Climbing Gear - What To Buy

Choosing climbing gear like ropes, harnesses and rock shoes is going to depend a lot on your use. Most of the climbing gear below is fairly universal.

Black Diamond Ice Screws

MSR Snow Pickets

I love these guys. I’ve got 2 of each size, the 24 and 36 inch. I’ve never needed any more for general mountaineering. Rarely do I bring all 4 but depending on the snow conditions/time of year having the choice in lengths to choose from is nice.

Always nice to have lots of runners made out of this stuff. Since you will often have to leave it up on the mountain, it’s one of those items you constantly need to purchase more of every year. It also comes in handy for many other uses on the trail.

Tubular Webbing

Belay/Repel Device

Nothing fancy, this belay and repel device has worked well for me. I’ve been given others by climbing companies but I stick to this one.

Rescue Pulley

Two of these guys are needed to set up a nice Z-pulley system for rescuing someone out of a crevasse. Lightweight and small, hopefully they won’t get much use.

Glacier Glasses

I’ve used many pairs over the years. I probably like these the most because they are more like sunglasses and fairly inexpensive. I tend to use regular sunglasses for most climbs but for trips on snow over 6 hours, I like to have the darker glacier glasses with side shields.

Ice Axe

I don’t usually get too excited about gear but this Black Diamond Axe made me shout halleluiah. It was so light compared to the heaver ice axes I had been using. Never again did I wonder “Should I bring my axe?” The only disadvantage to it is I’m a bit scared to pound pickets with it….but those are rare days anyway.

Ascenders

I use to use prussic knots but these days, if I get into trouble I want out. I bought them for the fixed lines on Denali, now I only bring them on big glacier climbs.