Beginners UK Rack Selection By Ian Parnell

The Right Start - Safety First!
"As the introduction to this section implies, the gear you choose at this point in your climbing career is not the most important thing - although obviously the better the gear the easier it is - it is also knowing how to use it.

So i would like to endorse those sentiments and urge all beginners to spend time learning to use their 'pro'. It's simple and effective to practice placing nuts and cams at ground level to see how they go in, where they don't fit and to get your 'eye in' about the sizes.

One step further is to place nuts while just off the ground, balanced on small footholds perhaps, in an uncomfortable position which imatates how you may be on a climb. All of this practice will help and make you a safer, better leader.

Leading is the biggest step in climbing and being above your gear can be one of the lonliest places in the world, so the better you are at placing gear and the more you trust it the easier it will all feel."

Small + Mid Size Nuts

These are your bread and butter protection, with Wild Country making Rocks that cover crack sizes from 4mm through to 50mm.

Top ropes and first leads up to Severe - One of each size 3 to 10 should cover most sizes, rack these on a single snapgate such as the Blaze straight-gate.

Rocks come in handy set of 1-8 and you even make a saving over buying them separately...winner..!

Severe to VS - You’ll want to gradually build up your selection. The new bigger Rocks sizes 11 to 14 offer an alternative to the smaller Rockcentrics and I’d consider making a choice and taking 1 of each size. From size 9 Rocks downwards I’d recommend working towards two of each, doubling up at first in the mid range size 4 to 7.

Larger Nuts

For the bigger cracks 4cm or bigger I’d opt for Rockcentrics to start with, they are simple to place, harder wearing and significantly cheaper than Friends. Also with their built in dyneema sling they can be clipped directly to the rope saving on quickdraws. For most routes up to VS sizes 5 to 9 should do the trick.

Big Rocks complement Rockcentrics perfectly...and are colour coded to match...useful..

These Rockcentrics combined with some of the new big Rocks mentioned previously should give ample re-assuringly solid placements and good belaying options.

Tip - I personally prefer to rack all 4 hexes on one snapgate and carry a couple of spare snapgates to clip each piece.

Read review of Rockcentrics

Read review of Large Rocks

The picture below shows why Rockcentrics are so useful, they fit a wide variety of placements and also a wide variation of dimensions per nut meaning one unit fits many cracks...

First Friends

As i implied before for easier routes placing solid nuts, and learning how to place them quickly and efficiently is the safest option for beginners and most reliable for belays. However, as you move up through the grades into VS where territory will get steeper Friends will be an option to take up as they give - when placed properly - a quick expandable alternative for cracks.

The Tech Friend set 1, 2, 3 is a good starter set - but learn how to place them safely...

It is not worth investing in a huge rack to start off with until: you are sure you will keep climbing and you are secure in how to use them properly.
Friends require more technique to place than nuts because they are less intuitive so once again practice makes perfect and the longer you spend placing and practicing the better your placements will be.
See Hints and Tips section Cams and Camming

I would recommend to start with, getting a selection that will cover a widish range of cracks and backs up the main sizes of nuts you will be placing. A good start would be either 1, 2, 3 or perhaps 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5.
The other advantage of starting with these sizes is that Wild Country do two sets that cover these sizes and are at a premium price to help to get a rack together.

Karabiners

Top Roping to Severe - For top roping see the Screwgates section on page 2 as these are what you will need mainly. For your first leads you will need not only a selction of Quickdraws - about 8 should do but also a selection of karabiners for clipping your Friends and nuts to your harness and for using with loose nuts and Rockcentrics.
I would go for a selection consisting of Oxygen Quickdraws as a great all rounder, they come on 12mm Dyneema, and i would probably get 3 x 10cm, 3 x 15cm and 2 x 20cm - this should give you a good choice on most routes.
I would then add to this about dozen Blaze karabiners to use as your 'clippers'. Light and simple they are a great all rounder.

Sets of Wild Wire and Oxygen QDs - with a mix of lengths these are a great value way to start your rack.

VS to HVS - I would simply add a couple or three draws, probably Wild Wire QDs to complete the rack.

Top Tip - When buying your first selection you can get all Wild Country's loose biners and QDs in sets which saves you a bit of money.

Click here to go to page two of this article

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