If you want to take up rock climbing, you’ll need some tools that ensure your safety. Aside from a helmet and shoes with high-friction rubber that will stick to footholds, there are several key items. These items are used together to create a safety system. Your safety system is only as strong as its weakest link, so it’s important to check all of the tools in it frequently, advises Neil Champion, author of “Rock Climbing.”
Rope
The rope used in rock climbing might seem simple, but it’s actually a technical piece of gear, says Champion. A rock climbing rope will have long nylon threads as well as a tough outer sheath. Such ropes are designed to stretch to absorb energy if you fall. Ropes come in metric units, usually in 50 to 60 meter lengths and 8 to 11 mm widths. It’s important to ensure this tool passes criteria set by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation. The most commonly used rope is a 60 meter dry rope with a diameter of 9.8 mm to 10.2mm, according to REI. However, you can also get a skinny-single rope for long routes, which is riskier to use but preferred by some people due to its lighter weight, half-ropes, good for a route in which you have to rappel frequently, and static ropes for situations in which you don’t want a rope to stretch, such as pulling a load up.
Belays
Belay devices are used to create a braking action to your rope. You can use them to hold yourself if falling and to lower yourself safely to the ground, according to Champion. Here’s how you use one: You create an anchor, tie the rope end into your climbing harness to create a belay loop, attach yourself to the anchor and attach a belay device to your belay loop, according to ABC of Rock Climbing. A screwgate carabineer often is used along with your belay device as a safeguard.
Harness and Other Tools
You’ll need a sit harness for climbing that has a waist belt attached to leg loops, Champion says. You attach your climbing rope to your harness in the front via a figure eight knot. Your belt will have gear loops for carrying other climbing tools, such as carabineers and the figure eight descenders that you use when rappelling. It also has a spot for a chalk bag, which you fill with powdered chalk. The chalk helps to keep your hands from slipping off handholds, especially when they become sweaty, advises Champion.
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