Reddit mentions: The best climbing hardware

super late to this party but oh well:

If you are looking for something fun and packable I would suggest getting about 120' of balance communities regular feather webbing(the green kind not the pro), you won't be able to use it on highlines but it is super packable and a lot easier to rig than tubular and would be a great lightweight setup to have for traveling. plus you can also rig it primitive style pretty easily.

Once you do want to get a longline kit, it is hard to avoid the pully system. You can go on the cheaper side and get;

2* double pulleys (https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Climb-Secura-Double-Aluminum/dp/B00P8D6H8I),

a rope grab (Petzl tiblock)https://www.amazon.com/Petzl-Tibloc-Ascender-One-Size/dp/B000AXTO8Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1499726769&sr=1-1&keywords=tibloc,
a carabiner,

single pulley https://www.amazon.com/Lixada-Mobile-Single-Climbing-Rigging/dp/B01I10MMEM/ref=sr_1_5?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1499726811&sr=1-5&keywords=single+pulley,

small rigging plate (https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Climb-Aluminum-Little-Rigging/dp/B008KEDV36/ref=pd_sim_468_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B008KEDV36&pd_rd_r=9GSDV5MPNYH1V1ND0S8N&pd_rd_w=FUuA4&pd_rd_wg=eWUeb&psc=1&refRID=9GSDV5MPNYH1V1ND0S8N)

and about 50-60' of static rope (https://www.amazon.com/GM-CLIMBING-Double-Accessory-Fluorescent/dp/B01H5CY7SQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1499726145&sr=1-3&keywords=static%2Brope&th=1&psc=1) this should work fine for you and is rated to 19kn.

The most expensive part of this pulley system is going to be the brake. I would recommend a gri gri just as the simplest option and with longlining stuff like this you should be okay getting a used one off of ebay, just inspect it well before use to make sure there aren't any defects or anything. You could go ahead and use an ATC and tie the tail off but I suspect you would lose a lot of efficiency in this already pretty inefficient but cheaper set up. You can also go ahead and get the slackbro's pulleys, they aren't the best, but they are so bomber and are still nice to have around after you are trying to upgrade and may be easier than trying to piece everything together.

When it comes to webbing, that option is kinda up to you, try and make some friends with local slackline groups and walk various types of webbing and you will find what you like best, I would recommend getting 100 meters for your first length though, it's not too much to haul around and when you start rigging highlines longer than 50meters, there should be plenty of people who also have 100 meter lengths that you can partner up with.

Also keep an eye out on slackchat used gear group on facebook, you can usually find some pretty decent stuff on there.

Good luck and happy slacking!

I built mine piece by piece after shopping around for the best deals and also getting some hand-me-downs from friends. I can highly recommend Andy Lewis' own Slack Bros. pulleys because they have an integrated brake which is an additional $80-$150 you won't have to spend.

Regular climb-spec nylon webbing tied into slings can be used until you feel like investing in some spansets. MFRexpress is by far the most affordable place to buy spansets that I've found.

Catonslack sells the most affordable weblocks by far and even with the $20 shipping from Poland you're still looking at $50 for a good banana lock compared to $125 for all the other options. Right now the new models are on preorder for an additional %30 discount. Recently ordered two Catlock Pros myself for $97 shipped and I'm super excited. You can also get by in the meantime with a couple heavy steel shackles and some steel rings for linelocks but you won't be able to pretension, won't be terribly cheaper than a single Catlock, and you'll outgrow them pretty quickly.

Any small pulley can be used as a multiplier. Even a carabiner will work albeit not very efficiently. I use one of these which are available on Amazon but I purchased it directly from Aliexpress for about half the price. Use it with a prusik cord and you've got a very efficient $20 multiplier system.

Your next biggest investment is going to be the static rope. The size you need is going to be determined by the sheaves of your pulleys (Slack Bros. pulleys like 11mm) and the length you'll need can be determined by using Balance Community's Rope Length Calculator . This is going to cost about .70-$1/ft and you'll just have to shop around all the different sources to see what might be on sale at any given time.

Also, join Slackchat and Slackchat: Used Gear groups on Facebook if you're not already a member and look out for what's being offered. Some good gear can be had for some good prices if you can catch it before everyone else.

>over $600 to start

If you want a cheaper version of the above, without having to buy all the Slacktivity equipment (I live in the USA, so importing all that comes out as quite pricey), you can do the following:

• Buy 2 cheap stainless shackles and approximately 20-30 feet of 1 inch tubular webbing (any type will do). Tie a frost knot (or an overhand on a bite with extra slack will do, as there is essentially 0 force on this ever) in one end of the webbing, and make your own soft release.
  
• 3 - 5 of these 1 inch pulleys off of amazon. Use a grinder/hacksaw/drill to grind off the metal nub on the end, and go to the hardware store to buy some locking nuts, washers, and a 1.75" bolt.
  
• Some skate bearings off of amazon (4 bearings per homemade webbing pulley). These go over the bolts, with washers in between, of the pulleys that you took apart to make a homemade set of these. Buy some cheap pear carabiners to go with them. You have now made your own highslides/cheap hangovers for 1/3 - 1/2 the price depending on how many you wanted.
  
• Find a 3d printing service near you and 3D print your own linegrips. Buy some very thin rubber (most people recommend the 1 mm vibram sheets, but I used this cheaper one and it works fine) and super glue, thread it with ~6mm cordelette and you have your own linegrip. Do this as many times as you want.
  
• Tie some cordelette into bunny-ears knots with differing lengths on each one, and clip your homemade webbing pulleys to each loop. The loop lengths should be long enough that your webbing pulleys don't hit each other. Clip one of the sets of webbing pulleys to your home-printed linegrip, and the other set to anywhere on your anchor. These are your homemade soft RPs.
  
• You need 1 weblock. For price, instead of buying 2 stainless shackles, just get 1 and buy the cat-on-slack soft release to hook in directly to your soft release. Or get the normal weblock they sell and hook it onto your stainless shackle. For weight, get a weblock that does not have sharp edges at the connection point and use a soft shackle (discussed below) to connect it to your soft release (like the alpine weblock or use a purelock to go straight into your soft release, both of which are pricey).
  
• Don't buy pre-constructed soft shackles, as they gouge you for the price. Buy your own 1/4" amsteel and make your own soft shackles (1 or 2 is fine for long-lining, make 4 or 5 for highlining as you will swap these out for the steel ones on your soft release).
  
• For anchors themselves, buy static rope. There are plenty of options out there, and what thickness/weight/breaking strength you want depends on your personal priorities in anchor construction, so I won't make a specific recommendation to you. Canyoneering static rope tends to be better in terms of weight/breaking strength, but is pricier. Depends on what you want.
  
  This allows you to use the above posted method, even up to a 27:1 mechanical advantage (if you 3d printed 3 linegrips, with 5 pulleys so you could put 2 extra 3:1 multipliers on a 3:1 system) without losing efficiency. Rigging 100m in the park is impossible just using normal carabiners; you really need the webbing pulleys/hangovers. Best of all, you've accomplished this at a fraction of the price of buying pre-made gear, and none of your janky homemade pulleys or linegrips are life-dependent pieces of gear if you went highlining.

it's likely not unsafe for belaying with an atc (never said it was "unsafe"... just using that choice along with the alpine harness picked to gauge overall skill level and overall ambition. the extra harnesses imply that she was going to be a mentor for people without gear.), but no climber I have seen uses one. The d shaped locker that she listed is very narrow and when used to rappel on two ropes has the two strands at two different parts of the nose and very staggered. I also think it might crossload easier because of the shape of it. All I am saying is that someone with the proper knowledge and skills to keep other people safe probably wouldn't choose a small D as a belay carabiner. (I have that exact d shaped biner and it's nice enough for clipping bolts but not as a belay carabiner.)

the petzl attache is a smallish pear shaped that works well or the bigger hms style is another style that works well. The HMS has the benefit that you can throw a munter hitch on it and belay/rappel with that if you ever dropped your atc.

The rocklock works better and is cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Diamond-Rocklock-Screwgate-Carabiner/dp/B000LGJFYK/ref=pd_sim_sg_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0TMRPYCASWKZ3ZC5AXRT

or the package deal:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Diamond-Package-Device-Locking/dp/B000FNB0WY

The williams is another one that is nice and would be a good belay carabiner.

In the interest of pure discussion I'll try to theorize a decent version of the thunderball. Before I begin i'd like to specifically start by saying:

I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE CRAFTING MY OWN WEAPONS. ALL THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE PURELY THEORETICAL AND I UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE ENCOURAGE ANYONE TO ATTEMPT TO TRY WHAT I AM ABOUT TO MENTION. FAILURE TO HEED THIS WARNING COULD RESULT IN SEVERE DAMAGE TO YOURSELF OR SOMEONE ELSE.

There are two versions that the game seems to mention. The first is the in game model here. Notice that it has three parts: The ring, the rope, and the ball. For stylized purposes it seems that the rope is secured to the ball via an installed metal ring directly on the ball. Considering the design, I wouldn't be surprised if Marcus 3-D printed it. The main flaw to this design is that after many strikes there's an increased chance for the ring on the ball to detach itself. This could be because either the ring on the ball gets hit, loosing the connection or maybe the rope (with combined momentum weakening where the two joints are supposed to connect to the ball.

That brings us to the mo-cap version of the weapon here. This version looks less pretty but functionally is much more effective.

So my idea would be to blend both styles into one final reasonable middle ground:

• 1. Drill a hole into a Cue-Ball
     
• 2. Tie a para-cord through the ball and create a "monkey's fist" around the ball kind of like this. This is to help support the weight of the ball and decrease the chance of having it come apart while in use.
     
• 3. Make sure to create a loop on the end and you can then feed it into this. Because of the tiny bolt keeping the para-cord in place it should be much more secure (assuming this actually can fit on your finger comfortably).
     
• 4. Obtain a Carabiner clip, this would mainly be used to secure to your belt. The same way you'd carry a pocket knife.
     

Brand new climber here - been to the local rock gym twice and I'm hooked. Will be doing indoor stuff only with my girlfriend about once a week.

I picked up a pair of 5.10 shoes today, and am looking at getting my own belay device and carabiner. The popular stuff on Amazon is all the Black Diamond stuff. Just wondering if it's any good - it's pretty inexpensive. The recommended belay carabiner is $12, and for something this important I don't mind spending more for a higher quality (safer) locking one. This is the one I'm looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Diamond-Rocklock-Screwgate-Carabiner/dp/B000LGJFYK

With this belay device:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Diamond-ATC-Belay-Device/dp/B004GYD8H8

Are these any good? I have no problem spending whatever on a better setup if it's safer and will last a while. I do a lot of other outdoor sports and I know that some of the entry level gear can be a bit on the cheaply made side and I don't want to risk something breaking to save a few bucks.

Thanks!

Edit: I know this has to be the most asked question on here, so apologies in advance..

A couple of these style pulleys and these (or some rope tied in a loop) , some rope(rope with a sheath, or tighter braid will work smoother), Paracord, or vinyl coated wire and some carabiners will make you a good cable machine for cheap. Get one or two loading pins if you want it a bit nicer. These are useful for other things as well.

Put one pulley at the top for high position and attach the other at bottom for low and move the bottom pulley onto the bar or around the safeties if you want to move it anywhere in between. If you get one or two extra pulleys you could to cable fly/crossovers.

You'll spend a lot less than other options and be able to customize all the lengths to your situation. Those pulleys are also way nicer than the spud or archon pulleys. High weight rating, can use a wide rope and allow you to remove the rope easily.

In lieu of the cable attachment, you could do a DIU Spud Inc. solution.


I ordered all my parts yesterday, I will post an update and review when they come in.


$21.95 - Loading Pin


$26.95 - Straps, Carabiner, & Bonus Grandfather Clock Grip System


$21.60 - Nylon Coated Wire Assembly


$35.70 - Rescue Pulley's

I had 2 extra carabiner's from my abstraps, otherwise you'll have to buy 2. (Or just buy ab straps)

All-In I'm $106 for what I'm expecting to be a very good system.

Once this comes in and I can measure things up, I plan on getting 2 more lengths of nylon coated wire assemblies. Then I can anchor a second pulley low for rows or mid-rack for external/interal rotations and other various exercises.

Edit: I should mention, there's ways to do this even cheaper, but I think these options are a good balance of value, performance, safety, and install time.

I used these rock climbing pulleys, and I'm currently using this cord (6mm). I attach it all with soft loop straps. I have multiple brands of those, they're all inexpensive and highly useful. These are the carabiners I ordered. I use two Titan loading pins but loop straps can be used to hold the weight too.

All you have to do is cut the accessory cord to the length you need and tie a knot with a loop at each end where you'll attach a carabiner. After you cut the cord it will be frayed, but you can just burn it and it will melt nicely. A piece of cord goes through each pulley. The top pulley is simple with your handle attached to the front and the weight to the back. When using the bottom pulley you attach that cord to the cord of the top pulley, and the other side of the top pulley to the weight.

Not sure if I answered what you're looking for, but any questions and I'll be happy to answer.

A good example would be car seat belt webbing that's often a 2 inch wide webbing, because it's wide and flat it distributes the force more evenly than a rope(which would exert a point force at the center of the rope)
I'd prefer 3 inch webbing like this for a rough pull out if I had to secure to a single structural member of a uni-body car, because the edges of the stamped metal frame members are the most fragile parts I'd want that load very widely distributed.
If I only had 1 or 2 inch wide webbing, I'd try to attach to multiple points, using something like this
that might allow you to use much cheaper 1 or 2 inch wide climbing webbing.

Duly noted, thank you for the great info! I'm definitely going to go with an ATC. Will this suffice?

Is there anything that you would recommend doing differently? I'm really interested in setting up one myself ^^

http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Mobile-Rescue-Pulley-Blue/dp/B00ZPR15BG/ref=lp_3402641_1_9?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1454118054&sr=1-9

Is this something I should use instead of the pulley you got?

Thanks!

It's really easy to put together.

Get 4 of these

About 70 feet of this

About 25 feet of this (for slings)


Two of these

Reference this video to learn how to set it up!

Towel tubes make great tree pro, directions here.

I'm sure this has probably been asked a thousand times before, but I've gotten into climbing with a friend, and while I go bouldering multiple times a week by myself, I want to get more into taller climbing like with a harness

The local rock wall is at my university rec center (supposedly the tallest rock wall on a university campus at 55 ft high) so it's free for me to use (you do have to rent shoes and harnesses if you don't have them)

I have a pair of evolv defys as my climbing shoes (found them cheap on ebay) I was wondering if these are decent items for everything else I need

Carabiner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003E2Z0TW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_F6W4ybC9TC2YT

Harness: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LU59ZFK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_2cX4ybNK3DENH

Belay Device: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019NUN0SQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6dX4yb98K9C72

And chalk bag: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K1545N6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_BfX4ybR1DMW7V

Is there anything else I'm missing? Is there anything I should change?

Very nice! If you want to keep adding to your home gym, the next thing I would recommend is a cable pulley system. All you need is some heavy duty rope, some mountaineering pulleys, a pair of handles, and some eye-hooks from your local hardware store. Jinkies!

Either is fine. I like an ATC for belaying a leader just because it feeds smoother than a Grigri, Grigri for top rope, but I'll use either. I just picked up a Madrock Lifeguard to try out. Reviews are that it feeds way better than a Grigri and is a bit cheaper.

​

Also, you should always have an ATC or similar to rap off anyway.

Which really isn't much. I've had big stakes pulled out of the ground when they were only holding down a small tent, and now I put rocks on my stakes. My big tents gets staked with 10 inch steel spikes with at least one big rock on top of each stake. Rocking stakes makes a world of difference.

Something like a trampoline would need stakes with far more holding power to have a chance. Spiral stakes, snow anchors, sand stakes or a buried object might be enough. Each of these holds onto the soil, so a rock on top shouldn't be necessary.

Been looking at this for a while. Free gift card - time to splurge a little.

Retrieval Tool - Mini Grappling Hook with Magnetic Head https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PMZ8QKY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_Ki4Dwb1DSQBVS

3 nice swivels for rigging my aerial straps.

While these have been amazing for me, I recognize that they aren't very useful for most people.

not "cheap" per se but $13 dollar climbing pulleys are like sex after using a pulley from home depot.. it's worth it if you're designing your own pulley system

Use a 2 pulley multipier, video here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gKMeeAk460

Pulleys like these...http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-FP-8151-ORG-Rescue-Pulley-Orange/dp/B008KECI8K/ref=sr_1_20?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1407130520&sr=1-20

..are cheap to buy. You'll just need 3 or 4 more carabiners, 2 pulleys and bit of rope. The tension achieved is impressive, literally the power of 3 people.

> I plan on getting 3" pulleys here soon which should make the pull much more smooth.

This is where my upgrade path for the pulleys stopped. 10 bucks. They work great:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KECI8K/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just buy a Superclip and borrow/buy a painter's pole from Home Depot. Cheap and easy.

Looks like it's the Superclip http://www.amazon.com/Superclip/dp/B00YW5UOLE

Something I might also see as very handy:
http://www.amazon.com/Retrieval-Tool-Mini-Grappling-Magnetic/dp/B00PMZ8QKY

> sport climbing setup

Stick clip

https://www.amazon.com/Superclip/dp/B00YW5UOLE

FOUR things you can try:

• Drone Retrieval Unit
  
• Grappling hook tied to rope.
  
• Rock tied to rope/kite string.. (i do this method)
  
• Rope/string tied to arrow (bow & arrow)
  
  My local shop rents the first for $25 an hour, have to leave a CC in case you don't return.