Beth Rodden shares her system for racking for long trad climbing routes. For more climbing tricks and tips visit Beth's Wall at www.metoliusclimbing.com/beth-...
Great vid, love the compartmentalization. I do the same thing, but I prefer to rack my cams on my harness in the front. I find the gear sling to get in my way too much when climbing especially tight spots.
I've tried several racking systems over the years. I now rack all my pro on my harness but after seeing this video have adopted the method of racking my slings over my shoulder with one carabiner. You really only need one when placing cams like Beth points out. Also saves some real-estate on your harness for some alpine draws for nut placements! Great video
wow, an almost exact duplicate of my normal setup even down to the doubled up cams. Nice to know someone who is actually good at climbing somehow arrived at same conclusions I did. I have started using Metolius rabbit runners for many of the shoulder length slings. You get longer slings and don't have to take them off over your head. (psst metolius! sponsor my mid-life crisis) So...where do the big offwidth cams go?
My personal preference is to balance the cams with half on each side of my harness instead of on a gear sling. There's two reasons for this. First, I have a bad back, so any extra weight on my shoulders transfers to my back and I'll be more sore the next day. Second, I don't know in advance which hand will be free when I'm placing a piece, so I like having a range of options available to each hand. But that's the wonder of climbing... to each their own, find what works for you!
Nice vid and certainly one way of doing things. But one size doesn't fit all and everyone has their own way of racking efficiently (or they should). Best thing is to try some different ways and figure out what works best for you. I hate a gear sling and use a six-loop Misty Mountain harness instead. A gear sling is nice though if you're swinging leads.
That is a very good point! Always thought that the gear sling seemed troublesome, but just handing your partner half of the rack like that is great, effeciency is key, especially on multi-pitches :)
How much weight do you guys carry in a trad route? Beth looks like he has about 2.5-3kg only for the cams and nuts - probably around 5-6 kg total. Is this the usual?
Why wouldn't you just put 2 biners on each sling for placements? It seems to me it would take longer to have to reach for one of those extra wiregates when placing a nut, and then clipping a sling onto it as well. Also, wiregates weigh almost nothing, its not going to add any encumbrance at all really to add one on each sling. If you take 6-10 up like you said, thats 6-10 extra wiregate biners. The efficiency trade off for the small amount of weight sounds better to me. Otherwise, I did like some of the other tips you had in here.
+Nick King Because most of the placements are using cams, so in your scenario it's actually more effort to remove and rack the extra wiregate biner from the extension sling.
+Carson Baker I typically just clip the "extra" biner into the cam sling. sure the original cam carabiner is unused, but to me the trade off seems more efficient with little sacrifice in weight
+Nick King I do that too, sometimes. I think that method works best if you're racking alpine draws or clipping with draws. The whole point of carrying slings over the shoulder, imo, is that they're already extended and you're saving the extra weight of that biner.
That's exactly what happened to me on Saturday multiple times! :-D You never stop learning about ghe importance of the little details, I guess. When you're up there On the wall descending the rope and collecting your material, then trying to fix a biner to your harness three times because it gets stuck in your shirt is really annoying. ;-)
A double rack of cams .5-3 = $700-$800, Nuts $100, Quickdraw pack $75, 6 Alpine draws $150, belay device $20, a few lockers $40, harness $50, gear sling $25, .3 cam $50, #4 cam $60. Don't forget your rope $200 and shoes $100. So, like ~$1,700 plus tax.
I feel like having to take off those shoulder slings and placing the gear located on the other shoulder sling would require a lot of hands off the wall work.
John Tuttle what if you’re hand jamming with your left hand and your slings are over your left shoulder? on easy terrain NBD but if you’re pumped that’s tough to manage.
Then grab a quickdraw or clip in directly to the cam. This rack setup is probably best for a moderate multi pitch though, you don’t see hardly anyone climbing hard trad with a gear sling and shoulder runners
I always take a prusik as well. If you end up needing to rappel down then it's super important.
Ya can't stress this enough.
I really like the concept of this vid. I wish more people did these videos.
Thank you Beth for another damn good quality video.
Excellent video. Very cool to be learning from an expert like Beth!
Thanks for the very nice and informative video. Well presented. My compliments.
great video just getting started in trad climbing
Great vid, love the compartmentalization. I do the same thing, but I prefer to rack my cams on my harness in the front. I find the gear sling to get in my way too much when climbing especially tight spots.
Likely the best rack placement video.
I've tried several racking systems over the years. I now rack all my pro on my harness but after seeing this video have adopted the method of racking my slings over my shoulder with one carabiner. You really only need one when placing cams like Beth points out. Also saves some real-estate on your harness for some alpine draws for nut placements! Great video
I have an older Metolius gear sling that has gear loops built onto it that helps with added organization of the gear
wow, an almost exact duplicate of my normal setup even down to the doubled up cams. Nice to know someone who is actually good at climbing somehow arrived at same conclusions I did.
I have started using Metolius rabbit runners for many of the shoulder length slings. You get longer slings and don't have to take them off over your head. (psst metolius! sponsor my mid-life crisis)
So...where do the big offwidth cams go?
My personal preference is to balance the cams with half on each side of my harness instead of on a gear sling. There's two reasons for this. First, I have a bad back, so any extra weight on my shoulders transfers to my back and I'll be more sore the next day. Second, I don't know in advance which hand will be free when I'm placing a piece, so I like having a range of options available to each hand.
But that's the wonder of climbing... to each their own, find what works for you!
Nice vid and certainly one way of doing things. But one size doesn't fit all and everyone has their own way of racking efficiently (or they should). Best thing is to try some different ways and figure out what works best for you. I hate a gear sling and use a six-loop Misty Mountain harness instead. A gear sling is nice though if you're swinging leads.
That is a very good point! Always thought that the gear sling seemed troublesome, but just handing your partner half of the rack like that is great, effeciency is key, especially on multi-pitches :)
absolute legend
Now I know why people free solo.
How much weight do you guys carry in a trad route? Beth looks like he has about 2.5-3kg only for the cams and nuts - probably around 5-6 kg total. Is this the usual?
Maybe this chart will help. www.metoliusclimbing.com/pdf/racking-up-comparison.pdf
Why wouldn't you just put 2 biners on each sling for placements? It seems to me it would take longer to have to reach for one of those extra wiregates when placing a nut, and then clipping a sling onto it as well. Also, wiregates weigh almost nothing, its not going to add any encumbrance at all really to add one on each sling. If you take 6-10 up like you said, thats 6-10 extra wiregate biners. The efficiency trade off for the small amount of weight sounds better to me. Otherwise, I did like some of the other tips you had in here.
+Nick King That would be a question for Beth. You could post your question to her Facebook or Twitter account.
+Nick King Because most of the placements are using cams, so in your scenario it's actually more effort to remove and rack the extra wiregate biner from the extension sling.
+Carson Baker I typically just clip the "extra" biner into the cam sling. sure the original cam carabiner is unused, but to me the trade off seems more efficient with little sacrifice in weight
+Nick King I do that too, sometimes. I think that method works best if you're racking alpine draws or clipping with draws. The whole point of carrying slings over the shoulder, imo, is that they're already extended and you're saving the extra weight of that biner.
+Nick King She explains it in the video. She is primarily placing cams. When you're climbing long routes with that much gear, every ounce counts.
Very nice vídeo. Thanks. Just one point...I rather climb with the t-shirt inside my shorts. That's avoids that the biner and else get stuck...
That's exactly what happened to me on Saturday multiple times! :-D
You never stop learning about ghe importance of the little details, I guess. When you're up there On the wall descending the rope and collecting your material, then trying to fix a biner to your harness three times because it gets stuck in your shirt is really annoying. ;-)
Whats the retail value of all this stuff?
A double rack of cams .5-3 = $700-$800, Nuts $100, Quickdraw pack $75, 6 Alpine draws $150, belay device $20, a few lockers $40, harness $50, gear sling $25, .3 cam $50, #4 cam $60. Don't forget your rope $200 and shoes $100. So, like ~$1,700 plus tax.
@@andrewp.menotti6756 now i get it why alex is free soloing.. pff.
@@andrewp.menotti6756 you're doing a fine job Andrew
I usually take a nut tool, just saying.
This is a lead rack. Nut tool is for the second, almost always.
@@johntuttle9544 no a nut keys useful for lead.
@@bker5376 True, can be useful just not usually.
@@johntuttle9544 that's real expirience talking
I feel like having to take off those shoulder slings and placing the gear located on the other shoulder sling would require a lot of hands off the wall work.
+Forrest Shafer I agree.
No. It can be done with one hand free.
John Tuttle what if you’re hand jamming with your left hand and your slings are over your left shoulder? on easy terrain NBD but if you’re pumped that’s tough to manage.
Then grab a quickdraw or clip in directly to the cam. This rack setup is probably best for a moderate multi pitch though, you don’t see hardly anyone climbing hard trad with a gear sling and shoulder runners
thas alot of cams
But how do I rack if I’m not climbing with Beth? 😉😉
Probably double everything
Monica from Friends :)