To Plunge or Not to Plunge...

Post by **Andy** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:15 pm

I've been a sportie now for six years and till now I've only done some trad with friends... but I have some cash I could spend on climbing gear and so I'm thinking about taking the plunge and making the investment in trad gear (not a ton just $250). The other option is buy a crash pad and start bouldering. I figure trad gear opens up greater climbing potential. So I go shopping on the net and these are the best deals I find: 7 cams from Rockempire for $199 and a set of 9 nuts for $50 http://www.rockempire.com/ then I find some stuff at acmeclimbing.com too some hexes for $65 and tri-cams for about $15 a piece http://www.acmeclimbing.com/index.asp?P ... y=8&Page=2
The cams seem like a really good deal and I imagine I could get up a few climbs with a set of seven. What I'm not sure about is what else to get with them... nuts, hexes, tricams? Also what am I not thinking about? I have a rack of 12 draws and so I figured that when I go trading I can just use the biners off of them on the trad gear... I also have two slings I've used with biners to help clean the anchors on sport lines and I have about 10 feet of webbing... I know I can't totally outfit myself with a full rack for only $250, but I want to get the best start I can with what I have... What do you think? Should I take the plunge and invest in Trad gear?

Post by **rhunt** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:09 pm

buy a crash pad

Post by **Horatio Felacio** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:21 pm

buy $250 worth of tricams.

Post by **pigsteak** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:30 pm

buy $250 worth of hand jammies...

Post by **ReachHigh** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:40 pm

Hexs, you can never have enough Hexs. tri cams are also good.

Post by **lordjim_2001** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:51 pm

http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/prod ... 4294967286

they used to have a "new leader" package that had most of the things that you'd need but I don't see it anymore.

Post by **Gobstopper** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:11 pm

My starter rack at the Red consisted of a #1 & #2 BD camalot, a set of BD stoppers, 4 or 5 hexes, and an odd assortment of webbing and biners.
I felt that was sufficient on most of the 5.4's through 5.8's that I got on way back when. Of course I did crap my pants a lot in the beginning and soon added a new piece (of gear not crap) every time I had extra cash. 10 years later, I have a back-breaking rack.

good luck tradding

p.s. learn to backclean efficiently, I had found it very helpful with a limited rack

Post by **ewaaser** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:29 pm

Start into trad.....opens up a whole new world. Cams & nutset first. Then as you get cash, either double up on some of the cams or pick up the or 4 smallest tricams. Upfront, you'll also want a nut cleaning tool and a few 24-in slings (the nylon sewn slings are pretty cheap, or you can make them with webbing). Have fun!

Post by **ynot** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:47 pm

Cams and nuts. use your draws for slings. get a cordalette.

Post by **flyinglow** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:47 pm

trad really does open up a lot, i say go for it.

ewaaser wrote:Start into trad.....opens up a whole new world. Cams & nutset first. Then as you get cash, either double up on some of the cams or pick up the or 4 smallest tricams. Upfront, you'll also want a nut cleaning tool and a few 24-in slings (the nylon sewn slings are pretty cheap, or you can make them with webbing). Have fun!

i'd pretty much agree with ^ but definitely get some tricams off the bat, they're cheap, and secure in a lot of places nuts aren't so great. A set of nuts, and you'll need a few more slings and maybe a few extra loose biners too. once you've got the passive stuff, get what cams you can in the 1-2 inch sizes. you can use your webbing for a cordelette (webolette i guess...)if necessary, so no need to invest anything extra in that right off the bat, you rarely need one at the red anyway.
I don't know about your level of confidence, but when i started leading trad i never had enough draws and slings with me, had a strong tendency to stitch up everything and run out of slings near the top of the pitch.(this resulted in a couple of dicey endings to what should have been easy routes for me.)