Traditional Lead Climbing. Heidi Pesterfield

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      Various tube model belay devices

      The ideal device is lightweight, lacks bulk, and can be used for rappelling. You must also be able to feed out rope smoothly and quickly without sacrificing too much braking quality.

      The aforementioned criteria eliminate most mechanized camming devices (such as the GriGri). The average figure eight is bulky and tends to twist the rope. Now consider the diameter of your rope. What remains is still a considerable lot. I am partial to tube and plate models (see photo). While you want a device that has both excellent braking capability and allows for easy rope-feeding, you can’t have both. Unfortunately when you buy a device featuring one of these attributes, you sacrifice the other. If a device allows effortless rope feeding, a more alert, proactive belayer is required for optimal braking. There is certainly nothing wrong with this. In fact the majority of trad climbers I know, including guides, prefer such a device (like Black Diamond’s ATC), known by some as a “slick” device. Other devices (like Wild Country’s VC Pro) offer increased braking quality; if a belayer isn’t paying attention and does little to arrest a partner’s fall, the device cinches down significantly anyway. The tradeoff is that it’s trickier to feed rope through these devices, particularly after braking. These units are sometimes described as “grabbing” devices. Between the two are “intermediate” devices like HB’s Sprung Sticht Plate, lacking somewhat in easy feed-out, but a good piece of gear, nevertheless, in the hands of a skilled belayer.

      With such a huge variety of specialized gear, when you gain a desirable feature, you often give up another. My favorites are “slick” tube devices (like the ATC-XP and XP Guide) featuring unilateral grooves that offer increased friction when you need it (on steep terrain with thinner ropes) and less when you don’t (low-angle terrain, yo-yo top-roping, and thicker ropes). If you decide on a tube device, choose one with thick walls for optimal heat dissipation. Narrow-walled devices heat up to flesh-searing temperatures and are subject to grooving that can create undetectable sharp edges that can harm your rope. The good thing about belay devices is that they are relatively inexpensive. If you’re unhappy with your choice, you won’t have to sell the farm to get a different one.

Locking Carabiners

      You must use a locking carabiner (locker)—the bigger, the better—as your primary carabiner, linking you to your partner while belaying and to the rope while rappelling. Choose one with a large diameter opening to easily accommodate more knots and slings if needed. A variety of lock styles are available, the most common of which is the screw gate. These are fine, as long as you are diligent about locking them, and choose a “gate lock” instead of a “nose lock.” The latter can become stuck in the gate-locked position. Spring-loaded auto-locking ‘biners are also available. I like both styles. If you choose an auto-locker but also have screw gates on your rack, be sure you don’t get so used to the mindless auto-lock feature that you neglect to close the other gates manually.

      Another locking carabiner is necessary for clipping yourself into anchors. Although it doesn’t need to be as big as your primary locker, the larger it is the more versatile it will be. Eventually, you’ll need a few more medium-sized lockers for self-rescue, as well as one small one for key lead pieces.