How to Choose Your First Pieces of Climbing Gear

Welcome to our series about the first month of climbing!

The first month of doing anything new can be overwhelming, challenging, and stressful. For climbing, figuring out what gear to get is one of the most confusing aspects of the sport! It’s a big symbolic and financial moment of commitment, and the myriad options for gear and sometimes exorbitant prices can make even the most dedicated climber hesitate to throw down a credit card.

Fortunately, we have plenty of knowledge and experience in buying gear (e.g. many unwise purchases!) that we’ll pass on to you. Buying the right gear can help you to stay comfortable and learn foundational skills more effectively, while being realistic about what gear is necessary helps to ease the financial burden that comes with starting a new activity.

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about core climbing gear and how to make your first gear purchases count!

Renting Vs. Buying

Making the commitment to buying instead of renting your gear is always a tough choice, especially if you aren’t sure if you’re ready to commit to climbing. While your own gear is usually more comfortable and effective than rental gear, the costs can be daunting if you're not sure you're all in on climbing. One thing that we’ll note is that the value of your dollar stretches a lot further when you buy. If we assume the average rental package costs $15-20, then 10 sessions with rental gear ends up costing you quite a bit more than the overall cost of a new set of gear. Plus, with a little care, your shoes can last at least 6 months, and other gear far longer. In short, as soon as you’re ready to commit, get your gear - the up-front cost may seem scary, but you’ll save money in the long run and have a better time using gear that meets your unique needs.

Shoes

The one universal piece of climbing gear, and far and away the most important gear for climbing in a gym. In order to do any style of climbing, you'll need shoes with rubber soles that are specifically manufactured for gripping small holds and sticking to the wall.

The single most important quality in your first pair of climbing shoes is comfort. If you hate the way your shoes feel, you won’t want to go to the gym! Make sure they’re snug enough that you can feel small footholds and edges, but not so tight that you’re losing circulation or having pain in your toenails. There’s always an adjustment to wearing new styles of shoes, so expect them to feel a little odd at first, but a sales associate at your local climbing gear store can help you understand what a proper fit should feel like.

Additionally, price and shoe quality are not correlated, especially for shoes designed for newer climbers. If you’re still learning proper footwork, the $200, super aggressive, flashy shoes with a million techy features won’t do you any more good than a pair of basic shoes with good rubber. Trust me, I thought that fancy shoes would make all the difference when I was trying to break into 5.10s. It turns out that all I needed was a little more focus on footwork and endurance training, and my cheaper shoes carried me through to 5.11s!

Nevertheless, shoes can get expensive quickly. Expect to spend between $80-130 dollars on your first pair if you’re paying full retail price. Seasonal sales, lightly used products on Facebook Marketplace, or consignment areas at your local outdoor retailer can all help to alleviate the high price points here.

Chalk

Another universal tool for climbing, there seem to be as many options for chalk as there are individual climbers. Ultimately, the best chalk for you is something you have to discover over time. We’re partial to more affordable options of loose chalk, but others will swear by chalk socks, premium chalk brands, or dirt cheap gymnasts chalk blocks. Try out whatever seems reasonable for your budget. While you’re learning to climb, chalk will be a nice boost, but the impact of subtle differences in chalk styles pales in comparison to learning good techniques for gripping different types of holds.

As for chalk bags, there’s really not a clear winning brand or style here. This is one of the areas where you can be super expressive in climbing - get a print or style that suits you, and check around on independent crafting sites. Climbing crafters make some really fun and unique chalk bags!

Harness

If you’re looking to try roped climbing, you’re also going to need a harness. No need to get something with a lot of bells and whistles, particularly if you’re climbing exclusively in the gym. Try on a few styles and tug around the belay loop/tie in point to get a sense for how the harness will feel when pressure from the rope is applied. See how each harness fits around your hips, lower back, and legs, and go with the one that feels most comfortable!

Belay Device

You may need a belay device for top roping if your gym doesn’t have belay devices attached to the ropes. The two main styles of belay devices are tube style devices (e.g. the Black Diamond ATC), and assisted braking devices (e.g. the Petzl GriGri).

There will likely be a lot of talk about belay devices in your climbing circle - how someone doesn’t trust anyone who doesn’t belay with a GriGri, or how someone thinks people who use ATCs are more focused and competent belayers. Here’s the thing: that’s all just talk. The best belay device is the one that YOU are comfortable belaying with. The double-auto-blocking mechanism with predictive-analytic mode-switching technology is useless if you take your hand off the brake strand when your partner falls. Learn to belay properly, get a device that feels comfortable to you, and practice constantly to make sure you’re keeping your partners safe.

Packages

Oftentimes, you can find a combination of any or all of the pieces of gear above in a package for a significant discount. Most frequently, packages will have a harness, tube-style belay device, chalk bag, and chalk, but some new entrants into the market are adding shoes or creating bouldering-specific packages. These packages are usually an exceptional deal, and the core components of the kit will last you for multiple years into your climbing journey. See what’s on offer at your local climbing shop and you may score an awesome deal on all the gear you need to get started!

Clothing

Lastly, you might be tempted to get high performance climbing pants or fancy tank tops to show off your newly developed guns. Much like aggressive shoes and boutique chalk, though, clothing has a minimal impact on your ability to learn foundational skills for climbing. The gym isn’t a fashion show and other climbers aren’t going to judge you based on what you wear, so don’t sweat the branded apparel. The only really important quality for climbing clothes is breathability. Beyond that, wear whatever makes you feel confident, strong, and sendy!

While the items above certainly aren’t an exhaustive list of the potential costs associated with climbing (like gear for climbing outside and gym memberships… more on this another time.), we hope this gives you a good sense of the base qualities of what to look for when you’re buying your first gear for climbing.

Notice that, beyond providing examples of belay devices, we didn’t mention any brands in this post. While that’s partially due to us not wanting to give away free ad space, it’s really more that we don’t believe in the superiority of any given brand. The best climbing brand is the one that has gear that fits you best and gives you confidence on the wall. Try not to be swayed by “best of” lists or what’s hot at your gym. Try on all the gear you can, find what feels best for your body and your wallet, and climb on knowing that you’ve got the best possible gear you can buy!