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thomasribiere
Mar 28, 2005, 9:23 AM
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Registered: Aug 24, 2002
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Hi trad climbers,
a French sport climber here...
I'm gonna spend 6 weeks of climbing and hiking in the western USA this late spring, and I thought I would try trad, which seems a must do in your country. Of course, I first never tried, and second I have no gear!
Should I borrow some pieces here in France to the few friends who have some and travel with it, or do you think I just should do with what ppl will "give" me at the crags, knowing that I don't know if I will ever climb trad again when I'm back in France.
If you think I could travel with some pieces, what should I take or what shouldn't I take?
thanks :D
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azrockclimber
Mar 28, 2005, 1:32 PM
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Registered: Jan 28, 2005
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well i think you should borrow from your friends. I don't know if people at the crag would be willing to just hand over their gear to a stranger plus they will probably be using it.
I would bring a rack of BD camalots ( .3- #3) with a full set of nuts. A handful of 2' slings 4 locking biners and 8 quickdraws. I would also bring 2 long cordalettes for equalizing anchors. I am telling you all of this assuming that you know how to set up traditional anchors and that you have looked into this on your own. This is basically the absolute minimum amount of gear that I would take on a trad climb. If you could get doubles of all of the above cams you would be much better off especially because you are most likely going to have to build your own anchors at belay statoins.
hope that helps
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j_ung
Mar 28, 2005, 1:40 PM
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Registered: Nov 21, 2003
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Yah, Thomas, I think the above rack will cover most of what you want to do, especially if you stick to somewhat easier routes until you get a feel for what you're doing.
And while we're on the subject of a "feel for what you're doing," I assume that a smart guy like yourself understands the not-so-subtle differences between sport and trad, no? Sorry if that's condescending, but it needs saying. I only bring it up because we here at RC.com care about the safety of our visitors. :)
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phlsphr
Mar 28, 2005, 2:20 PM
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Registered: Jan 10, 2003
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I would strongly advise you not to buy any gear. What you want to do is to find experienced trad leaders to climb with when you are over here. At first you should just follow, study the placements as you clean the route, and ask questions. The next step would be to lead an easy pitch using the leader's rack, and letting him/her critique your performance. The bottom line is that as someone with no trad experience, who may never climb trad again, buying gear makes no sense whatsoever. Hopefully you should be able to find experienced people to climb with, who will have their own gear. If you haven't done any trad, that's what you want. No one is going to just hand you their rack and say, "Here, have fun go climb with my gear"--but people will say, "Sure, I'll climb with you, and we can just use my gear". Good luck.
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