What equipment can a competition climber use?

• Must wear: "climbing shoes and, where relevant, a climbing harness".
• May use: a chalk bag with commercially available dry or liquid chalk, and a climbing helmet.
• Banned on the hands and holds: "any substance or equipment that modifies the condition of holds or the climbing surface".
• Tack: any agent that adds stickiness is expressly prohibited.
• Saliva: spitting on hands or holds is prohibited, and a contaminated hold is cleaned with no extra time for the climber.
• Water: drinking water or a non-greasing hydrating agent may be used to clean the hands, with the excess wiped off.
• Banned to wear: gloves and kneepads, unless the event's regulations allow them.
• Allowed for injuries: elastic compression wraps and kinesiology tape.
• No earphones: nothing that could stop officials communicating with the climber.
• The climber's responsibility: each climber is "entirely and solely responsible" for their own equipment and clothing.
• The knot: the belayer checks that the rope is tied to the harness with a figure-of-eight knot and a safety knot.
• The belay device: only manual belay devices are used in lead events.

The glossary has the personal equipment entry, the chalk entry, the harness, the hold, the wall and the caution and disqualification entry.

The rule book gives the principle: what one climber puts on the holds "should not have any consequence for later-starting competitors". Chalk dries the hands and brushes off. A sticky agent stays on the hold and changes the climb for everyone who follows.