Carabiner Specs

[Dustin_B]

For all you techie gear heads out there, here is some good reference info on several popular brands and models of biners including weight, strength (both open and closed gate), and gate opening dimension.

 

non-locking biner specs

 

locking biner specs

 

 

[b-rock]

There's something I never got - A beefy locking belay biner (Petzl Attache) with a closed gate mfg rating of 22KN, but then a skinny all use locker (BD Enduro Screwgate) is rated at 24KN ???

[Sphinx]

Depends on the shape of the biner, too. I got to watch BD kill a wiregate once, and the gate exploded when the thing failed. The 'skinny' biner might have a more pronounced D-shape, so less force is transferred to the gate, which is the weak part of the biner.

[Billygoat]

Has anyone actually known of a carabiner blowing in a direct pull (gate open or closed, not cross loaded) in actual use? I have a bunch of bd ovals and like how durable they seem to be but they are heavy and not comparatively strong. The question really is, are they strong enough?

[Ursa_Eagle]

I haven't seen one fail myself, but I understand they found a broken carabiner at the bottom of the climb after Goran Kropp fell and died.

It also depends on what you're using the ovals for. A fall on lead will obviously produce a larger force than a fall on TR or a fixed line, and a much larger force than any normal static loading. 18 KN is still a LOT of force. Don't forget to look at everything else in your system as well, the carabiner may not be the limiting factor.

[fern]

I've seen an oval that had the gate pulled out in a fall.

 

overall you don't hear of too many accidents resulting from

gear failure rather than human error (reading ANAM etc), but

probably most gear failures are from carabiners

breaking, likely in open-gate or crossloaded circumstances.

This is my impression but I have not read stats or studies

to confirm it.

 

If you know the short-comings of your gear and use it

appropriately it's all strong enough. Ovals have a number

of disadvantages compared to more modern shapes, but they

work fine if you take care.

[Wallstein]

I have about 6 biners that are broken or almost broken. Most of them I broke using a funkness trying to get out pins. I have broken one carabiner while hauling but I can't say it wasn't crossloaded, as i wasn't close enough to really see it. We were hauling a bunch of shit! I have a few friends that have broken carabiners, two of the cases i have heard about were while people were aid soloing. Both cases were falls real close to the belay. Of the carabiners i have broken, most of them have broken at the bottom of the gate. I have only snapped two down the spine. The easiest carabiner I have found that breaks are the older BD light D's. The gait seems to come open easy due to a weak spring.

[Montana_Climber]

I consider a Hotwire I have to be broken. Nothing snapped but the gate is now about 30 degress off of center. I took a 40' fall while aiding at Looking Glass in NC. The hook placement I was on blew, followed by an old fixed pin that snapped, followed by a TCU that had only 2 cams in contact (needed one of those hybrid Aliens). The bolt finally caught me but when I looked up at it, I noticed that the biner was cross-loaded and the gate was wide open. It wasn't the fall that scared me as much as seeing that thing open like that.

 

Other than that, I've never seen a spine or gate snap when placed well. I don't consider carabiners placed on edges in horizontals into this count.