Other Trad Rack Essentials

Carabiners

Coming in all shapes, designs, and sizes, all carabiners serve one core purpose: they allow you to easily clip the rope into the protection you’ve just placed. Carabiners are the unsung heroes of the climbing world. Similar to sport climbing, you want to use standard (non-locking) carabiners while you’re climbing the route, and locking carabiners for anchors and belaying.

Quickdraws & Alpine Draws



Quickdraws and Alpine Draws are both used in trad climbing to attach your pieces of protection to the rope. Quickdraws have fixed lengths and are commonly used in sport climbing but can be useful on trad routes, especially those with straight, vertical cracks that create a more or less straight rope path between the leader and belayer. (Don’t forget, always make sure you choose the right climbing rope for the job).

On less direct routes, alpine draws are the norm. Instead of having a fixed length like quickdraws, alpine draws use a sewn sling that is looped in such a way that it can extend from roughly the length of a standard quickdraw to about two feet in length. This is very important on trad routes — by extending your placements with longer alpine draws, you allow the rope to travel in a more linear path between the belayer and leader. If the rope has to travel over a ledge or follows a meandering route and an extended alpine draw isn’t used, the rope can pull on your protection, causing cams to “walk” and nuts to pop out of the wall while you are climbing.

Slings



This is a loop of nylon or Dyneema, often sewn with a bar-tack. It serves a variety of purposes, from slinging chicken heads to racking your gear. Clip two carabiners to a sling and make an alpine draw to extend your placements even farther out than standard quickdraws.

Runners

Similar to slings in construction, runners typically have a much larger circumference than most slings. Use them to create anchors or extend placements on traversing terrain, or sling them around rocks to protect you in places where neither passive nor active placements can.

Cordelette

Made from a loop of 6mm or 7mm cord, cordelettes are inexpensive pieces of gear that are very versatile. Use them for anchors, backups, or leave them behind when you need to lower for an emergency. You can always buy another one because they are so inexpensive.

Nut Tool

A pick-shaped piece of metal that can help the second climber remove a stuck nut wedged into the rock. The nut tool is an indispensable item.

Gear Sling

This is essentially a sling with a padded section that rests on your shoulder, and it has multiple loops for organizing your gear. Some climbers take their gear slings climbing, and others use it solely for organization purposes.