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mowz
Jul 26, 2004, 4:00 AM
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I recently started to learn trad a few months ago (5). I have been following my climbing partner, but no leads yet. I need advice in certain areas on what to purchase. I bought some 12' slings but then realized that I should have purchased 24" slings. Is there any reason why I should/shouldn't purchase longer/shorter slings? Cordlettes: what do I look for? Should I buy more than one? Any really good anchor books out there that other peeps live by? I was thinking of purchasing the book published by Falcon.
Was your first lead your most nerve racking?
Thanks.
Meh.
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caughtinside
Jul 26, 2004, 4:16 AM
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Don't buy to buy. Buy what you need.
The first thing you need: to read Climbing Anchors by John Long.
Or, a few hundred threads in the trad forum.
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bootleg
Jul 26, 2004, 9:47 PM
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Good site here explaining the cordelette thing.
http://www.chockstone.org/TechTips/Cordelette.htm
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bluff_rat
Jul 26, 2004, 11:33 PM
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Keep following your partner and ask questions about placements and anchor building. "Climbing Anchors," and "More Climbing Anchors," are both excellent sources of information.
As far as gear goes, 24" slings are definately the way to go. It never hurts to have a couple 3' slings on your harness for setting up the belay. If you are going to buy gear start with a set of nuts and/or hexes. Tri-cams are good but they are difficult to place. If you learn propper passive gear placement and tri-cam placement then you will have an excellent base for placing cams.
good luck and have fun,
br
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onbelay007
Jul 27, 2004, 1:10 AM
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Seeing that you are from Skokie I would imagine you'd do a fair amount of climbing at Devil's Lake. Unfortunately, even though the routes are short, many of the climbs I've done have really required a large variety of pro. Definately go with passive pro. I've never climbed with a partner who wouldn't let me use his gear so don't go crazy on the cams. Over time you will figure out what you need. Also, there's nothing wrong with 12 inch runners but 24 inch runners are lifesavers for rope drag. By the way, I go to DL fairly often so if you ever want to hook up let me know.
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mowz
Jul 27, 2004, 4:13 AM
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Suffice to say, I had already bought a set of WC nuts and a set of DMM cams. I also bought a bunch of biners. They worked wellf or my 2 mock leads and my partner said I can always bum from him.
Thank you for your advice, peeps.
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tahoe_rock_master
Jul 27, 2004, 4:25 AM
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I started out with a set of BD stoppers. Then I gradually started getting cams. I started by getting the sizes I used the most, then graduallly spreading out into a broad range (I knew what sizes were useful because I used them on my partners rack). I have BD's and Aliens. Have fun:)
Matt
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mcgardogen
Jul 27, 2004, 6:50 AM
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Registered: May 19, 2003
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Get 24" slings. As mentioned before they do wonders for rope drag which has freaked the hell out of me more than once(nothing like the rope fighting your every move). Also, instead of 12" slings I use quickdraws they are quick and easy.
Good luck!
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dgkula
Jul 29, 2004, 10:36 PM
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Registered: May 6, 2004
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To me cordelettes are a commodity item. The best one is the one that comes free when you buy a new dynamic rope.
I have two which come in handy building belay anchors when I'm doing a multi-pitch climb and leading all the pitches myself. Otherwise I would build the anchor with the rope.
You might also want one or two 36" slings in addition to the 24" just in case the odd pitch wanders.
Don't worry, your first trad lead probably won't be your scariest ... after all that's probably precisely why we're not sport climbing.
Enjoy :)
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