Trad climbing requires a lot of gear, and knowing what gear you need to get started can be overwhelming, so we’ve put together some guidelines that will help you decide on your first trad rack.
If you’re wondering what trad climbing is, check out What’s Trad Climbing? To learn more about how to trad climb, see “How to Become a Trad Climber.”
We’ll start with descriptions and background info on all the gear you’ll need—if you just want to see the gear we recommend, skip to the bottom of the article.
Read More: “How to Choose a Climbing Rope.”
Protective gear you’ll need for your trad rack
Managing budgetary constraints while also making sure to buy enough gear to keep yourself safe is a balancing act. It’s very common for trad climbers to share racks—when you’re starting out, having someone to share the cost can enable you to have twice as much gear. However, one way we don’t recommend trying to save money is by buying used gear. Don’t risk buying anything used unless you personally know and trust the previous owner. Expect to spend between $500-$1000 on your initial trad rack.
Two types: Passive vs Active Protection
“Protection” (aka “pro”) is the general term for gear that secures into a crack in the rock in such a way as to be weight bearing. There are two types: “active” and “passive” protection. Active protection simply refers to protection that has moving parts, while passive protection does not.
Passive Protection
“Nuts”, “stoppers”, “Rp’s”, “chocks”, “wires.” There are many names and styles for what is simply a piece of metal with a cable drilled into it. These work as protection when the metal piece is jammed into a rock crack and clipped to a rope. Lightweight and inexpensive, passive protection is key to a well-rounded trad rack. While they can be difficult for beginners to place properly, expertise comes with time and practice.
Active Protection
The most common type of active protection is the camalot, aka “cam”. They have a trigger that when pulled retracts the metal lobes, making the device narrower. Once placed, the trigger releases and the lobes press against the rock with an outward pressure, making them incredibly secure. Cams are easy to place and quite versatile due to their range of motion. However, cams are also heavier and more expensive than passive protection. Because of the wide variety of styles and cost of each cam, choosing what cams to buy is often the most difficult part of buying a trad rack.
Other Gear
Carabiners
Most climbers use a mixture of locking and non-locking carabiners. Non-locking carabiners are small, lightweight, and used for clipping to nuts and cams. Locking carabiners are heavier and more substantial, and are used for anchors and belay devices.
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Runners/Slings
Runners and slings are pieces of webbing sewn into loops of varying sizes. Useful for a variety of purposes from slinging trees, knobs, or horns, extending a piece of an anchor, or for extending your rappel for the descent. Carrying a few of these adds little weight and they come in handy all the time.
Quickdraws
Quickdraws are popular with sport climbers but can be useful for trad climbers as well. They are essentially pre-made, short runners. They don’t extend as far as alpine draws (see below), but they’re useful if you only need a little bit of extension. You can make your own with carabiners and slings, or buy them pre-made.
Read More: How to Choose Climbing Shoes
Alpine Draws
Alpine draws are extendable quickdraws made from shoulder length (60cm) slings—they’re popular for longer routes that wander. By clipping these to your pieces of protection you can decrease rope drag and limit a piece of protection from moving or “walking” once it is placed.
Cordellette
A cordellette is an 18-20 ft. section of 7mm nylon cord tied into a loop—a popular option for building anchors (for more on anchors, check out Common Anchor Mistakes: Ways to Fail at Redundancy). They’re versatile, lightweight, and inexpensive. Make sure to bring two if you’re doing multi-pitch.
Nut Tool
A thin piece of metal whose primary purpose is helping the follower to remove protection that the leader has placed. It can also be used by the leader to clean out a dirt-filled crack. Check out our article on the best nut tools.
Hitch loop
A hitch loop, aka a “Prusik”, is a short sling (1-2 ft once tied into a loop) made of 5-7mm cord. It’s indispensable for everything from rappelling to rescue. Learning how to use this small and lightweight tool is incredibly important. For more about hitch loops, check out 3 climbing hitches every climber should know.
Recommended Gear List
For your first purchases, we recommend sticking with the most common sizes and styles of protection, then customizing your rack for specific climbs and climbing areas over time. Here’s a good starter trad rack that’ll enable you to climb in many different areas:
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Passive Protection: 10-14 Nuts
Nuts are easy to buy—they often come in pre-made sets containing a range of sizes. We recommend the Black Diamond Stopper Set Pro. It comes with 10 nuts from small to large sizes and is a great starter set.
Black Diamond Stopper SetÂ
Compare Prices: Black Diamond │ REI │ Moosejaw
Other popular passive protection options include the DMM Wallnuts and the Cypher Huevo
Active Protection: 6-12 Cams
Cams will be the most expensive part of your trad rack, but you can save some money by purchasing them on sale. Start with the most common sizes (listed below), starting at about ½ inch to 3 inches wide. From there you can buy doubles in your most used sizes or buy bigger/smaller pieces to extend your range. We recommend the classic Black Diamond Camalot C4’s from size #0.3 to #3.
Black Diamond Camalot C4’s
Compare Prices: Black Diamond │ REI │ Moosejaw
Other popular cam options include Metolius Ultralight Master Cams and Wild Country Friends.
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Non-locking Carabiners: 12-20 wire gate
This may seem like a lot, but most climbers place a carabiner on every cam—and every alpine draw takes two carabiners. If you buy alpine draws pre-made, you don’t need to buy as many separate wiregate carabiners. We recommend the Black Diamond Neutrinos. They come in colors that match Black Diamond cams. You can usually buy wire gate carabiners in packs and save money.
Black Diamond Neutrino
Compare Prices: Black Diamond │ REI │ Moosejaw
Other popular wire gate carabiners include the CAMP Nano 22 and the Trango Phase Wire.
Don’t forget about sun protection on those long multi-pitch climbs!
Locking Carabiners: 3-5 screwgate
Important for building anchors, clipping into anchors, and using with belay devices, screwgate locking carabiners are cheaper, while auto-locking carabiners are especially foolproof since they lock automatically. We recommend the Petzl Attache 3D Screwlock.
Petzl Attache 3D Screwlock
Compare Prices: REI │ Backcountry │ Amazon
Other popular locking carabiners include the Black Diamond Vaporlock and the Trango Regulock HMS.
Quickdraws: 4-6
Quick and easy, quickdraws are useful when you need just a small amount of extension to help your rope run more linear and smooth. Look for lightweight quickdraws, likely made with wire gate carabiners. We recommend the Trango Phase Quickdraws.
Trango Phase Quickdraws
Compare Prices: Trango │ REI │ Moosejaw
Other popular quickdraws include the Black Diamond Freewire and the Cypher Vesta Sport.
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Alpine draws: 8-12
Lightweight and extendable, alpine draws are critical to keep your rope running smoothly—especially up longer and more wandering routes that zig zag. We recommend the Trango Phase Alpine draws.
Trango Phase Alpine Draws
Compare Prices: Trango │ REI │ Moosejaw
Other popular alpine quickdraws include the Black Diamond Oz and the Mammut Wall Light Express.
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Cordelettes: 2
 18-22 feet of 7mm cord is one of the most common and versatile way to create anchors. We recommend the accessory cord from PMI. You can buy it by the foot online at REI.com or in any REI location (and most climbing stores).Â
7mm PMI Accessory Cord
Check price:Â REI
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Slings/Runners: 2-6 18mm (60cm)
Great as a personal anchor attachment, to extend an anchor, extend a rappel, or to sling a tree or horn, having a few sewn runners on hand can be a life-saver. We recommend the classic Black Diamond 18mm Nylon Runner. They come in various sizes and we recommend what’s commonly referred to as a “double sling”, 60cm (or 48 inches).
Black Diamond Nylon Runner
Compare Prices: Black Diamond │ REI │ Moosejaw
Nut Tool
Primarily used by the follower, nut tools also can help the leader clean out a dirty crack or to remove “booty” (found gear). To see all of our favorite nut tools, check out the best climbing nut tools. Our favorite all around nut tool is the Wild Country Pro Key with Leash.
Wild Country Pro Key with Leash
Compared Prices: REI │ Backcountry │ Amazon
Other popular nut tools include the Metolius Feather and the Black Diamond Nut Tool.
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Hitch Loop: 1-2
We can’t stress enough how important it is to have and know how to use a hitch loop, or prusik. They’re lightweight, inexpensive, and super useful, so there’s no reason not to. We recommend the Sterling Hollowblock (13.5″).
Sterling Hollowblock 13.5″
Compare Prices: REI │ Backcountry │ Amazon
More trad necessities: Best Crack Climbing Gloves 2021
Summary of Recommended Gear
| Gear | Product | Compare Prices |
|---|---|---|
| Stoppers/Nuts | Black Diamond Stopper Set Pro | Black Diamond REI Moosejaw |
| Cams | Black Diamond Camalot C4's | Black Diamond REI Moosejaw |
| Wire gate carabiners | Black Diamond Neutrino | Black Diamond REI Moosejaw |
| Locking carabiners | Petzl Attache 3D Screwgate | REI Backcountry Amazon |
| Quickdraws | Trango Phase Quickdraws | Trango REI Moosejaw |
| Alpine draws | Trango Phase Alpine Draws | Trango REI Moosejaw |
| Cordellette | 7mm PMI Accessory Cord | REI |
| Runners/Slings | Black Diamond Nylon Runner | Black Diamond REI Moosejaw |
| Nut tool | Wild Country Pro Key with Leash | REI Backcountry Amazon |
| Hitch loop | Sterling Hollowblock 13.5" | REI Backcountry Amazon |
Conclusion
Buying a trad rack is expensive and often times overwhelming but this guide will help you decide what you need. Everything on this list you are pretty much guaranteed to need at some point. And once you get more experience you can figure out what else you need to buy.
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