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Indoor climbers, what gear are you rockin?
Pun intended.
I'm just getting into bouldering / top roping and need to start my gear hunt. What do you recommend? What things do you stay away from? Right now I'm just climbing indoors with no real plans to go outdoors yet.
100% any assisted belay device (grigri, Mega Jul, or the pilot are great). I'm not a huge fan of Smart 2.0 but people do like it in general. I'm not the biggest fan of the ATC at this point, it just feels outdated
I would also plug Hard is Easy -- maybe the greatest channel of climbing content (for those just starting out as well as people with more experience).
For indoors you really just need a harness, shoes, and a belay device. It's hard to go wrong with harnesses, you may as well get an ATC that can double as a rappelling device, and any basic, non-technical shoes will do just fine.
Already have shoes but I was really wondering if there's a difference in harnesses, since that seems like it's going to be my next purchase now that I'm getting into top rope.
Also, what's the difference between an ATC and a Grigri? My gym already has grigris at each route so It's not really necessary but I am moving soon and I hear that some gyms you have to bring your own.
A Grigri has actual mechanical assistance to help brake a fall, while an ATC works solely through friction. The advantage of a grigri is that it's basically impossible to mess up a bely using it (which, imo, can be a bad thing–most climbing accidents are caused by people getting lazy and complacent with their safety), but it's not as versatile.
That's neat, I've never heard of something like that.