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In this thread you can ask any trad climbing related question that you may have. This thread will be posted again every Sunday so there should always be an opportunity to ask your question and have it answered. If you're an experienced climber and want to contribute to the community, these threads are a great opportunity for that. We were all new to climbing at some point, so be respectful of everyone looking to improve their knowledge. Check out our subreddit wiki that has tons of useful info for new climbers. You can see it HERE

Some examples of potential questions could be; "How do I get stronger?", or "How does aid climbing work?"

Prior Weekly Trad Climber Thread posts

Ask away!

Going to Colorado with some friends soon. Wanted to know where some fun medium to long multi pitch trad routes are between 5.8-5.10b. Looking at Mtn project I didn’t know where to start. Any guidance would be great.

We’re willing to drive anywhere in the state so that’s not an issue.

After some thought and research, I’ve put together a mixed rack of Totems, DMM Dragons, and Black Diamond Camalot C4s that I believe will work well as a starting setup for smooth limestone trad climbing. Here’s what I’m planning:

This mix gives me Totems for tricky, polished placements, DMM Dragons for their extendable slings and excellent friction in medium sizes, and Camalot C4s for the larger sizes, taking advantage of their wide expansion range.

Here’s my question: I’m considering ditching the Camalot C4s entirely and using DMM Dragons for the larger sizes as well to keep the rack consistent. Would this be a smart move, or would I lose something significant by not having the C4s?

I’d love to hear your thoughts—how does this setup look, and what would you tweak?

Had a Moab trip planned for these next few days but everyone seems to be bailing on it at the last minute. Id still really like to go though, ive never been to the creek before and have been looking forward to this for a while.

What are the chances of just showing up at the parking lot/ crag and trying to find a partner/ group to join? Ive heard the creek gets pretty busy during thanksgiving week so it seems like it could be a reasonable idea, ive just never been before so I have no idea what the scene is like.

I am new to trad climbing as of last year. I have this set of stoppers/nuts BD #1-13

It's not a big deal weight wise, but I sort of feel like the small nuts are pointless. Maybe when I am climbing super hard or in the mountains and that's all I have for protection options, but what is the use of these 2KN nuts? Should I just leave these at home when I am climbing in the Gunks doing 5.5 - 5.9?

But that also leads me to my next question, when do you guys use small nuts like this? Obviously people use these and smaller with brass stoppers, but I haven't yet.

There's an argument amongst friends about cams (pun intended). All things being equal except lobe radius, does a cam set as at a larger radius have more, equal, or less force pushing outwards than a cam set at a smaller radius? Does it change with cam sizes? Thirdly, how does that affect the reliability of the cam in a fall?

I just got back from a trip to Indian Creek and am a bit baffled on if I am totally misunderstanding what an ideal jam is for the various sizes, or if my hands are just bigger than the typical person.

My understanding of what I think a typical jam would be is below:

Tips: anything up to the 1st finger joint

Fingers: anything past first knuckle to the second knuckle

Off-fingers: anything past 2nd knuckle to top of 3rd knuckle and wide enough that no single finger will hold a jam

Thin hands: most of the hand is in the crack up to the meat of the thumb

Hands: can get whole hand into the crack up to the wrist and not really have to “cup” or press with the fingers to hold the jam.

On the routes I got on that were described as good hands (BD #2), I could typically get my hand up to the meat of my thumb, so felt more like thin hands to me. On thin hands routes (BD #1), I could sometimes get all my 3rd knuckles into the crack, but sometimes I could only my index finger knuckle in the crack with a thumbs down jam. The routes I climbed where I felt like I had actual good hand jams were tipped out #2s or overcammed #3s.

If someone could chime in if my understanding of ideal jams is wrong that would be great!

I'm wondering if anyone has had a tagline that is 2.7mm snap on them when pulling rope on rappel?

I've recently finished buying my first set of cams and I'm absolutely in love with them. I really like them as objects beyond using them as pro, they just feel nice to action and toy around with, and to me, they are very beautiful items. the colors, the metallic shine. the freedom they give as a climber and mountaineer.

this post is going to sound like a magpie wrote it but I swear to god I'm drawn to them like gollum to the ring, I just find myself taking one from the pegboard and playing with it for minutes, musing about possible placements.

does this happen to you? will it fade away with time? I don't really mind it at all, I just find it extremely funny and stupid that I like them so much

Have a few days at the end of this week to climb as I am traveling between Portland and SLC. I was planning to stop at smith rock but now that's looking like rain. Last time I asked here I was told this time of year is probably too cold for City of Rocks. Any Recs for where I should look this time of year? Should I just continue to SLC and climb in little cottonwood canyon?

I've build a wooden crack trainer and want to add texture for grip. Any suggestions? What have people added to theirs?

Welcome to /r/tradclimbing's Semi-Regular Discussion Thread, a thread for questions and comments everyone wants to make but don't warrant their own thread.

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Have a question about what color carabiner speaks to your soul? Want to talk some smack about pebble wrestlers? Wondering how chalk buckets work? Really proud of that thing you did? Just discover a meme older than most of our users? Awesome! Post that noise here.

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If you have a more serious question about climbing gear, technique, systems, etc. check out our Weekly New Climber Thread.

My partner and I are going to Cochise the first week of December. Neither of us have been before. It seems like a place where it’s best to have kind of a plan as approaches are long and the climbs are committing.

We’d like to start on easy stuff like 5.6/5.7 and probably climb up to 9s an 10s.

There for 4 days with our blue heeler.

Thanks in advance!

What are your favorite lightweight approach shoes for multipitch climbing?

I have the Sportiva TX4s—but they’re super heavy and bulky on the back of my harness (I also wear a size 47, so that doesn’t help).

I tried some mesh TX2s but was super disappointed to see that they weighed only 4 oz less total than my TX4s on my scale and they were only slightly less bulky. So I returned them.

I want something super lightweight and packable but my search has so far failed. Has anyone found the ultimate lightweight approach shoe?

Altra Superiors? Xero shoes? Bedrock sandals?? Converse All Stars??

What are you all using for a bivy when big walling?

Hey all,

I hate wearing a backpack climbing so I end up using my harness for everything + pockets for some small stuff. I have a beater puffy jacket and a Houdini but I’m kind of looking for an upgrade for my warmth layers. Looking at a Nano Air Hybrid or if anyone else has another recommendation for a lightweight, very packable, can hang on a harness and is abrasion resistant. The tech face series from Patagonia are great for abrasion but not packable at all. I’d like the best of all worlds. Or sell me on the best climbing pack of all time lol…

Man I’m just getting pretty fed up. Checked the comments today and it’s looking like they’ll delay it again.

And it’s kinda unreal to me that they expect the 22L pack to retail for $400 after all this. Like there’s just no way this bag is 2-3 times better than any other high end multipitch bag on the market?

Idk, I’m worried they’re blowing smoke up our asses and have reached too high to develop something too complex, and I’ve burned two years waiting for my backpack with neat straps.

Anybody commiserating? Anybody have more context/better understanding on what they’re actually doing?

Edit: my own crappy grammar

Wanted to share about a major objective I accomplished this past weekend.

Since I started climbing back in 2020, I have always been extremely drawn to climbing trad, I am utterly obsessed with it. 2 years ago, I found this video, Ten Gunks 5.10s in a Day (youtube.com), and just thought it was the most epic goal to accomplish. Not only can you manage climbing decently hard, but you have to use a level of proficiency to manage time, skin, stoke, and pump. So, at the beginning of 2024 I hatched the idea that I wanted to be able to climb 10 classic Gunks 5.10s in a day. My rules were, I had to lead them all clean, no pink-points, yo-yoing in the case of a fall was ok, and routes had been rehearsed throughout the year.

The weather this past week was perfectly stellar for my first attempt. My best buddy aggreged to come out and belay me through my goal. He also climbed every route. The crowds were heavy at the Trapps, but we powered out to our first climb and started on the wall at 10:30 am. The following routes went down in this order.

Teeny Face - 3 star 5.10a

Feast of Fools - 4 star 5.10b

Never Never Land - 4 star 5.10a/b

Coexistence - 4 star 5.10d

Star Action - 3 star 5.10b

Mother's Day Party - 4 star 5.10b

MF Direct - 4 star 5.10a (technically a variation, but you climb it and tell me what you think! This route came with an epic foot pop and totally exposed campus move to save the perfect track record for the day)

Beatle Brow Bulge - 3 star 5.10a - This route has seen some recent bad accidents and had me really spooked. After 8 successful sends, the wheels were starting to wobble a bit.

Retribution - 4 star 5.10b - Took the first real whipper of the day when a foot popped at the crux. Lowered to the ground and got started back up and sent next go.

Nosedive - 4 star 5.10b - shouts out to the group pushing their grade and trying hard in the dark. After a whip and some gear breakage I offered to yo-yo up the route on their highpoint so we could all go home! I pulled the crux above gear, so I think it freakin counts.

Honorable Mention - P38 - 5.10b - Tried on sighting this route as our #9 send. I was spanked and shut down and made to feel like a child attempting to climb for the first time... Luckly my all-star belayer was able to build an anchor, clean the gear, and save the entire day. Absolute legend!