The Best Rock Climbing Rack and Gear List

By Chris McNamara ⋅ Founder and Editor-in-Chief

Monday June 5, 2017

Below is our choice for Ultimate Rock Climbing Rack. We feel this is the most versatile rack that will perform the best in the most number of locations. That said, every climbing area is different and we would tweak this rack a little here and there. You can see variations on this rack here on SuperTopo.com:

Best High Sierra Climbing Rack
Best Yosemite Climbing Rack

Best Yosemite Big Wall Climbing Rack

We list top choice first followed sometimes by the Best Buy (BB) choice> For example, the La Sportiva TC Pro is our top Yosemite shoe choice but costs $170. The La Sportiva Tarantula is our Best Buy winner at only $90 and will get the job done.

This rack has almost everything you may need for a multi-pitch trad climb. Depending on the climb you are going to do and your experience you can pick and choose what you need. Climbing Rack For a typical rack for a big wall climb, check out a typical

Climbing Gear

Nuts:

1 set Cypher Huevos

1 set DMM Peenuts

1 setDMM Brass Offsets (optional)

Cams:

1-2 sets Black Diamond Camalot X4 (#00-4)

1 set Black Diamond Camalot X4 Offset (optional) (#00-4)

2 sets Black Diamond Camalot to (#0.5-4)

Ropes: 1 60m x 9.5mm and one 60m x 8mm for double rope rappels
Quickdraws: 7 Wild Country Helium Quickdraws, Black Diamond FreeWire Quickdraw, or CAMP Nano 22 Quickdraw to go ultralight
Carabiners: 20 extra Wild Country Helium or Mad Rock Ultra-Light Straight (BB) or CAMP Nano 22 to go ultralight
Locking Carabiners: 3 Petzl Attache or Black Diamond Rocklock (BB)
Slings: 10 Mammut Contact Sling 8.0 and a few 9/16" runners in case you need to leave them at rappels
Cordelette: 8mm Dyneema/Spectra CordKatadyn Micropur
Harness: Black Diamond Chaos or Black Diamond Momentum
Belay Device: Petzl Reverso
Climbing Shoes: La Sportiva Skwama or La Sportiva Tarantula (BB)
Helmet: Petzl Meteor helmet or Petzl Boreo
Metolius Adjustable Gear Sling

Nut Tool: Wild Country Pro Key