with roped climbing, don't buy anything more than personal gear and possibly a rope.

Wait several months before you buy a rack. Climb with experienced people and learn before you buy.

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess it would be a big investment if I end up not liking it. I have a post looking for partners in the Colorado forums and Ill be looking for someone to show be the ropes. I will definitely invest in a rope and some quick draws though for sport climbing. 

Harrison Lussier wrote:

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess it would be a big investment if I end up not liking it. I have a post looking for partners in the Colorado forums and Ill be looking for someone to show be the ropes. I will definitely invest in a rope and some quick draws though for sport climbing. 

Absolutely. If you get a rope go for a 70m. I regret my 60m.

I hope you find someone to take you out. Ask them about gear and play around with it to see what you like.

I would second the above comments.  Learn proper top rope anchors, get a helmet, belay and safety first. At the gym everything is set up, the floor is padded, so nothing to F-up.  

Just top roping, lots of less than safe set-ups are out there.  I was at Castle Rock ~San Jose and some folks there said there were climbing and someone else had unclipped there anchor and it slid down the rope.  WTF?!?!  There are blogs dedicated it bad anchors.  It's great to learn from others mistakes:

https://www.climbing.com/news/unbelayvable-the-entire-rope-anchor/

https://dumbanchors.blogspot.com

Lead climbing and sport climbing are a step up from top roping.  The falls can be real scary. People flip upside down if they get a leg caught in the rope and you can hit the ground for the first bolts. I'm still learning myself to lead climb outside.  I have not taken a big falls yet, but I have climbed long distances between bolts.  I'm sticking to the easy stuff first.  When you start sport climbing, investing in a stick clip is probably a good idea.  I have found a lot of first bolts way high up.  Multi-pitch is a step up from there.  I have my first multi-pitch trip planned for the Tahoe and Smith Rock area.

Trad climbing seems to be 2 steps up from there.  I have not tired this.  Its expensive, placing gear time consuming and takes practice and the gear can rip out.  You may need 2 ropes to climb with.  One good thing about trad is that some routes labeled sport are safer with a couple pieces of trad gear.  

Harrison Lussier wrote:

Well as the title states I need some gear advice for my first trad rack. First id like to give my background as a boulderer with no previous rope experience. I'll most likely climb some lead routes in a gym before going for trad but it's expensive for a college kid. So where do I start? The gear I own is a harness, BD atc, shoes, chalk bag, and some crash pads. 

No roped climbing experience?  Let's say you decide to completely skip sport climbing and just go straight to gear routes with someone who agrees to mentor you. Gear - a pack that can hold all of your partner's gear, or their rope, as you do the approach.  45 L is a good size.  Helmet is essential.

Step 1: learning how to belay someone on a top rope and how to safely lower them.  Gear - Probably whoever climbs with you will want you to use something other than an ATC. There are lots of threads about ABDs.  Your partner may have a preference for what you use to belay them.

Step 2: learning how to catch a lead fall.  Belay glasses can be useful because you will not be used to the idea that you should never take your eyes off the leader if they are within sight.

Step 3: learning how to climb a crack and remove gear.  Gear - Tape and learning how to do a tape job, or a pair of crack gloves.  Your own nut tool.  Shoes that are probably much different than the ones you are using for bouldering.  A few alpine runners and 2 lightweight locking biners for anchors may be useful.

I sincerely doubt you will need your own trad rack for quite some time.

Even before investing in rope and draws, invest in a Petzl Grigri/ Beal Birdie/Edelweiss Kinetic or similar assisted braking device and learn to properly use them. Learn to lead belay first. You can mooch other gear for quite awhile;)

Agree with don't buy a rack just yet. Become a good belayer and buy an assisted breaking device (doesn't take long, will make you more likely to be able to climb with more experienced ppl). When you have been out a few times, if you decide you like trad, start building your rack. No need to sport climb necessarily, greatest regret of my climbing life has been not starting trad earlier.
When you buy a rack, all you need to start with are some slings/draws, a set of nuts and a standard set of cams. That will be plenty for the beginner routes you will climb at least the first year. If you climb with another beginner, you can each buy different pieces. You will want more gear, but better to find out what you want as you learn.

Don't buy cheap/old school gear such as old cams, tri-cams and hexes. Get them later if you really want them, but for a beginner, they are not a short-cut to a rack, they are a detour. Get a standard set of nuts (maybe offsets, depending on where you climb). Standard set of cams like BD, WC, DMM (blue to blue) etc, you will never regret. Some people will say you should get Totems, but I have never used them, they are really uncommon where I climb. Haven't needed them for the past 10 years, but curious to try one day...

I love trad, probably my favorite climbing style, but also my weakest because I spent my young and fearless years sport climbing. Don't wait!

I see used trad gear on Craigslist and I have been looking at many deals.

I just started lead and Multipitch climbing (Red Rock last week) and I see that many routes are part bolted and part trad.  These routes seem to have large run out unless you have the right trad gear.  

How do you know what trad gear to get?

A number of years back a local (a doctor no less!) decided he wanted to learn to climb trad autodidactically.

A bad idea. Better to learn from the better educated.

He constructed what he thought was a good anchor 20' off the ground. Tied 10' of rope to it. the other end to himself and jumped.

The anchor failed and he broke his leg badly when he hit the ground.

Be a belay slave and learn by following hundreds if not thousands of routes. Then try to lead an easy one with an experienced leader to critique you. Hell, even hire a guide (its a lot cheaper than a hospital stay.  

Got it.  I think I will post in the partner section so see if I can get a trad sponsor.  LOL