What is the essential climbing gear? While professional arborists and expert rock climbers know the score, as climbing sports are becoming more popular in recent years, more and more newcomers come into the scene with little experience. This explosion in growth came as the technology and equipment have improved, with more clubs offering experiences to novices. Having the right climbing equipment and safety training is a matter of life or death – even for smaller climbs. In fact, most injuries occur in the first 2-3 metres of a climb.
How Injuries Can Occur
The most common cause of an injury in a climb is in the first few metres of the ascent. This can happen if you have not yet deployed the safety equipment such as safety lines, or the ropes themselves do not have enough height to work effectively. This is because climbing rope comes with varying degrees of elasticity. The elasticity is required to help absorb the impact of a fall. The downside is that this elasticity requires a stretching of the rope. For the first few metres of your ascent, the rope must be kept extremely taut to allow for stretching. Even then, there is a high risk that should you fall in the first two to three metres, you will still hit the ground as the rope stretches.
Essential Climbing Gear: Rope
Climbing rope comes in different configurations and styles depending on what you need. We provide the highest quality tree climbing ropes for professional arborists, such as the tree runner 12mm climbing rope.
Climbing Harness
The right climbing harness will depend on the work or sport you’re engaged in. For example, for sports climbers, the thigh strap tends to be a little less padded since it is more geared towards relatively brief periods of abseiling with longer periods of climbing ascents where the less restriction around the body the better. We provide climbing harnesses designed for working professionals, particularly arborists, who will spend longer periods of time suspended from the harness. For this sort of activity, thicker and better-padded support is essential.
If you have any questions about our range of products, you can always give us a call on 021 4965132