A Sport Climber's Gear List
In Rock Climbing, make sure you are ready and fully-equipped before starting your climb. This section focuses on the gear list of a Sport Climber.
Climbing Ropes
Since the Rope of a Sport Climber undergoes a lot of stress, quality is very important. No matter what type of climber you are, you should always check that your rope is UIAA-rated. Always use single Ropes between 10.5mm and 11mm in diameter. The length of the rope should be at least 50 meters, since many new sport routes feature anchors 30 meters off the deck. A dry-treatment is not necessary. But in order to protect your Rope against chemicals, dirt, and the sun, a Rope Bag is very useful. This extends the life of your rope by many pitches.
Price: from $140 to $240
Life Span: 1-3 years
Climbing Harnesses
Choose a lightweight Harness with a Belay Loop and two to four Gear Loops. Padding is fine, but it is not really necessary. Sport Climbing only makes you stay in your harness for a maximum of 10 minutes.
Price: $55 to $100
Life Span: 2-3 years
Rock Climbing Shoes
Beginners should choose lace up climbing shoes since these have thicker soles. Many climbers recommend that you choose your Rock Climbing shoes 1 to 2 sizes smaller than the size you would normally wear, but as a beginner, you do need to make sure you still feel comfortable with it.
Advanced climbers can go for slippers. Slippers have thinner soles and make you feel the rocks more than lace up shoes.
Lace Up Shoes
Price: $90 to $120
Life Span: 1 - 2 years
Slippers
Price: $110 to $155
Life Span: 1 year
Climbing Helmets
Buy a good quality Climbing Helmet that is UIAA and/or CEN certified. Price range: $40 to $85.
Belay Devices and Locking Carabiners
As a beginner, you should choose a Belay Plate with an Autolocking Carabiner that has a very firm brake action, but still allows your Rope to feed quickly in and out. If you start to climb more often, you can opt for a self-locking Belay Device. This device is not suitable for beginners, as the Rope tends quite often to jam in this device if not properly used.
Belay Device
Price: $10 to $20
Life Span: 10 years
Autolocking Carabiner
Price: $15 to $25
Life Span: 10 years
Self-locking Belay Device
Price: $75 and up
Life Span: 10 years
Quickdraws
If you need to lead a climb and therefore need to set up a number of top Ropes that are anchored to bolts, trees, or large rocks, you will need a number of quickdraws, preferably 12 or more. Each should have a straight-gate carabiner at one end for clipping the bolt hanger, and either a bent-gate or wire-gate biner on the other end to accept the Rope easily.
This is a typical Sport Climber's Gear List. Make sure you have the necessary gear and equipment before taking the climb.
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