After Field-Testing 116 Items, We Found the Best Climbing Gear of Fall 2025

Rock climbing season doesn’t end when snow hits the high country. Some of the best conditions of the year are right around the corner: cool temps, ample shade, and just the right amount of humidity in the air. Unless you’re sharpening your ice tools, don’t give up on the rock (or plastic) season just yet—with the right gear, you’re in for the best season of your life.

Climbing’s gear-testing team has spent all summer sweating it out with the latest and greatest so you don’t have to. We tested 25 harnesses, 23 pairs of climbing shoes, 26 pairs of approach shoes, 17 ropes, and 25 backpacks—many of which were new for 2025. Some of the gear was good, some was great, and a lot of it missed the mark: bruised hips, sore feet, exploding packs—it’s all part of the gear-testing game. Below, we’ve outlined only the very best for you, dear reader. Don’t see the category you’re looking for? We’ll be adding more reviews this week, so check back soon.

The Best Climbing Shoes of 2025

There are now so many different types of climbing shoes, it’s hard to believe that back in the day there were only a handful of options. We need shoes for a wide range of specific applications: everything from garage spray walls and steep sport routes to multi-pitch climbing and offwidths. These 15 models rose to the top.

The Best Climbing Harnesses of 2025

If there is one piece of gear that will make or break your mood during a long day on the wall, it’s your harness. Sitting in a hanging belay in an uncomfortable harness is a surefire way to squash stoke. In an effort to find the best climbing harness available, we put a range of them—from fast-and-light alpine options to feature-heavy big wall offerings—to the test this year, taking them on trips from the cold Canadian alpine to the steep walls of Devil’s Tower to overhung sport routes at The Red. After plenty of whips and hours spent projecting, six emerged as the most comfortable, functional, and breathable climbing harnesses currently available.

The 6 Best Climbing Approach Shoes

The best rock climbing shoes in the world aren’t going to do you any good if you can’t reach your route in the first place. Sure, some climbs are a stone’s throw from the car, but others require fourth or fifth-class scrambling to reach the first pitch. And even when a climb does have an easy approach, the descent could involve rappelling, scrambling, downclimbing, or several miles of hiking. That’s where approach shoes come in.

The 5 Best Climbing Backpacks and Kitbags

Backpacks are like haircuts: everyone has one and someone else’s is always better. Both can serve all types of climbers, from casual craggers and gym-goers to fast-and-light alpinists and multi-day big-wallers. But unlike hair cuts, most of which are versatile enough to wear anywhere, each climbing backpack comes with a unique set of features—and is intended for a specific use case.

The Best Climbing Ropes of 2025

The best climbing ropes are a tough category of gear to review because, these days, almost all are well made and perform great right out of the package. It’s only after hard wear—climbing pitch after pitch in rain, snow, and ice, coiling and uncoiling on dirt and sand, and taking some big whippers—that a rope reveals its true colors.

The post After Field-Testing 116 Items, We Found the Best Climbing Gear of Fall 2025 appeared first on Climbing.