Hi. I am just beginning the shift from Sport to Trad and want to know what are the ESSENTIAL start up pieces of trad protection I will require...Most of my initial climbing will be Magaliesberg, Eagle Mountain and Swinburne.

What advice (or just gear for sale!)??

I've just bought myself a rack... I would recommend a complete set of cams and nuts, I ordered cams ranging from 7mm-114mm (9) and I ordered a full set of standard sized nuts (11) and a set of micro nuts (5). I would recommend colour coded biners for the cams. A set of double ropes is essential (8.5mmx60m is perfect).

I think that is the minimum. A lot of people order hexes but for me personally I don't use them, I think that nuts and cams work well enough. I'm not an expert trad climber but I do have a lot of fun while I'm out there and I have seen a bunch of the racks that other people are using. Best of luck, PM me if you wanna climb sometime in the Magalies...

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I hate this real world place... I'd be more than happy to live out there rather...

If your starting out, leave the cams- get nuts, hexes and runners first... If you still have a budget left then get a few cams. Only get micros when you got the balls to place them...

For starter 2 sport ropes will work fine(although) they are bulkier than twins.

I know Brian said get a lot of cams, but the reason is: he climbs hard stuff >20, which pretty much necessitise the need for placing quick pro, since when normal climbers start out, aim for lower grades(14-16) just to practice placements and techniques first.

If you need more help - ask shorti on the forum, think he is the guy with the most help for newbies...

ja a beginner rack is a bit of anomaly since it's more necessary for a beginner to have a "full" rack. budget is the main problem for most so here's a few suggestions:
hook up with an exprienced tradster and second lots of routes. pay careful attention to how, where & when gear is placed.
learn to build solid anchors. setting up a secure belay is the leader's most important role. recommended reading is "advanced rock climbing" by john long.
if the trad thing is really your game, get a buddy and build a rack together.
or even better, take the plunge, sell the couches and buy a full rack - essentials are a full set of cams & nuts; 4x 60cm slings and 2x 120cm slings; nut pick; cordelette (x2); helmet.
there's been a discussion or two about which brands of gear are the best. city rock currently sells metolius mastercams for R500 a piece - that's a very good deal! and dmm wallnuts are the shizzlies imho.
for great gear reviews check out supertopo.com - a wealth of information there. http://www.supertopo.com/reviews/gear.p ... ing+device
get hold of shorti and you'll have an encyclopedia of information to your disposal......

ps: somebody correct me if i'm wrong, but to my knowledge magalies takes a lot of nuts; less cams?

Mark - just a quick heads up re. trad climbing at Swinburne and Eagles head (I think the new owners have reverted to the old name Mt Everest...).
The rock is soft, particularly at Swinburne - cave sandstone.
There are trad routes - more at Eagles head, but these were put up by experienced trad climbers who can assess rock and placement quality and more importantly did not fall!
We all know what happened at Swinburne on trad...
I think that cams in particular are very likely to cut grooves into the rock and possibly fail completely in cave sandstone...
Maybe stick to recognised trad areas until you've got more experience?
and you can't have too many nuts...
Anyways, keep at it, progress slowly and you'll have a blast!
C ya,
Bruce

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LCD SCUM

True, same goes for hexes. You can go a long way without cams, most of the classics were opened before cams existed after all (including almost unthinkable routes like Boggle).

Oakley and Mok, you guys give me too much credit. I just gained experience from a few cases of bad judgement, a fair amount of luck and good mentors. That being said, I won't mind sharing what I've learned

I would also like to echo what Bruce said.

And to try answer your question, I'd do the following in the best order of importance I can think of:
You need a rope. A sport rope will work, but it is not ideal.
You need slings. Your cheapest option is 20m of tubular tape, cut them into 120cm and 240cm lengths and knot them to make slings. This is your cheapest gear and you will use it to sling trees, roots and chicken heads, thread holes and extend gear.
Screwgates, at least 1 HMS to belay from, at least 5 small ones to rack on slings and use on stances. You can also disassemble your sport draws to supplement your biners.
Get a full set of nuts, this will be the backbone of your rack.
Nut tool to get your nuts out, you don't want to waste your money by donating your gear to people like me who don't need it.
Use your sport draws.
Get a set of hexes, they work well in the Magalies in particular and you will be considered hard-core by everyone that can hear you coming from a mile away.
Cams. Start with medium size cams and expand both ways until you run out of money. I use medium and large cams most. I have tiny cams, but hardly ever use them.
Two ropes are better than one. Half ropes are better than singles. 2 * 50m are 20m less bulk than 60m ropes and they are cheaper.
If you have money left, replace your sport draws with lightweight "trad draws" with nice long slings.
Ideally you want 1 racking biner per cam and 1 or 2 for nuts and 1 for hexes.
8-12 draws are enough - I have 8 normal and 4 extendible draws and it's usually overkill.
Double medium and small nuts.
Cordelettes are nice to have on a hanging stance with 3 people or if 1 person is doing all the leading.
If you honestly feel you have to double on cams and you dislike hexes for some obscure reason, then double on medium cams.
Micro nuts, I can think of only a handful of routes where they are necessary.
Mok makes a good point to have a helmet, you can decide for yourself where in the list to slot it in (it will be a good indication of how much brains you have worth protecting).

Ok Britannica needs to work now.

I agree a decent lid should be high on your list of purchases.

And also last but not least.....

If you have been using a Grigri in the past it's probably worthwhile investing in a decent belay device. A one fits all type is a good idea to save you carrying too much around. My personal favourite is the Black Diamond ATC, which I've used exclusively for 10 years plus now. And a nice oval biner for hassle free belaying.

And a good nut key is a good idea, especially in Magalies quartzite.

I've never beeny overjoyed with cam placements in quartzite, even when they are available. The low friction rock never really inspires confidence. For my first 2-3 years of trad experience there I think my partner and I had 2 1 1/2 Friends between us which we got at a Bergsport sale.

Ito belay devices: the type which will allow you to belay off the anchor is priceless. Eg. the Petzl Reverso and BD ATC-guide. They provide some auto-lock off too.

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You may still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not. Cat Stevens

Cordelettes are really not needed, just clove hitch the rope to the anchors and tie it all together with a BFK. Saves time and gear

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Happy climbing
Nic

"yes" and "no" imho; depending on whether or not you swap leads. if there's one leader only (often when climbing in 3s) then cordelettes makes things easy, clean and safe to secure seconds & switch from belay to lead. using the rope set-up has the advantage that your anchors are dynamically loaded.

Hi

Dynamic loading of your anchors is really minimal when a second falls, unless they are under a roof/overhang because the rope is tight. The rope between the belay device and the climber plays a much greater role in absorbing the (limited) shock loading than the rope in the belay simply because there is usually more rope out than in the stance.

When leading the belay is (mostly) directly off the belayer's harness and not off the stance which also reduces the shock loading on the stance.

I do agree that the cord is nice for when one person is doing all the leading.

Sorry for the thread hijacking!

Back on topic: Climb with a bunch of people, everyone will have a different setup, find out what you like and don't like and only then buy your gear.

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Happy climbing
Nic

Thanks for one of the most sensible forum trains I've seen in a long time
Also thanks for the harrismith beta. Guess I will stay clear of Mt Ev & Swinburne for a while.

I recently got my first official exposure to leading trad, so I am a super newbie in the discipline. Some great wisdom to be had here, now that I need to prepare for the whole trad investment process.

with my very limited exposure to date, I try to avoid placing cams to avoid becoming too reliant on them, but often use it in 'when all else fails' kinda scenarios (ie first try every other conceivable option). At the moment it still happens quite often though Getting a bomber placement on a cam gives me plenty peace of mind for some strange unexplained reason.
I did however figure out quite fast that cams are not a cure-all. Sometimes they land right at the bottom end of the food chain during placement choices.

Any thoughts about rack choice for boven & monteseel when climbing low grades??