8 Awful Climbing Gear Mistakes | Buying the wrong climbing gear

Stop buying the wrong climbing gear! Here are 10 climbing mistakes you could be making and some easy climbing gear tips to avoid them.

Buying the wrong climbing shoes or climbing shoes too small might cost you money, but bad equipment and potential climbing gear. These climbing tips and tricks are great for beginner climbers or climbing experts and cover everything including; buying climbing gear online, buying a rope for climbing, what gear to buy for climbing, and how do you get the climbing gear right for you.

Time Stamps
00:00 Intro
00:53 1. Only buying 1/2 a rope ❌
02:55 2. Getting STATIC shock ⚡
04:42 3. Running out of Rope 😰
06:10 4. Buying 2nd Hand 💩
08:20 5. Being Cheap 🤑
10:10 6. Downsizing Climbing Shoes 👢
12:35 7. Buying EVERYTHING 🛒
13:43 8. Getting the Pros gear 😎

[MissChoccocat]

Robbie: Say it with me one more time....buy shoes that fit!
Climbers: Yes! *Keep buying solutions 2 sizes too small*

[oskarskoglund]

My approach is not to buy the climbing gear I need, but to try to make friends that has a lot of gear.

[Mickewr]

I just love the vintage look of a sun bleached rope found on a sketchy site.

[Fonzleberry]

I go for the painful option with my climbing shoes. It killed at first, but you do get used to it. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that you can't wear them for an entire session (taking them on and off should become natural between routes), and velcro is faster to strap on between attempts at boulders.

[adventurouscuisine]

Cracking video Robbie...Culann always steals the show!

[johannessporer]

TC Pros are the best gym shoes as anyone knows...when you slip off that volume because they are too stiff your ankles are well protected while sliding down the slab ;)

[davidsimpson]

always tried stuff before I bought, compared to most of my mates I probably saved a Fortune doing this, climbing shoes when scarpa had a stand at the gym, tried various shoes in various sizes, rope got the one that I liked the most with least drag and good handling when belaying my friends on their ropes, pro, the ones I was most comfortable removing and then trying how well I could place them myself when seconding on friends gear. harness trying them on in the Shop and sitting in the rope and bounce testing to find one that sits good and is comfortable as a couple I tried dug into my hip a little to much and would not have been nice when projecting or belaying where you have to sit in the harness, like on a multipitch route .

[davidpleydell]

Nice video Robbie! You could also add buying harnesses where half the gear loops are hidden from sight - these seem to be crazily common and create a real shambles when selecting bits of pro whilst trad climbing. Much better to be able to see the thing that you need to grab & use quickly.

[aidanhoggard]

I bought a huge set of RPs once, never placed any of them and then dropped them in the sea!

[bmazor]

Forgotten Advice: Dont be discouraged by "beginner" tech. Products are marketed to have a "beginner, intermedite, pro" teirs which honestly, all have their specific usecase. Unlike cycling, where more money = better cylcing; with climbing its more money = different usecase. To be real most of us climbing aren't doing anything different than what a beginner would also be doing, so getting "pro" gear wont change the climbing experience (unless you're packing your wallet with you which it could be helpfull if you made it lighter in advance). If you trust beginner-tech rentals (what most rental and studios offer) for bringing a family or friend along on an adventure, then there is no need to spread your wallet beyond beginner-tech to own and take home.

[the.Aruarian]

I've bought a fair amount of different shoes second hand over the past few years. Most of them were models I hadnt tried before. My rule of thumb is: if it's cheap enough it's worth a gamble. If they fit, you get a great cheap shoe. If they don't, use them as a beater, sell them at a small loss, or pass them on to friends. Either way you get a lot more frame of reference for future purchases.

I've noticed that climbing shoes immediately lose >45% of their retail price once you can't return them. I've lucked out and gotten both the Instinct Lace and Dragon Lace (2019) for less than 40 quid. Would never have tried them otherwise. :)

[apiletal]

Really good ideas. When i was beginner, nobody tell that. I investigated, read a lot; and now, i with you 100%.
Literally, this instruccions, have to be obligatory in all sports, in climb allways.

[CedarWright]

I bought a carbiner on amazon. Am I going to be OK?

[bas]

Nice Tips. Loved the honesty and memeish additions : D

[ShuriBear]

The "see a good shoe deal but buy the wrong size" definitely happened to me.
Bought a pair for 50% off and I ABSOLUTELY HATED THEM! 3-4 months later I bought a new pair because I lost all the joy in climbing.
And I was climbing for a while then, lol.

[telofy]

That thing about buying a shoe half a size too small because it’s available: That seems just like one of those mentalist mind-reading trick to me! But I think I’ve now finally mananged to stretch them by half a size…

[am]

Length is the most bothersome for me, my local crag has barely anything above 12m, to save money i got a 35m rope, but beyond my local crag is joshua tree which is tall... and i don’t like spending money

[AAMori-yytq]

I personally wouldn't recommend second hand climbing equipment (unless it's kid stuff). In my gym some time ago a boy bought a second-hand grigri and a part was broken but they glued it with plastic and painted it so it looked like a normal grigri, but when the boy was lowering the grigri it broke and he fell and died.

[benoitcerrina]

Good that the vendor caught you with the half rope. It is weird that those are even sold by themselves (they should always be sold with the other half)

[cubiee-sci]

I Really like your video this can safe many people a lot of trouble when they start into sport climbing, but I have to add some things about static rope. First of all, you're absolutely right, they should not be used as a sport climbing rope but saying the are not made to take falls is not true. To be certified a static rope, like every other climbing rope, has to fulfill some criteria. One of them is that it has to catch a fall below a fall factor of 0.3 without injury and has to stop a fall with factor 1 without breaking. While climbing toprope, there should be no case (except your belayer gives out massive amounts of slack) where a fall into a static rope would result in serious injury. Lead climbing is different in case of indoor lead the maximum fall factor you can take without hitting the ground is 1 which means you can be injured quite bad but even then the rope would not break.
To sum this up a fall into a static rope will never be as comfortable as a fall into a dynamic rope but it will not result in injury every time you fall.