Ultralight Quickdraws

[catbirdseat]

I'm sure many of you have looked at the equipment review in Climbing #253 on quickdraws. The Helium came out with the best grade, but I'd say it has some shortcomings.

 

I agree with the reviewer that the O-ring retention band isn't going to last long. A bar tack would be a better idea.

 

I also agree that the top biner doesn't need to be full size for weight reasons and because a small top biner racks better. No question that the Helium is a great choice for rope clipping though.

 

So what would be a good choice for that top biner if you wanted it to be a keylock and less expensive than the Helium? Which sling would you use for general use that included all sorts of climbing, including sport, trad and ice?

[hemp22]

I bought my Heliums as a pack of Quickdraws because it was cheaper than buying them individually at the time. I then cannibalized the biners from the QDs and put them on my trad draws, and I put some older biners on the dyneema dogbones that came with the heliums.

 

Mine actually came with short stiff dogbones (bartacked all the way through) made of 10mm dyneema, and the dogbones have a tight enough rope-end hole that they work great for regular sport draws even without the rubber keeper. But more recnetly, all the Helium QDs that I've seen in stores just come with a ~4" dyneema loop with the rubber keeper on the rope end - and I don't like that setup as much for the reason you mentioned: the rubber will probably break quickly.

 

As for a biner for the top of the draw, I found that I like the Helium there too.

If you're looking for a lightweight (wiregate) keylock, the only options that I know of are the helium & the DMM shield - both of which are really expensive. I heard that Mammut is going to come out with some really lightweight biners in the spring, but don't know if those will be keylocks.

But if you don't mind a little extra weight of a solid-gate, the straight-gate Spirit (46g) is a good, tried-and-true option, or you could try the Simond spiders (50g) that are onsale are REI for cheap right now. $4.93

[catbirdseat]

I was actually thinking of the Petzl Spirit straightgate for the top. Not the lightest, but more affordable.

[Jens]

The simond spiders that you mention are nice biners.

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[cycling_mike]

I love the camp nano wires 'cause I generally bike to the crags... My summertime bi-weekly bike rides to Broughton's have gotten a bit easier since I replaced my old school ovals & D's. When Rachael and I did our bicycling tour of washington crags we carried wiregates almost exclusivly and that helped to shave the weight a bit.

 

If you're worried about weight on yer 12c's then take a shit and/or shave your head before climbing. That'll cut more weight than switching from putzl spirits to heliums or whatever.

[tradclimbguy]

I'm waiting for the new BD neutrino's. Supposed to be 6 grams lighter I figure for every two neutrino's I replace with two of the new lighter ones I can eat one more piece of pizza without it lowering my redpoint level. hahaha

 

Overall I think lighter gear is the future and will help to some small extent, but I don't really count the weight down to the gram. I do usually try to rack my lightest biners and draws when getting on something huge b/c it all adds up and I'll snag our new BD #4 over the slightly heavier one.

 

For me size makes the biggest difference. I'd rather have a very thin biner so I can rack 8-10 cams/draws whatever on each gear loop, weight comes in a close second but I'm not going to worry about a couple grams.

 

Those heliums are sweet, but I don't care for the gate action as much. Still a fan of the neutrino's and I really like some of the Positron draws, I'd vote to add those to the top.

[ketch]

Hey CBS, I know that you are looking for ultralight draws. One thought that comes to mind that may or may not apply. What are your intentions with them? You've got a fair amount of experience on the rock. If you anticipate a wondering route or such you may find that the extra weight of a few DMM rollers is worth it. Often I think it is the 15 ounces of rope drag that slows me down more than the 15 grams of biner. Just a quick note for consideration.

[catbirdseat]

My recent interest in keylock style biners comes from recent ice climbing where I found the hooks on biners catching on things and making unclipping difficult. Standard biners aren't such pain when rock climbing where you don't have gloves on.

 

I have one DMM Revolver that I have been using to see how it works. The Revolver needs to be part of a draw that holds it captive so that it can't rotate. The sheave is useless unless it is in contact with the rope.

 

Experience tells me that a majority of rope drag actually comes from contact of the rope with rock and not carabiners. I think there are relatively few situations where the Revolver will help, but having one or two on hand might be a good idea. I tend to keep the draw with the Revolver in reserve until I've used all the others so I have it when I actually need it.

Edited December 14, 2006 by catbirdseat