Winter Climbing Essentials | Tip Tuesday

Jan 26, 2021

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In this video, I go over the essential gear that I personally take with me during the winter when I go bouldering. This has been curated over the years so that I don't get cold and ruin a good day of bouldering. I also go over a quick warm-up sequence to do when it's cold out. 


Winter Bouldering Essentials

Keeping you warm essentials - 

Mr. Heater Buddy: https://amzn.to/2MlfGQh

Portable Gas Catalytic Heater: https://amzn.to/3sZH3Ak

Coleman Propane Campins Gas: https://amzn.to/2MlfGQh

Hand Warmers: https://amzn.to/36de42f 

Clothing -

Darn Tough Socks https://amzn.to/2YfDFmD

Eddie Bauer Beanie: https://amzn.to/2YfDFmD

Outdoor Research Floodlight Jacket: https://amzn.to/2NuXOTy

 Climbing Gear -

Friction Labs Liquid Chalk: https://amzn.to/2NuXOTy

8b+ Chalk Bags: https://amzn.to/3iNEEny

Scarpa Instinct VSR: https://amzn.to/3pkDjqP

For The Ladies or Those Who Need It -

P-Style - Stand to Pee: https://amzn.to/3a2LYYB

 Warm-Up Gear - 

Resistance Bands: https://amzn.to/3a2LYYB

Tension Block: https://www.tensionclimbing.com/product/the-block/ Get 10% off with this code MP1021

Get My Books -

Simple Strength: https://amzn.to/3nBAAYv

Peak Nutrition: https://amzn.to/3i2PYvL


We're going to be talking about the essential winter gear list for bouldering and at the end of this video I'm going to go over a quick warm-up to do when your bouldering outside in the cold.

We're going to be talking about the essential gear to take with you when you go bouldering outside in the winter first, let's talk about clothing. Make sure you are layering up, you can always take clothes off and store it.

I really like to bring an extra pair of socks, wool socks are going to be the best just in case, maybe your socks get wet with a river crossing or something like that. And then having a spare undershirt when you go hiking for bouldering especially when you're going uphill you're going to sweat. Then when it's time to climb, it doesn't feel great to have a cold wet shirt on so I like to always have a spare one. 

And then obviously like a beanie. I always love to climb in a beanie, it always makes me feel nice and cozy and then some gloves if you need it. With jackets, I tend to bring more jackets in the car, and then assess what the situation is weather-wise and what I need to bring with me from the car to the boulders. So I always bring a selection of different jackets with me. A lighter one and a thicker one. 

Coming over to the Gear. I really like to always bring some hand warmers, because you never know! You can always stick them in your shoes, you can put them in your pockets. You can put it in your chalk bag. These are awesome.

And then the heaters. So with the heaters, I when I first started using heaters, I always felt really embarrassed that I was bringing heaters to the boulders, but I know myself, I get really really cold and if I get cold I can no longer climb, so I'd rather Hike with my heater and stay warm and continue to climb. We have two different types of heaters here. This one is the Mr. Heater.

This is the portable buddy. This one's awesome because it really is quite powerful. But the drawback is that it is pretty heavy. So I would say like for shorter hikes to Boulders, this is a really awesome one. The other one that you could choose is the one from Coleman. This one does need a lighter to light it up, some might actually come with an igniter. But this one doesn't so you’ll have to bring a lighter with you. This one is quite a bit lighter, but the area is a little smaller and it's not as powerful. For both of these heaters, you can use just a regular gas canister, which is great. It's really easy to just get from the store. 

Some other essential things that I like to bring with me are some thermoses. It's really nice to have hot food and hot drinks when you're out in the cold moving around right 

Obviously, always always always take enough water with you, maybe a snack, maybe more than just a snack, bring your lunch and all of your other snacks. 

 For folks who need this, the p-style or the She-wee is amazing, especially when it's cold and you don't want to pull your pants down and take a squat when it's freezing cold. This is a must-have for anyone who needs it. 

like to bring my pocket knife because you never know!  Bring your poop bags! Make sure you always pack it out.

For warming up, I really like to bring a resistance band and my portable hang board I love this one. This is the Block from Tension. There's a lot of different options on it and it's small and it's light and I put a very lightweight sling on it so I can put it on my foot and then I can use it in that way and you can use different crimps pockets, you can also use the jug to pull on. So this is definitely a must.

And then for the warm-up it is really essential that you spend a little bit more time warming up so you could start with increasing core body temperature by doing some rapid arm swings and leg swings and then you can go into bigger movements with the resistance bands. Like shoulder movements coming, up and back doing, high repetition work just to get those joints warmed up and then you can move on to the hang board or if you have jugs at the boulders, you can just do some isometrics and some pull-ups. Maybe some push-ups get those big movements going so you can really increase the blood flow. And then making sure that you always target the fingers before you start climbing hard on your projects.

All right, the other essential things are a first aid kit and hand sanitizer, especially for these days. Chalk, climbing shoes, make sure you have your athletic tape a couple of different brushes, these are Boar's hair brushes. I've got two different sizes here. Liquid chalk, which is also really nice especially if there's a lot of people hanging out on the same boulder, liquid chalk is the way to go. And then I do like the emery board for loose skin, especially between projects just file that loose skin off and then you'll be good to go.

That is my Essential gear list for winter bouldering. I would love to hear what else you take or maybe I'm missing something. I would love to get an upgrade on this list.

So let me know in the comments and good luck with the winter bouldering. Have fun, be kind, and stay safe!