Specialized vs Versatile Gear

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In the previous video, we talked about the tradeoffs that comes with being either the type of climber that minimizes the number of systems they deploy or being a climber who uses many systems… and there are tradeoffs. Today’s video is kind of a continuation of that argument, but turning to gear.

I was having a chat with a viewer who was talking about the problem with “generalist” gear, the kind of gear that can get you through a lot of situations but which won’t be optimized for any of those situations. Sure, we can climb vertical ice with mountaineering boots (as opposed to technical boots), but it will be a lot harder to be precise and we will be tiring faster due to the unnecessary weight around our feet. We can use a trekking backpack for climbing, but we’ll have side pockets (used to hold water bottles for trekkers’ easy access) that have widened our profile and which can get caught on rock horns and the like. A standard fleece midlayer is probably pretty good for shoulder season hiking, but maybe would be far too warm for trail running and not warm enough for winter snowshoeing.

… and the like.

His point was that no piece of gear can do all of the things at the all of the times at peak efficiency. There are simply too many variables in the outdoors for any one piece of gear to master them all.

I can’t say I disagree.

But I also think there is a place for generalized gear. As the video gets into , the longer we are out there or the more different types of activities we will do once out there, the more we would need many, many specialized pieces of gear in order to have the “right gear for that particular job.” That simply may not be possible if we are needing to carry everything with us on our backs. So, instead do we need to look for gear that does nothing great but a lot of things well?

Maybe.

Of course, “maybe.” What if we have a system of interrelated things that are designed to work together. This is the whole concept around layering clothing, for instance. Many lighter layers can add up to being as warm as a heavier layer. Or we can mix and match pieces of climbing protection on our rack to cover ice and rock, dry cracks and icy cracks, frozen turf, etc. We probably wouldn't carry a full rack of ice screws AND a full rack of cams AND a full rack of nuts AND bulldogs AND…

Rather we build a versatile, but imperfect rack.

The point is that these types of considerations are kind of important and are sometimes constrained by things not within our immediate control, like needing to carry everything on our back, or even just our budget.

Take a look at the video and maybe think a bit about your approach to creating versatility, as there are many ways to go about it.