UKH

Just wanted to find out if theres any secret wonderful ways of me marking/organising my trad rack. 

I'm currently using pvc tape on the nut size indicator because when I wrapped the tape around the wire itself it kept unpeeling. 

I've got coloured carabiners for ease of selection whilst climbing which I find really helpful. 

Basically looking to make it as quick and easy as possible to re rack after a climb any tips would be much appreciated. 

You can get coloured heat shrink tubing that you can cut to size, slide over the end of wires and shrink down .

I don't know how you could do that with cams though.

Just a thought.

Nice 1 I'll have a look. 

As for cams I'm actually alright as I'm using normal coloured binars for my larger sized cams and for my smaller sized cams I'm using nano biners which is working really well for me when my forearms are throbbing and I'm thrashing around for the right sized cam . 

Smaller biners are a bit more awkward to deal with but not had a problem as of yet.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eventronic-ET1002-Shrink-Electric-Insulation/dp/B0...

Something like this is what I used in the past.

Just wondering as it's a tube how do you manage to shrink it onto a single side of the nut wire as I dont want to be sealing both sides of the nut wire together 

Why do you need to mark it your gear to organise it? 

I've all my wires on one carabiner (meant to be on two but never get round to putting it back..), and all 9 of my cams have the same type and colour (silver, bare metal) of carabiner. 5 quickdraws, 2 long 3 short. 3 extender draws. Probably no more than 30 seconds from pile of gear on the floor to neatly racked on my harness. 

I just used to do it right at the end  of the wire where they are sealed together anyway where the loading / rating info is.

just after where the loop for clipping is.

I'm looking to mark my nuts as I've got offest nuts on a separate biner to my standard nuts and my micro nuts also on a different biner, so coloured tape will help organise which binar the nut needs to go back on. 

I put cams on one side and wires on the other and then mix it all up before the route gets hard. I tend to also make sure my t-shirt or whatever is hindering my ability to get quickdraws off my harness. I consider it a success these days if I just don't drop anything. Actually doing the route is a bonus. 

I think you'll find you very quickly get accustomed to which nut goes on which set without needing any help from tape.

I guess partners might find the tape helpful if they're re-racking them for you but you might find yourself wanting to adjust your system over time as you gain experience or buy more gear and that would be a pain if it requires retaping.

Ye hopefully so. Another thing is it helps with identifying who's gears who's when there a couple of racks knocking about and people are borrowing gear. And I also find it strangely satisfying the time and effort of marking each nut with the same coloured tape as the biner.

Is tape going to be any speedier that just looking at the nut given you're differentiating between regular, offset and micros (unless I've mis-read)?  I doubt you'll make any substantial saving and could even lose time checking for tape.

Most folk with coloured tape on their rack are doing it to avoid mixing their gear up with others rather than to help on with re-racking.

I could more understand if you were working some kind of even sizes on one carabiner and odds on another maybe but don't see how tape will be quicker between the 3 types.

I think key to minimising downtime between routes / pitches is more likely to be faff elimination / systematic transfers than colour coding your nuts.

e.g.  Have a regular place on your harness for bits of kit and when you're second arrives at the top sort your gear whilst they sort the ropes.  Odds are you'll be racked up and ready by the time they have coiled up.  Time is lost when you randomly rackup and then spend a few minutes raking around your waist figuring out where everything is, or you start coiling ropes while your second dumps the removed gear then stands about watching you coil ropes then sort gear.  Develop a system and stick with it - really helps if you have a regular partner.

If Multi pitch and you're swinging leads then you sort out the gear whilst they do any faffing they need to do before setting off (e.g. quick drink, check guidebook etc).  Unless you're placing stupid amounts of gear each pitch you should be re-racked pretty quickly if you know where everything is on your harness.  Bandolier racking can really speed stuff up as well rather than un-clipping and re-clipping all your gear each time you swing a lead.   We found this really helped with long rock routes in the alps etc.  I'm sure others will disagree though!!

Also if possible find tall crags!  the shorter the route the poorer the climbing to faff ration becomes!

Cheers,

Stu

Not read the whole thread so don't know if anyone has already mentioned this...

When climbing on seacliffs, never rack all the same size nuts/wires on the same crab. Split them across two or three (if you carry 3 of each size). I.e. don't rack all 1-5 on one crab, all 6-10 on another. Split them to rack "half" 1-10 on both crabs. Etc. Etc.

The reasons for this become rather obvious once you've ever dropped a gear crab into the water

The other seacliff tip is to have all your gear on a (bandolier) sling rather than on your gear loops whenever there is a risk of ending up in the water.

Better to loose a load of gear than drown because you couldn't get the weight off your harness quickly enough.

Main risk time for this is probably when doing easy sea level traverses to get to the start of a route.

Forget about the colour coding for nuts - just learn to size cracks with your fingers and do it by touch, it's not hard and once you've had your kit for long enough for 1/2 of it to be lost, the other half replaced with swag and bits poached from your partners and for all the shiny colour to be scratched off you'll realise that colour coding is mostly marketing.

The taping isnt to help me decide which nut to use whilst climbing so the shiny nut colours irrelevant. It's for when my partners cleaned the route and I've got 6 different wires in my hand I just wanted to make it easier to put the nuts back.

As for the nut colouring being new to placing gear I've actually found it really helps me out when deciding what nut to use and helping me gauge what size/colour I'll need when I get my initial nut size wrong.

I use bright nail polish on the metal work to distinguish my gear rather to help with racking. Tape is a waste of time it always ends up peeling especially when used on karabiners.  Even that expensive stuff which you can put your phone number on.

Al

A different but useful tip may be to try integrating these nuts with your standard nuts. I find that this allows me to try, say, a red no.6 and, when that doesn't quite sit right, quickly switch to a bomber red offset, without having to switch between carabiners. 

Similarly, unless you are carrying a lot of micros, maybe just rack them on a carabiner with your smaller nuts. This will mean that when, say, the little purple doesn't fit, you can try something a little smaller. I don't really carry micros normally, but have some DMM peenuts which fit in nicely as offset versions of my smaller standard nuts. 

Just a thought!

Also very good if you split the sets onto different sides of your harness. I know lots of people do weird stuff like put all their passive gear on one side and all their cams on the other, which seems nuts (oi oi!) to me. Would be a right pain if you were comfortable on your left arm and the gear you needed was on the left side of your harness, for example. 

I have big gear on one side and small gear on the other but I have a double set of 1-6 and a set lives on each side. I have a little black tape flag that lives on one of the 1-6 set so I know which go on which biner when I'm at a belay. I've never had a problem with tape coming off (I mostly climb less abrasive rock-types) but have seen some people spray the top of the nut with paint in different colours so they know which goes on which krab also. 

I like to rack my gear on the front with gates facing in and QDs on the back with gates facing out. Don't ask me why but I'm sure it has redeeming features. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to either option.

Personally I find that both my arms can reach either side of my harness and I very rarely find myself in a position so constricted as to make having all the nuts on one side a problem. Perhaps that's partly because I'm not a big fan of chimneys, offwidths etc. where you're more likely to find some of your gear pressed up against the rock.

The advantage of racking all your similar-sized nuts together is that you don't have to keep a mental inventory of which krab still has, say, a number 6 on it. I have a bad memory so I find it much easier to keep track of a single krab of each nut size. Also when a wallnut doesn't quite sit nicely you can easily try a rock instead.

But I very rarely drop gear and can't remember ever dropping an entire krab of nuts. I can't say it will never happen but for me, the disadvantages of carrying separate independent sets of nuts outweigh the small dropping risk.

You're over-thinking this.

Rack nuts by size (mixed types), not type - tiny, small, medium, large with some overlaps (all curves facing the same way which makes it easier to pick the right one).  Mark them with a splodge of Humbrol enamel on the wire at the fat end of the wedge, a dollop on cams, and wipe some into the stamped lettering on krabs.  Lasts as long as the gear does, and one tin will last you from 1986 to now.....

I made a similar decision some years ago. I used to have three crabs for wires - small, medium, large. Now I have four - small Rocks and large Rocks on one side, small Wallnuts and large Wallnuts on the other. I also have some overlap, so while no 5s are ranked as small, I also have a no 5 on the large set. Seeing all your large wires heading down into the sea doesn't bear thinking about.

I think it depends on what works for you. Personally I use a big wall bandolier for my rack and I have nuts, quick draws and slings on the right and cams and hexes on the left ordered small at the front to big at the back. 

Non of my climbing partners like the bandolier at all, but personally I don't like the weight on my harness/hips. I also find it quicker and easier to place gear and that works for me.

Just a tip rack your nuts across 3 crabs small to large, rack the offsets with the equivelant size normal nut. That way if the normal one doesn't fit you've already got your offset to hand.

1) size 1 - 4

2) size 5 - 7

3) size 8 - 11 

I have all of my brass micro wires on 4th crab, which I obviously don't always carry.

Amateur. Start by leaving about a third of the rack on your partner's harness (so it's just a nagging feeling you've not got everything, nothing too obvious), and any really crucial bits should be hiding in an untidily half-ravelled slingdraw.

To be honest my barometer of success these days is actually just remembering some of my rack. About once a year I'll do a route like a proficient climber. Not drop anything, not dally on a ledge, not try and convince myself I'm on the wrong route coz it's a bit hard, not cross my ropes, not get gear stuck, not cheat by finger locking a wire in a crack, not get my hair caught in my belay device and have to cut it out with a spork. The rest of time I just climb like an absolute clown. Given up even caring.  

  Most importantly, you will find that binars (sic) or biners are unavailable in the UK, being for North American distribution only. In their place you can use carabiners, crabs or krabs.

  Similarly, you cannnot "send" a route in the UK, only ascend or climb it. Nor can you climb in the Peaks , up Nevis, or up Mount Snowdon.

Looks like I'll split my nuts over 3 "carabiners"/krabs/clickymetalthings  by size then as that's what seems to work best for a lot of yous. 

Much appreciated for the advice more or less everybody

Don't over analyse just get out climbing, don't carry too much and let it form itself to your taste over the years.  Hammer the easy routes, rather than chase the grade at first, you'll soon discover what you can reach on your harness, where it hangs and which bits you prefer to use first etc. 

Over-share, but apparently true in 40% of people.

Crikey.  I'd never even thought about this being an issue.

I look at the route, pick some gear out, add some spare and put it on my harness.  I resist the sand-bagging overtures of my partners to carry massive cams/hexes "just in case".

The gear isn't coded (other than tape to show it's mine not my partners') - I can see what I'm picking off.

I put a few extenders on both sides but everything else is in standard places.  Repeatability works better for me than trying to guess which arm will need what gear when.

Only on 'tip': just find what works for you then be consistent with it.

KPersonally, I'd  stick with tape to mark wires. Fast to apply and almost free. On rare occasions you need to thread them through limestone pockets and any extra bulk is a pain.

Be flexible in what you carry depending on the route and don't clutter yourself by carrying too much. On any one route I imagine about a third of the gear stays in my bag.

How you rack is personal. There is no 'right way'. Just experiment. It took 5 years or more before i finally settled on my current 

Most climbers I see have far too much gear when they start off. Just look at the climb and access what you will require. Also use a karabiner with no lip for racking nuts. I use a bandoleer for my quickdraws so I can speedily clip my nuts onto this when transfering gear at stances.

Small nuts for slate & limestone and bigger nuts for granite.

This will be heresy to some but I rack a full set on nuts on a krab, I have large offsets and micros on one, wallnuts on the other. That way I cant drop all the nuts of one size. Cant be arsed with this whole splitting sizes nonsense. Doesnt slow me down at all and I just identify whether I want a weird shape nut or not before pulling the krab off my harness. Cams have colour coded crabs, extenders are clour coded by length. I identify whats mine by how utter f*cked it all looks, or by just climbing on my gear or their gear...

Put them on different coloured carabineers, then use your eyes.

How do you learn the skill of "looking at the route and picking some gear out"? 

It's mainly down to experience but you can practice judging and placing the best gear whilst still on the ground.  When I'm climbing well I find that the first nut I pick is usually the right one but if I've not climbed for a while or if I'm "not in the zone" it can take 2 or 3 attempts.  And I've been at this for 55 years!

Al

By looking at the route, selecting what you think you'll need, then absolutely terrifying yourself when you realise the crucial piece is left in your sack

In short, it comes with experience but it's a good idea to conciously try to develope it

The obvious compromise for the first pitch is to leave the remainder of the rack in reach of the belayer. You can then send a loop of one of your ropes down for that hitherto discarded large hex when needed....

Slowly.

At first you just ditch the huge stuff when it's obvious it's not needed.

Then you recognise routes/rocktypes that might want more of a certain type or size of gear (e.g. smaller wires)

And you learn what gear is more common/versatile (lots of ways to place a wire for example) and therefore what overlaps.  Also, some gear matches things that you're likely to be comfortable on with your hands (a hand jam sized friend is lower priority than an offwidth one for me).

For long, mountain routes weight is an issue, so a sparser rack and fewer quickdraws in favour of more slings.

For single pitches, just step back and look at the features.

Finally, the most important skill is that your gear is really good when you do place it. I'd rather have 3 excellent bits than 6 dodgy ones.

DMM O's for racking nuts.

Green: big nuts, 'green for go'

Blue: medium nuts, 'blue, stay cool'

Orange: smaller nuts, 'orange, getting spicy'

Red: small nuts, 'red, danger!'

Black: micros, 'black, death'

A bit cheesy, but an unforgettable system (especially good for beginners, not that I recommend beginners do 'death' routes).

Sounds like some experience is needed first if you can't see all of the route (getting used to rock types etc). 

Thanks!

p.s. Out of interest would you ditch most of your cams to save weight ever? (not suggesting that I might do it, only wondering how weight conscious you get)

If I'm doing, say, a 500m route a grade or two below by general/max leading grade then I'd probably just take two or three max - 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 Friends.

In general I find small things more useful than big ones, as often if there's a #3 friend sized crack then the rock is generally more fissured and you can get wires or slings on spikes.

Obviously if you're doing 100m of hand/fist splitter crack, then adjust accordingly!