What gear do you need for speed climbing? Stiff shoes, auto-belay instead of a belay device, and what you can skip buying.
The short answer: for starting out you need surprisingly little – stiff climbing shoes and close-fitting clothes, the gym handles the rest. Speed climbing is one of the gear-lightest climbing disciplines there is.
The biggest difference from bouldering and sport climbing: you never operate a belay device yourself. Every speed wall has an automatic auto-belay system (also called GAB, Guided Auto Belay) hanging on it, which brakes and lowers you by itself when you fall or reach the top. Competition-grade systems take in the full 15 meters of rope in just 3.2 to 3.5 seconds – almost as fast as you fall. So you don't clip anything in, you just climb.
The second big difference sits on your feet. Speed climbing uses stiff shoes with a thick sole (3.5 to 4.5 mm of rubber, roughly as thick as two stacked 2-euro coins) instead of the super-soft bouldering shoes. The reason: on the standard route you stand on small, positive footholds almost the whole way – edging (standing on the edge) instead of smearing (searching for friction with the sole). A stiff shoe gives you a firm platform you can load your full weight onto explosively without the foot giving way.
A motor inside the device constantly keeps light tension on the rope so no slack builds up as you climb. If you fall or jump off at the top, the device brakes automatically and lowers you gently to the ground – no partner needed. A laser sensor at the top pad simultaneously measures your time to the hundredth of a second.
For speed, stiffness beats sensitivity. A shoe with a thin, soft sole (under 3.5 mm) feels great for bouldering but tires your foot muscles faster and gives way on small edges. A stiff shoe needs some breaking-in but stays stable through the whole run.
Every gram on your body costs tenths of a second over 15 meters. Skip extras like a heavy chalk-bag harness or loose clothing. Many athletes even climb with minimal chalk on their fingers instead of a full bag.
Before you even think about pace, learn the route at normal speed in your new shoes. An unfamiliar shoe changes your feel for every foothold – that has to become automatic before speed comes into play.
Auto-belay systems are reliable, but not a free pass for carelessness. Before every run, check that the carabiner on your harness is correctly clipped and locked – that is your only protection. Competition-grade devices are built for the high speeds of speed climbing, but recreational devices in normal bouldering gyms aren't always – so only climb at speed on walls officially cleared for it.
Buy your first speed shoe half a size tighter than you're used to from bouldering. The stiff sole needs a snugger fit to transfer force directly to the edge – a loose shoe eats up valuable milliseconds on every push-off.
Usually not – gyms with a speed wall provide a harness and auto-belay connection. For regular training, though, your own lightweight harness pays off, because you always get the same fit and nothing shifts.
Because the standard route is almost entirely small, positive footholds you stand on rather than smear on. A stiff shoe gives you a firm platform to load weight onto explosively without the sole giving way – more important here than the sensitivity bouldering shoes offer.
An automatic auto-belay device keeps constant tension on the rope and brakes you by itself when you fall or reach the top – competition-grade devices take in the full 15 meters of rope in 3.2 to 3.5 seconds. You never operate a belay device yourself.
For your very first try, yes, just to get a taste. Once you train regularly, though, a stiff speed shoe is worth it, because it gives you far more stability on the small footholds of the standard route.
Speed Climbing: Understanding the Standard Route