A complete guide to the rack I carry on every trad climb — what each piece is, why I chose it, and how it all fits together.
Trad climbing is all about adventure but you need to be prepared. Unlike sport climbing, where the bolts are already in the wall, trad means placing every piece of protection yourself — and then trusting your life to it. The gear on your harness isn't for show; it's a carefully thought through set of equipment built up over time, shaped by the routes you've climbed, the falls you've taken, and the lessons you've learned along the way.
Here's everything I carry, broken down by category, with notes on why each item earns its place on the rack.
The Foundation
Before a single piece of gear goes on, you're already making safety decisions. Your harness, helmet and shoes are the foundation — get these wrong and nothing else matters.
THE GEAR I'M WEARING
DMM Renegade Harness
A workhorse trad harness. Seven gear loops give you enough space to rack everything you need without it all bunching up just when you don’t want it to. Comfortable on long routes and when you're hanging on a belay stance sorting gear or belaying your partner.
Petzl Sirocco Climbing Helmet
Lightweight enough that you actually wear it, robust enough that it does the job. On trad routes, rockfall from above — and from other people’s fumbled gear — is a real concern. Non-negotiable.
Tenaya Masai Climbing Shoes
A versatile all-day shoe that performs well on the varied footwork trad climbing demands — edging on thin cracks, smearing on slabs, and jamming in the odd off-width section.
The rope
Everything else connects back to the rope. The rope I use varies on the terrain I’m climbing on. For single pitch Trad routes I usually go for the DMM statement and 50 metres works at most venues. If I’m multi-pitch climbing on the sea-cliffs or in the mountains I generally use a set of half ropes which are used in pairs and are great for reducing rope drag on those long and meandering routes. My rope of choice is the Tendon Ambition 8.5mm standard finish in 2 contrasting colours.
Protection: nuts
Nuts or wires are the basis of any good trad rack. They're light, they're passive (no moving parts to fail), and a well-placed nut is remarkably strong. I carry two sets of wires here, split deliberately to make racking and retrieval easier
NUT PROTECTION
DMM Wallnut Set 1–11, split into two halves
Sizes 1–5 on one carabiner, 6–11 on another. Splitting the set means you can quickly grab the right size range without flicking through all eleven. The Wallnut's shape gives good placements in parallel and flared cracks alike.
DMM Offset Nut Set 7–11
Offsets are tapered differently on each face, making them invaluable in flared or slightly irregular placements where a standard nut won't bite. Carrying them in the mid-to-large sizes covers the gaps where cracks get tricky.
DMM Nutbuster
A nut key — the unsung hero of the rack. However well your second climbs, there will be placements that refuse to walk out. The Nutbuster saves having to faff for long periods getting fiddly wires out of weird shaped cracks.
"A well-placed nut in good rock is one of the most satisfying things in climbing — simple, elegant, and utterly reliable."
Protection: cams
Spring-loaded camming devices revolutionised trad climbing. They place quickly, hold in parallel-sided cracks where nuts sometimes struggle, and can be removed without the faff of a nut key. My set of DMM Dragon Cams runs from size 0 to size 5, giving me continuous coverage from finger cracks up to wide hand-and-fist territory. The Dragon has a single-stem design that I find particularly easy to place and clip in awkward positions, and the colour coding makes grabbing the right size mid-route intuitive. I rack my cams with colour coded snap gate carabiners to make that even easier.
CAM PROTECTION
DMM Dragon Cams, sizes 0–5
Six cams covering the full range from finger cracks (0) through to wide fist cracks (5). The overlapping cam ranges mean there's always a good option available, and the single stem makes for easier handling.
Quickdraws and slings
Once a piece of protection is placed, you need to connect the rope to it in a way that reduces rope drag — the cumulative friction that builds up as the rope snakes between pieces on a wandering route. Quickdraws and slings are one way you manage that.
EXTENDERS
DMM Spectre Quickdraws × 12, 18–60 cm
A range of lengths is essential. Short 18 cm draws for straight sections where you want the rope close to the rock; longer 60 cm draws to extend pieces that would otherwise create a severe zigzag. Carrying a mix means you can adapt to whatever the route throws at you. I carry 4 x 18cm, 4 x 25cm and 4 x 60cm.
DMM 120 cm Dyneema Sling × 2
The workhorse sling length. Use over spikes and through threads, extend pieces around corners, equalise two pieces of gear into a single anchor point. Dyneema is impressively light and strong, paired with a locking carabiner makes them an all rounder.
DMM 240 cm Dyneema Sling × 1
The long sling opens up options that shorter ones can't. Equalising a spread-out natural anchor, threading a large spike or boulder, building a multi-directional belay — this piece earns its weight on bigger routes.
Carabiners
Every piece of the system needs connecting. I carry a range of different locking screwgate carabiners
CARABINERS
Oval O screwgate (belay device carabiner)
The oval shape keeps the belay device and dead rope centred and prevents the device from rotating to a bad position under load. Paired with the Pivot.
DMM Shadow HMS screwgate
A large-aperture pear-shaped screwgate for the masterpoint of the anchor. The HMS shape lets the rope run smoothly and gives you the option of attaching up to 3 clove hitches.
DMM Phantom Screwgate × 6
Lightweight screwgates for racking slings, building anchors, and any other point in the system that needs a locking connection. Six gives enough to build a proper anchor and still have spares on the rack.
Belay and abseil
The DMM Pivot is a tube-style belay device with the option to use it in guide mode. Its versatility and ability to double as my abseil device are perfect.
Self-rescue: prusik loops
Two prusik loops made from 1.25m of 6 mm cord complete the kit. Prusik hitches grip the rope under load and release when unweighted — they're the foundation of any abseil or self-rescue system. If someone is stuck on the rope, if you need to pass a knot on an abseil, or if you need to ascend a fixed line, prusiks are how you do it. They weigh nothing and occupy the corner of a gear loop. There is no good reason not to carry them. My prusiks live on the back of my harness on a small snapgate carabiner.
Putting it all together
Laid out on the floor, this rack looks like a lot. On the harness, racked logically — nuts to the left, cams to the right, slings over the shoulder — it becomes a system you can move through efficiently even when you're pumped and 5 metres above your last piece.
The choices here are personal, shaped by the kinds of routes I climb and the conditions I typically encounter. Your rack will evolve too. But whatever it looks like, the principle is the same: understand every piece you carry, know how to place it well, and never leave the ground with something you don't trust.
Climb safe.