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I'm looking to start trad climbing. What do I need to buy for a trad rack for the red?

I'd recommend hooking up with someone that already has a rack, and some experience, and go out with them a few times and see if you really want to invest in trad climbing in the red. It's a different kind of animal. If you follow this advice then the next step would be to check out various different manufactures and the differences between items that function the same between them (cams, nuts, slings, biners, etc). If you get this far, then you won't need to ask anyone what you'll need, you'll know...

good advice above, but to answer the question directly, my typical red onsite rack is: double BD c4's from 0.5-2, green yellow aliens, single 0.4 and 3 c4's, 1.5 sets of nuts from 4-10 BD and equivalent of 3-7 BD sized offset brassies, 4 quickdraws and 4 trad slings.

that will shift as i eye something up, for instance thinner climbs i'll tack on 0.3-0.5's c4's, blue alien, green red c3's, etc. for hand sized climbs (africa, etc) i'll lose the finger tip sizes and tripple up on #1-2 c4's (red/yellow), for more moderate stuff having double #3's and a #4 is pretty standard as the moderates tend to always get a bit bigger. tricams have nitch placements everyonce in a while.

to sum it up, a set of nuts, and double cams from tips to wide fists would be the standard rack.

to fully protect everything well in the red, you'd want to merge two of those racks. cause a lot of climbs will take numerous cams in the same size range: roadside attraction, africa, adromeda strain, crack attack, oberon, rebar, where lizard's dare, to name a few.

I own maybe fifteen cams from different manufacturers and have had zero problem getting up any climb at the Red.... too much gear is just a nerd thing to do....

1-4 BD angles, 1-4 KBs, 1-4 LA's, 1-3 BD beaks x2, 1 bong, 2 RURPs, and a hammer should do the trick...

Drive it to the eye!!!

wanna sell any of those Kipp??

How many gear sales have there been after guys who go out and buy a nice rack without realizing how scared they are about to make themselves go trad climbing for the first time?
I personally have benefited from a few.

Dont forget a stickclip!

and an attitude... im pretty sure that most trad racks require some kind of attitude to make them complete

pigsteak wrote:I own maybe fifteen cams from different manufacturers and have had zero problem getting up any climb at the Red.... too much gear is just a nerd thing to do....

hence a double rack from 0.3 to 3 and a #4... and if it's nerdy being safe, i prefer to be nerdy. have fun on andromeda strain with 3-4 pieces.