If you have a climber in your life, the last thing you want to do at Christmas is to not give them anything practical or nice for climbing. Sure, you can always get them socks, body wash or a gift card for shopping malls as a last resort, but if you really want to impress them, you need to look for a proper climbing gift! Even if you don’t know a lot about climbing and are bad at choosing gifts, we guarantee that with our help, you’ll find the perfect one.
The gift ideas are divided into separate categories according to the type of climber: Sport climbers, boulder climbers, sandstone climbers and adventurers, passionate beginners and (a bonus category) a climber’s soul mate, meaning a person who fell in love with a climber and as a result started climbing as well. You need to choose carefully, especially with the last category, because the goal is to make that person happy and at the same time support him/her in their future endeavours.
So, all you have to do is to find out which type of climbing your climber does or would like to try in the upcoming year and choose a gift accordingly. In each category, you’ll find gifts falling within various price range.
Boulderers
Boulderers are a special breed of climbers who don’t use ropes. Their ultimate goal is not to climb as high as possible, but to get there in a demanding way. As irrational as it may seem to a layman, they do so in order to improve themselves: to get stronger, more focused, to have a better technique. All these skills are best practised close to the ground.
Anyone who is seriously interested in bouldering probably already has one or two boulder mats. What they might not have is a slightly smaller, practical mat for sit-starts.
- The practical and variable Paddy Sitcase is a perfect gift for any boulderer. .
Bouldering is not only about the strength of the body and fingers, but also about fine technical skills, such as heel hooking.
- The Nitro shoes will make a perfect gift. .
The third cornerstone of bouldering that ensures proper smearing is magnesium.
- The Chalk Rattle 2000g package contains enough chalk for the whole year and it makes a perfect gift..
Sport climbers
Sport climbers comprise a considerable part of the climbing community and they need quite a lot of gear: ropes, climbing shoes, chalk bags, quickdraws, carabiners... and all of it eventually wears out, despite high-quality workmanship and materials. So, if you have a sport climber in your life, you can just subtly ask them, which part of their gear could be replaced, and choose the gift accordingly.
Sport climbers put a lot of emphasis on reducing the weight of their gear and their bodies to bare minimum. The lighter they are, the better they are likely to perform.
- The Vision 9,1 lightweight rope is a perfect gift.
Climbing shoes are the most used component of the climber’s gear. Passionate climbers pay a lot of attention to their shoes, they rely on them and often discuss why their climbing shoes in particular stick well on small footholds.
- The Ozone climbing shoes for men the Ozone Lady shoes for women make a perfect gift. Ozone shoes are constructed with a patented 3-Force System, ensuring maximum friction even on tiny footholds.
The goal is to make all pieces of the gear as light as possible, including the harness.
- The Neon harness is a very lightweight harness in a bright green colour that will make a great gift. Neon harnesses comes with a padded waist belt so that it won’t cut into your skin and reinforced tie-in loops increasing the lifespan of the harness. Women climbers should take a look at the Neon Lady harness, which is specially adapted to the female anatomy.
Sandstone climbers and adventurers
Sandstone climbers and adventurers are the kind of climbers who are not afraid of taking risks. Their tendency for masochistic behaviour is probably much more common than in the general population. They just love to get into uncomfortable (narrow cracks) and risky places (slabs without anchors).
Sandstone climbers and mountaineers like terrain that most boulderers and sport climbers avoid when they have the chance. Adventurers like to squeeze themselves through cracks and they don’t care about the bruises it leaves. However, most of them would probably appreciate it if they wouldn’t have to buy new pants each time they set off to the Adršpach sandstones.
- Eternal Pants are extremely durable climbing pants, as the name suggests, with a flexible cut and increased resistance to abrasion and they make a perfect gift.
Adventurers who prefer mountains over any other terrain need reliable gear that won’t take up much space in their backpack (leaving enough room for a snack).
- The super lightweight Kestrel QD DYN 8 quickdraws are a perfect gift..
Any climbing adventurer has to deal with cracks at some point. Some of them fell for them so hard they eventually don’t want to climb anything else.
- The Crack Gloves Lite with high friction and sensitivity make a perfect gift.
Passionate beginners
If you’re choosing a gift for beginning climber, the chances are they haven’t picked their favourite discipline yet. In order to make that decision, they have to try all of the disciplines, which basically means that you can’t go wrong with most of the gifts here. We’ve selected mainly those for general-purpose use and ones that are suitable for beginners because, among other things, they come with advanced security features.
Boulderers will probably disagree, but the truth is that climbing rope is perceived by the general public as the most distinctive feature of the climbing sport.
- The Cult 9,8 rope with a larger diameter ensuring easy and comfortable operation as well as long lifespan of the rope is an ideal gift for beginning climbers.
The most important skill that any beginner needs is to learn how to use climbing protection.
- The Belay Set Condor Triple Hurry is a set of universal protection gear with an extra-safe carabiner, which makes a great gift.
When you join a new group of people, you do your best to fit in.
- The Raglan T climbing T-shirt or women’s Pantera Shorts therefore make a great gift. Their design reflects the latest fashion trends in the climbing community, while still meeting the requirements regarding high functionality and comfortable wear.
Climber’s soul mate = essential gifts
Did your loved one pick up climbing only recently and did so because of you? In order to create a long-lasting climbing relationship, you need to ensure couple of things:
That he/she is warm when standing at the foot of the rock wall.
- The lightweight and very popular Tsunami down jacket is a perfect gift
That he/she won’t be too scared of climbing with you.
- The safety HMS carabiner Condor Tripple is equipped with an internal wire gate and a double-secured main gate, which makes it an ideal gift.
That he/she will come to understand why you love climbing so much, and he/she will be able to enjoy it as well
- Any gift that will help them build their own gear is great. Such as the Strike climbing shoes that represent an ideal balance between performance and comfort and, as a bonus, come in bright, optimistic colours.
We Wish You All a Merry Climbing Christmas!