A DMM Article
Photography © Ian Parnell

When I was 11, my mum and dad gave me some quickdraws for my birthday. It was the first bit of gear that was my very own and they were also the first bent gate biners we had ever had. My favourite biner had an orange gate; when I led a climb I always tried to use it in the best place on the route. All of my life since then I have tampered with and improved my rack - I can spend hours messing about with my gear. I think it is partly my fascination with bits of metal (I did a mechanical Engineering degree) but I also think anything which can improve the grade you climb with no extra effort on your part can’t be bad. This has been especially relevant to me in the last couple of years as I have had to spend more time on child care than climbing, but I still want to crank just as hard.


When I was starting to push into the higher extremes we had an original (curved edged) moac which was my lucky runner – I never fell off after I had placed it. These days I am slightly less superstitious, but last summer I was climbing in Pembroke and saving the Phantom quickdraw's I had for the hard bits; when I got home I ordered another 6. To me they are the perfect balance of size, strength and weight.


I hate rope drag: in my mind it is as if you have deliberately made the climb harder. I tend to use quickdraws in the longer lengths and also carry a few Revolver's for where the drag is really bad. I used to think two sets of nuts was enough but then I had one too many times trying to squeeze a number 3 Wallnut into a number 2 slot at the end of a run-out. I now take a full set of the Offsets as an extra, they complement Wallnut's perfectly and every now and then go in much better. If I am doing a route where I need micros I will take as many as I can in every shape I can. They don’t weigh much and I always like to place as many as possible, but I still get scared!

Cams are great when you need them but I feel a bit silly the times I get to the top of a pitch and still have 10 or so hanging off my harness. I try to judge which sizes I am most likely to need for the climb and then take a few extra: if you think it is a 1.5 from the ground it will turn out to be a 2. On a route at Gogarth called ‘Death Trap Direct’ I took 2 full sets and had still run out of gear by the time I reached the belay. It isn’t just American cracks that eat cams.

You need enough slings to go round trees and spikes, tie off pegs and extend runners. I figure they don’t weigh much so take a few, but I often don’t bother with a biner on them.


I don’t really carry many screw gates; I used to but I have never had a problem with snap gates coming undone. The ones I do take need to be as light as possible. Why spend all your money shaving grams off your quickdraw's if you have a big old screwgate on the back of your harness.
All I have to worry about now is trimming off some of my excess body weight. Uli Steck managed to lose 5 kg for his record breaking Eiger ascent, but I’m too much of a sucker for rhubarb crumble and cream!