One of the question I get asked the most when running my climbing courses is “what do I need to buy for my rack go trad climbing”. Often people have a disjointed selection of gear they have picked up over time and wish to add to their collection to make a complete rack, or perhaps they’re starting from scratch and just want a shopping list.

It’s a difficult subject, because the answer is usually “it depends!”. Personal preference and specific goals always come into play, but I’m going to outline my thoughts on a few different options to help you choose.

If you're still unsure, you could always book a day of private guiding and have a play around with some of the various items of gear I own before you commit to buying your own.

Single pitch climbing at Stanage with a simple rack.

Personal Kit

For every day out climbing I always will take the following items for myself:

Helmet
Harness
Climbing shoes
Chalk bag
Nut tool on snap gate carabiner
Belay plate with locking HMS carabiner
3x 5/6mm prussiks on a small D shaped carabiner
3x spare locking HMS carabiners
Emergancy kit: Petzl Spatha knife, a whistle, a Maillon and some 6mm cord for abseil bail anchors, all on an old screw gate carabiner I don’t mind abandoning.

Helmet, Harness and Shoes

When looking for a helmet, harness and shoes, the most important thing to consider is fit. An uncomfortable pair of shoes and a helmet which falls off your head every three moves is going to really get annoying by the end of a day climbing! Go to a shop, speak to the sales people and choose a helmet and harness you have tried on and know fits well. Buy a flat, comfortable pair of shoes for trad climbing. Your super tight, downturned indoor bouldering shoes might be excellent for overhanging V9 climbs but you will regret wearing them 50m up a slab!

Belay Plates, Carabiners and Nut Tools

These days there are no really ‘bad’ belay plates and carabiners out there. Buy from a reputable shop rather than amazon or eBay to ensure your getting genuine items (yes, counterfeit carabiners are a thing and they’re really dangerous!). My personal preference for belay plates is the Black Diamond ATC guide or Petzl Reverso. DMM or Petzl both make good locking HMS carabiners such as the Petzl William and Atattche or DMM Phantom HMS.

The DMM nut tool with rubber hand protector is always a good option, as are the Wild Country and Metolius models with inbuilt snap gates. Any nut tool will do the job.

Emergency Kit

Two Prussik loops to protect yourself on an abseil or ascend a rope in an emergency are good items to have on your harness at all times. Pre-sewn prussiks are now readily available and can be a good option. Stirling and Beal both make good ones, but avoid Decathlon as their sewn prussiks don’t last long. The old school DIY option of trying some 6mm cord with a Double Fishermans knot is the other alternative.

Three spare locking carabiners are vital for belay building. I use Petzl Atattche HMSs as a good all around option and have one large HMS such as a Petzl William or DMM Boa on my harness too for clove hitches when building a belay.

A small emergency kit on a carabiner is a useful addition to keep on your harness. A knife for cutting old tatty fixed rope on abseil anchors, and some fresh cord to replace it with is really useful on multipitch routes, and a whistle can be great for attracting attention (shouting for help when another team has had an accident is really hard work - trust me, I’ve tried it!). A Maillon (a small steel oval carabiner) is good as a piece of gear to leave behind if you need to lower off a wire on a route you can’t climb, or if you need to replace a rusty one on a fixed anchor. Having the whole kit on an old locking carabiner is also good as it give you an extra piece of old gear to use to bail with. A DMM revolver carabiner is also a good alternative piece of kit to carry your rescue gear on as they have many uses in rescue situations.

Protection

Generally speaking, I take the same gear to the crag for personal climbing, work, single pitch or multipitch. Just because you have it with you doesn’t mean it needs to be on your harness all the time, but it’s really annoying to realise you would like some extra kit which is still in the car.

My standard rack:

DMM Wallnuts 1-11 with doubles of 1-7 split across 3 Black Diamond Oval snap gate carabiners
DMM Alloy Offsets 7-11 racked alongside the Wallnuts as above
DMM Wire Torque Nuts racked on a Black Diamond Oval snap gate carabiner
Black Diamond Camalot C4 0.3-3 each on an individual colour coordinated snap gate
DMM Phantom Quickdraws 4x60cm extendable Alpine draws, 4x25cm, 2x18cm, 2x12cm
3x 120cm slings, either 8mm dyneema or 6mm Edelrid Aramid cord, each with a locking D carabiner such as the DMM Phantom Locking or Aero.
1x240cm sling on locking HMS

I also have the following gear which can often be useful but I don’t carry on a day to day basis. It’s worth checking out guidebook route descriptions and UKC reports to see if any specific gear which might be useful.

Black Diamond C4 Camalot size 4 - perfect for those WIDE cracks
DMM Brass offsets and HBs racked on a Black Diamond Oval. These tiny wires can be great for really compact rock such as the Slate in North Wales
Black Diamond C3 Camalots 000-3. As with the tiny wires, some tiny cams can make all the difference on compact rock, especially at harder grades.

High above some small wires on the Slate.

Cams

I personally like the thumb loops on the Black Diamond cams so choose to climb with these. Modern cams are a masterpiece of design and there isn’t really a bad manufacture out there. Wild Country and DMM both make great models with the Friend and the Dragon and it’s just down to personal preference which one you choose. Thankfully the colour schemes are mostly in line with each other now so you know a red Friend, Dragon and Camalot will be basically the same size.

For small cams, I have an old set of the Black Diamond C3s which I love, but are coming to the end of their life. I have been really impressed with the DMM Dragonflys which I’ve used (and fallen on) so will be getting some of these when it’s time for replacements. Theres a good in-depth review on UKC here.

Wires

The DMM Wallnut really is the gold standard of wires. Just buy these. Unlike the selection of cams on the market, I really think there are some terrible wires for sale. Black Diamond are reasonable (I have a few old BD Stoppers on my abused winter climbing rack) but the offerings from Wild Country, CAMP and Metolious really don’t live up to the standard DMM have set.

Hexes

Again, DMM have set the bar high with hexes. The DMM torque nuts on either wire of dyneema are amazing. The wired torque nuts don’t make a cow bell sound so are my preference (but are interestingly 2kn weaker, not an issue as they are insanely strong, but an interesting fact for the gear nerd). Black Diamond wired hexes are a bit floppy for my liking.

Quickdraws and Slings

Most modern quickdaws are good. For trad climbing, wire gate is preferable to save weight and the DMM phantom is my favourite. Small enough to be light and low bulk, but still easily manipulated even with gloves on. The DMM alpha trad quickdraws are great too. Black Diamond make some good wire gate quickdraws too, and I think an honourable mention to the Decathlon Simond Rocky Wire for a really good budget option.

A selection of sizes is useful too. 25/18cm draws are good for wandering trad routes where the extra length helps reduce rope drag. A few 12cm draws are useful where you want to reduce the fall distance, e.g above a belay ledge.

Extendable 60cm quickdraws are becoming more easily available off the shelf. Often called Alpine draws DMM sell these ready made on their Phantom and Alpha quickdraw ranges, plus from other manufactures too. Generally these seem to be more expensive than just buying a bunch of snap gate carabiners and some thin 60cm slings. My current setup is the same DMM phantom snap gates as my quickdraws with 8mm dyneema slings.

I personally love the Edelrid Aramid slings so carry two of those. Any 8-10mm 120cm offering from any reputable brand will do. Again, personally, 8mm dyneema is my choice for lower weight and bulk, especially for the 240cm sling.

Carabiners

For the locking carabiners on slings, a small D shape is a good choice. DMM Aero/Shadow/Phantoms are all good options or the Petzl Spirit Screw Lock. D shaped carabiners are good for clipping to the rope, as the shape forces the rope to sit correctly in the carabiner against the spine.

For belaying and general use, a locking HMS is the best option. As suggested above the Petzl William and Atattche or DMM Phantom HMS are all good.

I also make sure one of the locking carabiners is really large to use as a belay master point with multiple clove hitches. A Petzl William or DMM Boa both work well here.

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Buying a Trad Rack