Wednesday, June 30

Interesting article on quickdraw gate orientation

I never thought it mattered which way the caribiner gates faced in relation to one another on a quickdraw. This article is making me reconsider:

http://www.spadout.com/a/face-those-gates/

2 comments:

dom said...

I'm sceptical of that article. I find it very hard to believe that a carabiner will break under 700 pounds of pressure (which is a relatively tiny force). I did the test, and although the carabiner moves from its major axis point, as soon as it is weighted, as it would be in a fall, it moves straight back.

It is a very minor point that I don't think would be worth switching your draws, especially as Matt Samet points out it is important to be able to easily visualize which direction they are facing. I think if I switched them, it would cause me to backclip more since I've always had my biners facing opposite direction.

Unknown said...

Important article. I watched a guy take a fall in J-tree, cross-load his top biner on the gate joining, just as the article warns, and snap it. He decked and broke his ankle.