What gear to invest in?

[CapitalNathan]

So this summer I'll have a chance to blow around $2 grand on climbing gear with opportunities for pretty substantial discounts. This will probably be the last opportunity I have for these discounts or this much spare change on hand for the foreseeable future.

 

What I'm looking for is what you would spend this money on if you were in my shoes. I've been climbing about two years and I'm comfortable doing 2 or 3 pitch trad routes. My goals for climbing are to get out and do some long alpine rock routes and work my way into big walls.

 

At the moment my gear consists of

-A nice pack

-Plenty of sport draws

-Alpine draws

-A set of nuts

-4 midrange Trango Flexcams

-A 70m 9.8 rope

 

I know at the very least I'll flesh this out into a full rack but what to do with the rest of the money is what I'm still pondering. The best options I see are

A) Invest in a solid aide rack while I have the spare change and discounts. (Chris's recommended gear list for example)

B) Save the money, keep dabbling when I get the opportunities and the use the money to buy used later

C) Buy a rack, use the money for a large summer climbing trip, and worry about expanding my gear later.

 

Many thanks taking the time to help out.

[Sol]

40L cilogear pack

Camp Air Harness

Some lightweight Camp Nano or Photon biners

ultra lightweight rainjacket/windshell

 

[genepires]

above plus add:

good pair of approach boots (depends on fit and what the alpine rock goal is)

good helmet

good variable condition clothing (pants, tops)

 

 

I like the c option best.

 

But if you go via option A, get half of a aid rack assuming that your partner will have more than half of a aid rack also. Maybe get all of your personal aid gear and 1/3 of a aid rack, whatever than is.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2011 by genepires

[Dane]

Flock the gear buy...that is easy and always possible cheap if you look around. Time isn't.

 

"use the money for a large summer climbing trip, and worry about expanding my gear later"

[Hugh Conway]

Given how much cheaper and arguably better climbing gear has gotten in the last decade and likely will only get cheaper, I wouldn't consider any gear an investment.

 

Go climbing

[rob]

+1 vote for summer climbing trip.

[Le Piston]

I'm with Genepires, flesh out your rack and basic gear with a little of the money, and spend the rest on a nice road trip or long local go at your ticklist. If you've got the time, take advantage of it. You can hopefully hook up with a climbing partner who has the big wall experience and equipment...add to your rack as need and experience dictate. One more thought...got a camera to capture your climbing trip? Have fun!

[genepires]

you didn't mention it but if you don't have a helmet of some kind, get that right now.

[kevino]

[Sol]

yeah, I do agree with what people are saying about a summer climbing trip. go climbing!! I just thought i'd mention a few lightweight techy items that I would buy if (i were you) and I had the money.

[Dane]

You never mention what kind of time frame you have that can be devoted to a road trip? Lets assume it is a month as an example.

 

Been awhile but I spent a month climbing everyday in Yosemite my 2nd year of climbing. Living that spring in Camp 4.

 

Our combined rack was something like 25 biners and a 20 hex/ stopper combo. No helmets, no harnesses. 5.9 and 5.10 was still hard back then. (seems harder now) And we never ran out of things to climb in that month. All but one or two 5.9 or easier.

 

With not a whole lot more gear (had a harness and a hammer by then) I came back in the fall and did Half Dome and El Cap.

 

If given a choice now...take all the rock gear I do own and spend a week climbing anywhere or take a dbl rack of nuts and 25 biners to Yosemite for a month.....I'd be in Yosemite with a rack of nuts

 

[Autoxfil]

Go climbing!

[CapitalNathan]

Thank you all for the advice. I think I'll go ahead and score myself a beefy rack and then put aside money for a trip. Suffering through school and wet weather leads to a lot of armchair climbing and online window shopping, maybe that led to my fixation on gear. The good news is that I got out to Vantage last weekend, I'm going again this weekend, and the crew is assembled to leave for Leavenworth the minute we're done with finals.

 

EDIT: Oh, I also forgot to add that I do already own a helmet. I'm not going anywhere near that manky Vantage basalt without one.

Edited April 18, 2011 by CapitalNathan