Non-climbing-specific items that make your life better while climbing

What thingies and whats-its and doodads have improved your climbing life?

Here are some items that have made large differences for me:

• Liner socks. So thin they don't seem to affect fit, but still provide significant comfort. I call them my sending socks like the massive dork that I am and am extremely sad whenever I forget to bring them.
• Sugar free electrolyte powder. The Ultima brand is cheaper than Nuun and their lemonade one is really really good, or as one teenager put it recently to me, "is gas." I think that means it's pretty outstanding, but I can't be totally sure. I prefer Gatorade for a long, sweaty approach, but most of the time it's too sugary and actually makes me more thirsty. Sugar free powder is the shit. Also comes in a smaller tub which is useful for taking on walls.
• Insulated water bottles. After topping out a long, hard multi in the heat you're miserable, sweaty, tired, and sore, but then you remember... you have ice cold electrolyte water in your multipitch bag! Enjoy either making your partner exceptionally jealous or gain major partner points sharing a little with them. It's incredible how much of an energy and morale booster this can be when you're thirsty and tired and hot. Freezing a non-insulated bottle overnight that's half full and then filling the rest with water the morning of was my go to before, but sometimes you want to drink it before it's done unfreezing. Insulated water bottle for the win. 
• Technu wipes. I climb in areas with lots of poison oak, and although it seems I'm not reactive, when I touch it I still want to get it off of me which I didn't really know how to do well until someone told me about Technu products. Technu makes a lot of poison oak products but the wipes don't require water so I keep some in my pack. Also I keep their soap in my car along with a gallon of water which allows me to deeper clean at the car. Loads of my climbing partners seem to not be great at identifying poison oak and touch it a lot. Being able to actually provide wipes instead of just saying "dude you just put your hand all up in that thriving community of poison oak" seems to go a lot further with partners.
• Super cheap radios. Are there better radios? For sure. Are these radios that work? For sure. If you don't have any pick these up for less than a dinner out and never start following unsure if you're actually on belay or not again. Are there better radios at the price? I dunno, maybe, but you can get these ones at REI.
• Pop top cans of chef boyardee (or preferably the Annie's knockoff). I have a hard time eating much while out climbing, especially in the heat. A can of chef boyardee or Annie's Bunny Pasta Soup makes me feel a lot better and it's easy to chow down when you're not feeling particularly hungry. Take a plastic shopping bag to put the messy tin in after. 
• Garmin inReach Mini. I can let people know I'm not dead when I don't have cell service for days, which is significantly appreciated by family and close friends. 
• Iodine. Good to have in your first aid kit, allows you to easily disinfect cuts and wounds. 
• Off Botanicals deet free insect repellent. Deet free bug spray that works? Apparently! Doesn't last as long as the deet stuff, but it still lasts at least a few hours.

What y'all got?

RVs.  I've owned a class C and now I own a class B.  I'm not sure I'd climb if I had to camp in a tent at this point in my life, and hotels are not nearly as good.

These things were invented after I started climbing and have made a huge difference:

1. Cell phones.  That added a lot of convenience when on the road. Esp being able to talk to my husband every night when on a climbing trip.

2. The Internet.  Information about climbing areas was much more difficult to obtain before this info started appearing on the Internet.  Climbing magazines were one of the main sources of info on new areas and routes being developed before that.

3. The internet available on your cell phone.  How did we ever live without it?

4. Downloadable books , written and audio, both thru Amazon and from the public library.  Invaluable for road trips, esp international travel.

Ricky Harline wrote:

 

• Iodine. Good to have in your first aid kit, allows you to easily disinfect cuts and wounds.

Betadine does all of this and also allows you to treat water. Four drops per liter, thirty minute cook time. Cheaply available from any drugstore. I use it for bikepacking and long races.

F r i t z wrote:

Betadine does all of this and also allows you to treat water. Four drops per liter, thirty minute cook time. Cheaply available from any drugstore. I use it for bikepacking and long races.

Rad. You da gote, Fritz! 

Puffy pants specifically

and a parka 

Even though I live in the desert I just want to feel like I’m wearing a sleeping bag at all times.

I love the cold. I love being not cold in the cold.

“Are you cold?” They ask

“No, of course not!”

If you still belay with an atc, or pack GORP to the crag, or talk bad on people who use stick clips, then you certainly need one of these:

Kevin Crum wrote:

If you still belay with an atc

oh shit, shots fired!

Kevin Crum wrote:

If you still belay with an atc, or pack GORP to the crag, or talk bad on people who use stick clips, then you certainly need one of these:

Someone with decades more experience than you???

Oh, and you'll want that ATC if you ever try true badassery, like ice or canyons.

Lip balm.

This has saved my life more than once. I know the same is true for all of you.

Cracked lips are NO JOKE!  

Kevin Crum wrote:

If you still belay with an atc, or pack GORP to the crag, or talk bad on people who use stick clips, then you certainly need one of these:

What’s wrong with GORP??

Hot hands in the chalk bag

F r i t z wrote:

Betadine does all of this and also allows you to treat water. Four drops per liter, thirty minute cook time. Cheaply available from any drugstore. I use it for bikepacking and long races.

Agree about Betadine. I've heard that vitamin C will remove the iodine taste after the iodine has had time to disinfect. I've not tried this.

Post-climb pre-sliced watermelon-on-ice in the cooler. 

Superglue. Did you scrape your knuckles flailing for the chains? Whack your shin pulling the roof? Foot jam the #3 crack in your muiras? 

Instead of bleeding on everything, just superglue your skin back together and get on with your life. Superglue a patch of tape down on the wound for extra protection. I like to keep my tube in the middle of the roll of tape so it's protected.

wivanoff wrote:

Agree about Betadine. I've heard that vitamin C will remove the iodine taste after the iodine has had time to disinfect. I've not tried this.

https://www.rei.com/product/406032/potable-aqua-iodine-and-taste-neutralizer-tablets

https://www.rei.com/product/866996/aquamira-water-treatment-1-oz

I'm told that the vitamin C will stop the iodine from working, so you have to be careful not to add it too soon. Iodine also requires longer to work in cold water, so you could be waiting a long time for that drink of water. The Aquamira stuff (chlorine dioxide) seems to work on a wider spectrum of pathogens, which might be helpful.

Puffy pants, a sit pad (or bag that acts as a sit pad, pipedream for example), kneepads, leukotape and superglue. I am considering a small camping chair as long as the approach isn't heinous.

Heated chalk bag is also great.

Locker wrote:

weed, pipe, lighter...

 

Locker wrote:

weed, pipe, lighter...

 

Chillum, Golden Tiger, Bic.

Cannavault, stainless steel storage container is nice to keep things from getting crushed up too much.

Performance enhancing aid, but I do whatever it takes to send those elite limestone 5.6+'s 

A rope gote. Aka a rope gun.   

Water. The outing ends once the water is gone.

My Chaco flip flops which are super great on all the slabby rock surfaces along City of Rocks approaches. 

Binocs are nice to have, at newish spots.

The Climb On map for COR. That count? It's climbing specific, but not specific to climbing?? I've put about 15 of those into people's hands, so far. Very very few have been refused, or returned! Eyes light up as soon as it's unfolded.

Climbingweather.com is my go to weather app. If you're far from a real town, a lot of the sites are just plain wrong. A town 10 miles away has little to do with climbing areas, which often generate their own weather. Climbingweather is at least adjusted for elevation, and very conservative in how the forecast is built. Doesn't pretend to hourly or 10 day forecasts, but is pretty darn good for little forecasts that can be combined with knowledge you only get with experience....and knowing not to totally trust forecasts.

A hair doodad stretchy thingy. Those are also my most found tiny trash, btw. 

Pockets. Maybe not an issue for guys, but far too often, women's clothing has useless (or no) pockets. 

My climbing life is mostly an out of town one, so my Honda was purchased with sleeping in it as top priority.

Then there's having camping dialed in......

Best, Helen

Gin

F r i t z wrote:

Betadine does all of this and also allows you to treat water. Four drops per liter, thirty minute cook time. Cheaply available from any drugstore. I use it for bikepacking and long races.

Check out Aquamira. It’s a two part liquid chlorine dioxide water treatment.  No need to boil, even for crypto. You can even use it as a disinfectant.