I’m sure that I am not the only one guilty of looking at climbing gear and what could I buy since being stuck at home during COVID-19.

Well I wanted to get some first ever protection gear for trad climbing, and after weeks and week of looking into it and contemplating, I have finally narrowed my very expensive list of things to the below.

• 3 x DMM Dragon Cams, set sizes 3, 4 and 5 to fit good range of cracks ( £179.00 from Outside climbing gear shop). DMM cams have been really good in my experience  while climbing with other climbers gear. They feel stable, light, with a good grip on the rock.
• 1 x set of DMM Wallnuts sizes from 1 to 6 ( £42.35 from BananaFingers) . My thinking process was they are smaller than the cams I have selected, so they should work better with smaller cracks even though they are both used in a different way.
• 1 x pack of DMM Spectre 2 Karabiners in different colours 5-Pack ( £29.70 from BananaFingers) to go with my cams and couple spare for hanging gear on or for future cams ;).
• 1 x DMM Perfect O snapgate Karabiner for my new nuts 🙂 ( £8.99 from GoOutdoors). Since the are round, they are very easy and comfortable to use while climbing.
• 1 x DMM Phantom Alpine 60cm quickdraw for these larder overhanging boulders that are very awkward to get over, or for the around the corner gear placement ( £23 from Outside). These are awesome as you can keep them short, or extend when needed and they are very light. Definitely need to get more of these next climbing gear shopping.
• 2 x DMM Spectre 2 QD 25cm and 3 of the 18cm quickdraws ( £15 from the Outside)

I originally wanted to get the DMM Dragon II Set of 6 cams sizes 0-5, but at the discount price £329 from Outside climbing gear shop, I knew I will have to get more gear to go with it meaning more money.

The above gear was bought from the Outside online gear shop as I absolutely love it, especially going there while in Hathersage before a climbing day at Stanage. I also need to mention that I already own 2 x 60cm thick slings, 1 x 2m sling, 5 screwdagets, belaying devise, Grigri, 10mm rope 50m long, nut key and 3 short quickdraws.

With these new additions to my rack I can now most likely be fine on single pitch short climbs, and on any  multi pitch routs, I can always borrow a set of nuts, cams and quickdraws from fellow climbers. That’s one of the awesome things about the sport, climbing partners and friends with gear are always happy to borrow some of their protection ❤

I am currently happy with the set up, and with next shopping spree I will probably end up getting more extendable quickdraws, 1 set of offsets, more nuts or hexes and maybe one more cam for now. I thought maybe larger Wild Country Friend would be better right? They are normally less expensive than DMM dragons and work the same. I’ve heard some people like the fact Friends have thumb loop, making them easier to put in the cracks and out. When I will start planning my far West North travels and climbing experience, I’m planning to get much more gear in Canada as it might be cheaper there.