QC LAB: CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARABINER

Our QC Lab posts aim to answer some of climbing's most common gear-related questions. This round we talk about carabiners.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDUSTRIAL AND RECREATIONAL CARABINERS

We'll start off with a quick word on basic carabiner use because we get this question all the time.

I get lots of random calls from arborists, fire departments, rescue workers, marinas, yachting folks, Jeep guys and warehouse personnel wanting to know if it's okay to use our carabiners for their particular application. The official answer is always no, not recommended. Just as all of our instructions say, our gear is "For Climbing and Mountaineering Only." But why?

The simple answer is that we are climbers and mountaineers, we know climbing and mountaineering, and we design, test and certify our gear for climbing and mountaineering. We're not as intimate with the loads, the uses, misuses and abuses of these other applications.

What many people may not realize is the different ways that recreational gear is designed, tested and rated compared to industrial equipment. Industrial connectors are usually made of steel, are much heavier, are often much stronger, certified to different standards, and are sometimes rated differently than aluminum climbing carabiners.

A WORD ABOUT STRENGTH

As far as carabiner "strength" is concerned, almost every carabiner available today is CE certified. This means they meet minimum strength requirements. A bunch of smart people have spent a lot of time determining what these standards should be, given real-world climbing and mountaineering loading scenarios. There are some subtle differences and exceptions when getting into the nitty gritty of different kinds of carabiners, but for argument's sake, the minimum strength requirements for most climbing carabiners are:

Closed gate strength - 20kN

Open gate - 7kN

Minor axis - 7kN

CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARABINER FOR YOUR CLIMBING

Even within the climbing and mountaineering carabiner world, how do you know which model or style to choose? Black Diamond alone manufactures over 30 different styles of carabiners. From belay-specific biners, lockers, wiregates, keylock and traditional-gate biners, to biners with "hoods" and now even carabiners with magnets. How is someone to know what is the right tool for the job? I'll speak mainly to Black Diamond's offering of carabiners because that's what I use and know best.

Belay Biners

Belay biners, also known as HMS biners, are always lockers, and typically have a large basket end to accommodate using a Munter hitch. There are heavier, larger versions usually made from a larger diameter rodstock, and there are smaller, often lighter versions which usually have a more aggressive I-beam construction-this puts material where it is needed to attain the required strength, but removes excess material from where it is not needed, resulting in a lighter biner. Larger diameter carabiners usually last longer as there is a consistent, larger rope-bearing surface to wear evenly, whereas lighter I-beam carabiners tend to show signs of rope wear more quickly due to the geometric differences where the rope runs.

Another solid gate design came on the scene several years ago-the keylock gate. This uses the geometry of the pocket of the gate to interface with the 'nose' of the carabiner to provide its strength in closed gate. The advantage of this design is that it alleviates the chance of the hooked part of the carabiner to get hung up on something (like a bolt hanger, Stopper wire or sling). Nose hooked carabiners are surprisingly weak, and it's by far the most common scenario for carabiner failure in the field. Check out an old QC Lab post on the subject.

The manufacturing process for making keylock gates is slightly more expensive, but you gain the benefit of a snag-free carabiner.

Until recently, if you were the type of person that really liked the snag-free keylock design, but also the lighter weight and no whiplash of the wiregate, you had to make a choice. But now BD's HoodWire Technology kills two birds with one stone. You get the functionality of a wiregate carabiner as well as the snag-free benefits of a keylock thanks to the carabiners simple wire hood. HoodWire Technology is available on both the HoodWire carabiner, as well as our updated Oz Carabiner.

When our Oz carabiner first came out, my buddy Travis called me up all excited, "I'm going to order a full set of Oz quickdraws for my new sport climbing kit. They're so light!" It's true the Oz is a super-light biner at one ounce (hence the name), but is it the right choice for your sport climbing draws? Sure, if you're doing a multipitch sport route in the Canadian Rockies, or going for a hard, 22-draw onsight, go for it. But for a workhorse sport climbing carabiner, it's probably not the best choice. Why? In order to get the weight out of these lightweight biners, manufacturers are removing material, and though ultimately all carabiners are strong and meet all CE requirements, less material can mean a few things. The smaller size makes is slightly harder to clip. There can be less material in the spine, which makes it more susceptible to bending if loaded over an edge, and there oftentimes is less material on the rope-bearing surface, which means whippers are harder on your rope.

A quickdraw that is more optimized for daily cragging would likely have a snagfree carabiner on the top so it doesn't get up on bolt hangers, and a nice large biner on the bottom for ease of clipping. Something like the sport climbing specific Livewire Quickdraw,, Nitron Quickdraw or Hoodwire Quickdraw.

For most of the larger, heavier biners, the rope actually eventually ended up cutting, and the biner was still in good enough shape to throw on your rack and keep climbing. Whereas with the lightweight, smaller biners, after anywhere from 3-5 drops, the biner was severely deformed and was what I would consider non-functional (gate wouldn't open), and on a few occasions, the 10mm Dynex sling eventually cut.

Obviously this test is brutally harsh-no one in their right mind would (or could) take repeated gnarly fall factor-1.7 whippers with a static belay onto the same section of rope—but comparatively speaking, the lightweight biners got thrashed earlier. What's the moral of this story? Use the right tool for the job. Heavier biners with a greater cross section have their place as they are burly and can take abuse. Use something like this for your daily cragging quickdraws where you're more likely to fall repeatedly working the moves on your big proj. Whereas the smaller sized, lightweight biners aren't designed to withstand the same level of abuse and are more appropriate when weight is a concern, and you're not as likely to be taking huge lobbers repeatedly, like in the alpine, or when ice climbing.