The Best American Made Rock Climbing Gear
If you’re searching for the top climbing gear made in the USA then you’ve come to the right place. Nearly all of my personal climbing gear is American made and I love it. I may as well spread the love for more sustainable and better quality local gear.
American Climbing Gear
Sterling ATS Belay Device
This is my favorite belay device ever made. It can be used as a figure 8 or plate style belay device. With the four horns I can easily lock off mid rappel to hang out and take photos or I can quickly adjust the friction level for a controlled descent. The ATS accommodates a wide variety of rope widths up to 11mm. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
More Info/Current Pricing from Backcountry
Misty Mountain Harnesses
Misty Mountain has a full range of bomber harnesses, from the very burly and heavily cushioned Titan to the lighter weight and versatile Intrepid, even lighter Bolt, and more. Misty Mountain’s Cadillac harness is the most comfortable harness I’ve ever used. I used a Cadillac for years but now currently use an Intrepid harness most days. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
More Info/Current Pricing from Backcountry.com
Sterling Ropes
Sterling Ropes produces excellent dynamic and static ropes. I personally own and love my 9.8mm Evolution Velocity rope. Their dynamic ropes are durable yet supple, provide a light impact catch, and can take plenty of ugly falls. The dry coated versions extend durability even further. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Backcountry.com
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Five Ten Climbing Shoes
Five Ten crafts many of the world’s best climbing shoes. They’re renowned for the sticky grip of their Stealth C4 and Hf rubber. Five Ten climbing shoes aren’t 100% made in the USA but are assembled in the USA. Note that Adidas recently bought Five Ten and future shoes may be made overseas. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing at REI.com
More Info/Current Pricing at Amazon
Black Diamond Camalot Ultralight
Ask any experienced trad climber whose cams are the best and I bet you they’ll say BD Camalot Cams. BD Camalots are light, reliable, easy to use, hold well, and take stress from falls in a variety of directions. One of the greatest cams of all time, the C4, got even lighter with the Camalot Ultralight. The Camalot Ultralight shaves approximately 25% of the weight from its similarly sized C4 cam counterpart by replacing the steel cable with a dyneema core stem. Where to find them:
Camalot Ultralight
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
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Hyperlite Mountain Gear 3400 Ice Backpack
Hyperlite Mountain Gear packs are constructed of Dyneema (formerly known as cuben fiber) fabric. Along with fully taped seams, this translates into HMG packs being impressively weatherproof, more abrasion resistant, ultra lightweight, and earning our Editor’s Choice Award. HMG packs come in a wide variety of volumes and configurations, with some geared towards ultralight backpacking and some towards climbing with external attachment points for crampons, and ice axes. I find that their 2400 size with 40 L capacity hits the sweet spot for ultralight trips. For those wanting more volume, take a look at the larger 3400 and 4400 packs. HMG packs are specialized ultralight minimalist packs using latest tech fabrics and with that comes a higher price tag. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Backcountry.com
More Info/Current Pricing from Hyperlite Mountain Gear
Metolius Safe Tech All-Around Improved Harness
The comfortable Safe Tech All-Around is overbuilt with supreme safety in mind. This harness includes 4 heavy-duty load bearing gear loops plus 2 front pop-out loops for racking. It has dual belay loops for aid climbing and a full strength haul loop for lifting up a tag line. Check out all the positive reviews at Backcountry. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
More Info/Current Pricing from Backcountry.com
BlueWater Ropes
BlueWater makes fantastic dynamic and static ropes, and are well known for their static canyoneering ropes which I have used extensively. I highly recommend their ropes for climbing and canyoneering. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
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BlueWater Ropes Webbing & Sterling Rope Webbing
Bluewater and Sterling make strong 1″ webbing with comparable specs. I have used webbing from both manufacturers but really can’t say one is better than the other. Both manufacturer’s webbing has a tensile strength of 4000 lbf and come in various colors, 30′ discs, and larger spools. Where to find them:
Bluewater Webbing
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
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Sterling Webbing
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Black Diamond Magnetron Carabiner
The top of the line BD carabiner is the Magnetron which, as you might guess, uses magnets to automatically lock. Unfortunately, most other BD biners are now imported due to BD’s insistence on shuffling down the rabbit hole of corporate greed. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
More Info/Current Pricing from REI.com
Black Diamond Wired Stopper
Wired Stoppers offer excellent passive protection and deserve some consideration for your trad rack. Their more traditional trapezoidal design tends to be easier to clean than offset designs. In fact, some climbers actually prefer the inexpensive Stoppers to newer offset designs. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
Organic Climbing Crash Pads
Organic Climbing is a fairly small company making some of the best pads in the business. They’ve achieved this status by combining extremely high quality foam and durable fabrics with no nonsense (looking at you Mad Rock R3) design. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from REI.com
Organic Climbing Chalk Bags
All Organic Climbing chalk bags are unique since they’re thoughtfully made of recycled 1000d cordura nylon cutting scraps leftover from their crash pad manufacturing. They have a stiff rim for easy access and a plush fleece liner. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from REI.com
FrictionLabs Chalk
Frictionlabs provides high performance chalk including Unicorn Dust (fine), Gorilla Grip (chunky), and Bam Bam(super chunky). I personally use Unicorn Dust and love the stuff. Where to find them:
More Info/Current Pricing from Amazon
More Info/Current Pricing from REI.com
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