Sport climbing; the best way to enjoy move after move of pure climbing pleasure, only interrupted by the swift clip of quickdraw, and completely unhindered by fear of big falls and poor pro.

This safe, approachable form of climbing is popular with novice climbers and those getting into the sport, not least since it requires far less equipment than traditional and alpine climbing. However, like any answer worth knowing, it’s not as straightforward as you might think. Here’s our definitive pick of what gear you need to enjoy a day of sport climbing.

Our definitive kit list includes:

• Rope & Rope Bag

• Belay Device & Belay Carabiner

• Harness & Helmet

• Climbing Shoes

• Chalk & Chalk Bag

• Quickdraws & Clip Stick

• Anchor Kits, Slings & Carabiners

• Clothing & Footwear

• Brushes, Skin Care & Miscellaneous

Rope & Rope Bag

For single pitch sport climbing, you’ll need a single-rated rope. A rope may be rated for one use or multiple uses as half and twin ropes also. Check the specification of your rope before buying it.

For a first rope look for one with a diameter between 9.5mm-10.2mm. Super skinny single ropes like a Mammut Serenity 8.7mmø or a Beal Opera 8.6mmø are great, and may give you an edge on super hard redpoint burns, but are not advisable for beginners or for use as a workhorse rope. Frankly put, they’re over kill, and wont last through the routine beating you’ll give them as your primary leading rope early in your career.

Generally speaking 60m should be more than adequate. This will give you enough length to get safely up and down on single pitch climbs, and will also leave some room to be cut down a bit towards the end of their lifespan without becoming completely unusable for you at your local sport crag. However, if you are fortunate to live close to modern sport climbing areas or world class crags, then you may have pitches up to 40m in length. In which case you’ll be better served by buying a 70m or 80m rope.

If you are climbing multi-pitch sport regularly you may be considering half ropes. However, be aware that you dont want to regularly be climbing single pitch sport on two ropes, and you can still do full 60m/70m/80m rappels on your single rope using a tag line and the biner block technique. If you’re still sold on half ropes, for dedicated rock climbing use, don’t go skinnier than 8.5mmø.

You’ll want to bring a tarp or rope bag to avoid dumping your rope out in dirt beneath each route. There’s no need to buy a purpose built rope bag. A sturdy nylon tote bag like a blue Ikea holdall or supermarket bag for life with a groundsheet/tarp should serve you fine, and save you some cash!

Belay Device & Belay Carabiner

Most sport climbers, even beginners, use assited-braking devices such as a Petzl GriGri or a CAMP Matik. For optimal safety, these should be used with a dedicated belay carabiner. Such carabiners usually have specific featured, such as a capture bar, and/or a spine horn to prevent cross loading. In our opinion the best belay carabiner currently on the market is the DMM Ceros; read why here.

Whatever belay carabiner you choose to use with your assisted braking device, make sure it is oriented correctly, this is not obvious and many climbers regularly orient their belay carabiner incorrectly. Read our PSA on it here.

It is also possible to climb multi-pitch sport routes with an assited braking device, using certain techniques as described in our article on the subject.

You can belay with a traditional tube style device such as a Black Diamond ATC or Wild Country VC. However, there truly is no need to for sport climbing, unless you are climbing multi-pitch routes on half or twin ropes.

Harness

Specialised sport climbing harnesses tend to be lighter in construction than trad climbing harnesses, with smaller volume gear loops. Usually these harnesses will also have fixed leg loops since they are only worn over a light climbing trousers.

If you plan on moving into multi-pitch traditional climbing, or climbing alpine sport routes where you may be layering your leg wear, consider getting one with adjustable leg loops and larger gear loops. But, for a mix of gym climbing, sport climbing and single pitch trad, most climbers would do fine with a solid sport climbing harness like a Black Diamond Solution or a Petzl Hirundos. You only need large real estate on your gear loops for long multi-pitch traditional routes.

As with any size dependent piece of gear, always try before you buy. Ensure the harness fits well on the smallest part of your waist above your hips, and is comfortable to hang in. Any good climbing shop should have a fixture you can hang off in your prospective new harness to test the fit.

At popular single pitch port climbing crags helmets are a rare sight. However, if you’re climbing at a crag with loose ground above the anchors consider wearing one belaying at least. Although, it may be wise for both belayer and climber to wear one in such cases. For multi-pitch climbing a helmet is essential. We do get it though, weight is major concern when sport climbing, so opt for a featherweight option like a Petzl Sirocco or a Black Diamond Vapour.

Climbing Shoes

As a beginner one pair should be fine for most of your needs. As you start to progress through the grades, you’ll probably want to bring at least two pairs with you for a day of sport climbing. A warm up shoes, and a ‘try hard’ shoe. Potentially if you own it, even a third pair. This third pair would be substantially different from your ‘try hard’ shoe to offer you new possibilities on a climb. Perhaps, it’s far stiffer/softer or maybe it has a quirky design feature like a No-Edge or Full Contact Sole.

Chalk Bag & Chalk

Climber’s chalk is Magnesium Carbonate. Despite what many new climbers think, chalk does not increase friction between your skin and the rock. It merely prevents sweating, which itself reduces friction. In fact, too much chalk on your hands or on holds can reduce the friction between your fingers and the rock. 

Chalk comes in four forms, as a block, loose, in a ball and as a liquid. Block chalk simply compressed Magnesium Carbonate, simply break off the desired chunk size, place it in your chalk bag and crush it into smaller chunks. Loose chalk comes in varying grain sizes dependent on brand. Chalk balls are netted bags of loose chalk. Liquid chalk is a solution of Magnesium carbonate and alcohol, which evaporates upon contact with the hands leaving a coating of chalk.

Different chalk products contain different quantities of added silica gel, a drying agent, and will have different effects on your skin. If you’re at the beginning of your climbing career, or have been climbing for some years and you’re struggling with bad skin, it’s worth sampling a wide range of chalk products from different brands to see which works best for you. For more tips on skin care, read our article here.

In addition to the chalk in your chalk bag, it’s worth bringing some reserve chalk. Carry this in a tupperware box or dry bag and use a small measuring cup to transfer chalk between your bucket and your chalk bag.

Quickdraws & Clip Stick

Truly, any quickdraw will work. However, for dedicated sport climbing use a specific sport climbing quickdraw is really nice. The chunky tape is far easier to grab when working routes, and design features like bent gates and keeper-rubber make for a safer and more enjoyable climbing experience.

10-12 quickdraws should be enough for most single sport routes. However, longer pitches may require in excess of 15+ quickdraws. It is worth carrying a few extendable quickdraws for bolts which are off off-line or beneath rooves. Some climbers will carry different length tapes for this. But, as a beginner you only need a standard dogbone length ~12cm and extendable draws made up on 60cm slings. When doubled these extender draws will hang longer than a standard 12cm dogbone, giving you that intermediate length between 12cm and full extension.

A clip stick is a nice addition to allow you to clip your way up routes when working them, and to protect the first few moves off the ground until you reach the first safe clip. Go for a compact or standard model, longer clip sticks are more cumbersome and difficult to use. Providing you are happy to clip your way up a route one bolt at a time, longer models are unnecessary. Consider threading your clip stick with some 3/4mm accessory cord so it can be clipped to the back of your harness, and retrieved with ease.

Anchor Kits, Lanyards, Slings & Carabiners

At the top of any pitch, whether on a single pitch or on a multi-pitch, you will need to build an anchor. When working think about what gear you need to bring, it’s worth thinking of anchor kits. These can be racked clipped all together on your harness for convenience. An anchor kit should have four utility locking carabiners and a 120cm sling. This allocation will allow you to clip each of the bolts of at the 2 or 3 bolt anchor and have at least one carabiner spare for the master point.

On a multi-pitch climb, you will need two anchor kits, and it is worth carrying some 3-4 spare slings and 6 utility snapgate carabiners for improvised in the partnership.

Lanyards are required to connect you to the lower off bolts on a single pitch climb when re-threading. Simple systems may involve a ‘dogbone’ quickdraw tape with the snapgates swapped out for locking carabiners. On multi-pitch climbs the requirements of a lanyard are further reaching. As such, lanyards become more complex. Climbers may choose to make their own with an 120cm sling, knotted appropriately, or go for a dedicated system like the Petzl Connect Adjust. A full write up on lanyards, their uses, requirements, and which to buy is coming soon, and will be linked to here.

Clothing & Footwear

What to wear for sport climbing is a big topic, and varies greatly depending on where and what you’re climbing. But the answer isn’t necessarily straightforward, and deserves it’s own article. That’s why we’ve put one together for you right here. Take a read and we hope it answers any lingering questions you might have.

The point of an approach shoe is to get you to the crag in one piece, comfortable and ready to climb. So, if you are able to approach in your street shoes and feel comfortable doing so, then by all means do. Generally though, a sturdy trail running shoe is your best option. These outperform purpose built approach shoes time and time again in practice. If you want to know our more in depth thoughts on approach shoes, read our article on them.

Brushes, Skin Care and Miscellaneous

There are a few other items which are not absolutely necessary but are nice to bring:

• A small doormat, towel or patch of carpet is useful to clean and dry your shoes before getting back on the rock to prevent you from getting dirt or moisture on the holds, and to increase the performance of your shoes.

• A bouler pad is an optional piece of gear, but some climbers like it for protecting the first few moves off the ground, as well as providing somewhere to stand or sit when resting.

• A brush is useful for cleaning excessively chalked holds. A number of specifically designed boar’s hair brushes are available. However, these are often expensive. A standard plastic washing up brush coupled with a soft nylon bristled toothbrush will cover most of your bases on pretty much all rock types. However, proceed with caution and adhere to local brushing ethics on soft sandstones, where brushing may be prohibited. Never, brush with a wire bristled metal brush, this greatly damages the rock. Wire brushes have been the cause of destroying a number of classic problems across the world.

• Skin care is an important part of your rest and recovery, and you should make full use of the range of products available (read more here). However it is always worth bringing some Zinc Oxide tape, a small pumice stone or block of sandpaper and some moisturiser. Regularly inspect your finger tips and sand down and rough areas, or snagged skin. You’d be amazed how much this can prolong your sessions.

• A guidebook is a book or eBook which contains photographs or drawings of the problems, along with a description of each problem and details of how to find the climbs. These photos are called ‘topos’ as such sometimes a guidebook may be referred to as a topo. In most modern guidebooks, lines will be superimposed on top of the boulder or rock face to show which way the problem is climbed. In other guidebooks, you may get a simple sketch with a ‘bird’s eye view’ from above showing where the climbs are. However, these topos are harder to use, especially for those unfamiliar with the area it describes, and as such are falling out of fashion.

• And, as always for any outdoor activity, carry a small First Aid kit, know how to use and means to contact local emergency services with an accurate description of where you are.

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Photos - Fionn Claydon