Rock Climbing Gear – Full Guide to Get Started
Here is a very handy quick list of the most important Rock Climbing equipment that you will need. It’s hard to know what you will need when you get started in a new sport and we want to help you to make that decision. Not having the right gear for climbing will make it hard to enjoy and really get into this awesome sport.
This guide will help you decide on what gear you need for what kind of climbing you will be doing. Everything from the most basic indoor bouldering to full trad climbing. If you need a description of the different kinds of climbing we have an article that will tell you all about them.
Ok so lest get started.
There are 2 fundamental pieces of equipment you will need. Depending on if you are bouldering or doing some indoor rock climbing with ropes will change if you need both or just one.
Table of Contents
Rock Climbing Shoes / Bouldering Shoes
So arguably one of the most important pieces of equipment you will need and one of the ones that will make the biggest difference to your climbing ability.
So, you can technically climb without climbing shoes, but this is a noob thing to do and after you climb even just once with normal shoes and see the difference climbing shoes make you will never go back. Climbing shoes are specifically designed to grip well on the wall and there are different kinds of shoes that are used for different purposes.
Neutral
This is the beginner kind of climbing shoe, they are usually flat on the bottom, they are not too tight on the foot and you can normally wear them for a couple of hours without too many problems. These kinds of shoes will give you a decent grip on most surfaces as well as giving you a good grip on the flat face of the wall as the sole will be made of soft rubber.
Neutral shoes is what you would get if you ever hire shoes from a climbing gym.
Moderate
Moderate shoes are what you will want once you are a bit more competent of a climber. They are generally made of harder rubber for gripping on smaller edges but still have some give to allow some more general use and grip on flat surfaces.
Once you have moved up to an intermediate level in a gym you will want to invest in some more moderate shoes. Especially if you find that your feet are slipping off smaller edges.
Aggressive
These are the most advanced type of shoes available. They have a very aggressive curve to them and a very firm sole that will have a good front edge and point for gripping very well on small holds. When sized correctly they are quite tight, and you will not want to stand waiting for your partner with this kind of shoes on.
Rock Climbing Harness
A climbing harness is a requirement for all kinds of climbing other than bouldering. They are very important, and you simply can’t climb without one if you are doing any climbing that uses ropes. This is what makes them so important, and why they are the single most important piece of safety equipment you will buy. You will also be wearing it the whole time you are climbing unless again you are doing bouldering where they are not used. So, it is important to get one that is comfortable and fit for purpose.
So, what is a climbing harness? A climbing harness is simply what you wear to attach the rope to and what you connect all your gear to. Climbing harnesses come in several different varieties. But they are all designed to do a couple of things. First and most and provide a strong attachment point for the rope and gear while you climb and support you in the case of a fall. They are also used to abseil back down a climb once you have reached the top.
A standard harness consists of a waist loop and two leg loops attached to each other at the front. The waist loop is also where you will have gear loops to carry all your equipment.
A climbing harness is also used to carry equipment with you while you are climbing. Simply quickdraws, carabiners, and belay devices if you are Sport Climbing. Additionally, cams and other equipment for Trad or multi pitch climbing. You can read about the different types of climbing here.
Comfort
The first and one of the most important factors in selecting a harness is its comfort. You will be wearing a harness the whole time you are climbing, for climbing and belaying so comfort is an important factor. Many harnesses these days come with padded leg loops and waist belts so most of them will be very comfortable.
It is a good idea is to sit in a harness with your full weight before you buy it.
A lot of sports stores that have a specialty climbing section will have a rig where you can put the harness on and hang from a rope. This will let you put your full weight into the harness and that will show you any places that the harness is uncomfortable as you will not be able to see this simply by wearing the harness and not having your full weight in it.
Weight
For most people, the weight of a harness will not really matter. Climbing harnesses are rarely very heavy, but they can become a factor if you are going into competition climbing and want to save as much weight as possible.
That being said, lighter harnesses usually don’t last as long as heavier ones and they lack some of the vital extras like more and bigger gear loops that you would get on a harness specifically for trad climbing where you are carrying a lot of equipment.
Gear Loops
So, Gear loops, unless you are seriously into trad climbing or climbing very long pitches where you need more than 20 quickdraws most standard harnesses on the market will do the job for you. Most harnesses on the market have 2 or 4 gear loops and this should be ok. But getting a harness with 4 is a good idea if you ever plan on going on some bigger climbs outdoors as you will probably need 10-20 quickdraws and that can get a bit cramped on a harness with only 2 gear loops.
Men’s or Women’s Harnesses
There are Harnesses meant for men and women, but this is mostly just marketing. It is possible for a women’s harness to have a bit bigger waist loop but usually, it is merely a color difference and not a difference in the actual harness.
Climbing Rope
The heart of rock climbing is the rope. Climbing ropes are not the same as a normal rope you would get from a hardware store. Firstly, most ropes used for climbing are “dynamic” meaning that they stretch so that if a climber falls, they are not jolted by a rope that won’t stretch. They are also usually made of many higher-grade materials as they need to be very safe from breakage as this would be catastrophic for a climber. Most climbing ropes also have treatments applied to them for waterproofing, dust resistance, friction modifiers, and other desirable traits.
 
Rope Size
Climbing ropes come in lengths from as small as 20m to beyond 200m and they usually range from about 8.5mm to 11mm in diameter. But there are larger and smaller ropes than this.
The diameter of the rope affects two main things, the first one is the overall weight of the rope. A thinner rope of the same length will generally be lighter than a thicker rope. This will be a benefit when you are using very long ropes or working with multiple ropes where the weight adds up. The second is the feel and ease of use of the rope, ropes that are a bit thicker are usually a bit easier to hold in the hand than smaller ones.
We recommend getting a rope between 9.5 and 10.5mm as ropes in this range will work best with belay devices and other rope devices like a Grigri.
Bouldering Crash Pad
A bouldering crash pad is a portable soft fall mat specifically designed for use under small climbs up to a couple of meters. They usually fold or roll up and generally have backpack-like straps on them for carrying.
These crash pads come in different sizes, styles, and colors. There are firm flat pads and other soft pads that are more used for going over rocks or just placed under the climber. They are used in place of a rope harness, rope, and belayer. They are bulky to carry but they are much simpler than all the equipment usually used for rock climbing.
Rock Climbing Helmet
Although a lot of climbers don’t use one helmet it is highly encouraged that everyone that goes rock climbing wears a helmet for obvious reasons. The risks of falling are very high when climbing and it’s easy to lose control of the way you fall.
What kind of climbing you are doing will change how important it is to wear a helmet. Normal indoor top rope climbing is very safe and it’s not generally required that you wear a helmet as the risk of badly hitting your head is rather low.
Trad climbing and lead climbing on the other hand have a much higher likelihood of a fall being dangerous since you could be a long way above the point that you are connected to the wall. This means in a fall you could pick up a lot of speed and if you were to hit your head in such a fall it can cause significantly more damage. This kind of climbing is where people usually wear helmets.
Climbing helmets are not that different from other helmets, they are generally lightweight and open to allow airflow but other than that all you should be looking for is that they are comfortable and safe.
Belay Device
There are many different belay devices on the market. They have many different sizes, looks, and levels of safety. Here are some of the aspects of belay devices that you should be looking at.
Everyone should be taught the basics of belaying when they first start climbing and it is a skill that everyone will pick up reasonably quickly. Most people start off with an unassisted belay device and then move to an assisted one when they get more interested in the sport.
Standard belay devices / non-assisted belay devices
These are your standard belay tubes, figure 8’s, and others. These are what most people will start learning and they have been around forever. They are good to teach someone the basics of belaying without complicating things, but they are also more dangerous than assisted ones. But as they are a simple device, they are much simpler to use and feed slack from.
Assisted
In the industry, they are called an assisted braking device or an assisted belay device. These are much safer than standard belay devices, but they can also be a lot more expensive. The most popular of these devices is the Grigri, and there are others like it like the Beal Birdie or there are simpler devices with no moving parts like the Black Diamond ATC Pilot.
Carabiners
Carabiners are another piece of essential equipment. For the most part, they are what connect all your pieces of equipment to each other. Like your belay device to your harness, they are used in rigging anchors and for so many things in climbing. Because of this, there is a dizzying array of carabiners for different purposes. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, weight capacities, and safety levels for purposes you can think of.
Every climber should always have a few carabiners laying around or a spare on their harness. I literally have one on the table next to me as I write this article. With many subtypes, we show some of the major ones here.
For simplicity, we will only show carabiners that are rated for climbing and we will not split them by shape just by major type. As there are too many to do every possible kind.
Screw Lock Carabiner
A Screw Lock Carabiner has a metal sleeve that screws up over the gate to stop the carabiner from opening.
Auto-Lock Carabiner
Auto lock Carabiners have a spring-loaded locking sleeve that when released will slide over the gate and lock. To open, the carabiner you need to twist and rotate the sleeve down.
Wiregate Carabiner
A wire gate Carabiner does not use a locking mechanism over the gate it is simply a spring wire.
Non-Locking Carabiner
Nonlocking carabiners are usually used on Quickdraws and other places that don’t need extra safety.
Quick Draws
A quickdraw is a device made of two carabiners usually a straight gate and a curved gate connected by a piece of sewn webbing. These are attached to bolt points on the rock climbing. If the carabiners are the standard kind with solid gates the straight gate carabiner connects to the bolt on the wall and the climbing rope is attached to the end with the curved gate. It has a curved gate to allow ease of inserting the rope.
Quickdraws come in many colors and sizes. The standard ones like those below are around 10 inches long. But there are many lengths that you can buy. Starting with just some like the ones below is fine and you can get a few longer ones as you go along. Buying a couple of longer ones for when a bolt is particularly hard to reach might also be a good idea.
Standard Quickdraws
These ones have normal no-locking carabiners, one straight for attachment to the wall, and one curved gate for the rope.
Wire Gate Quickdraws
These are quickdraws that use wire gate carabiners.
