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Topic Date User

spectra/webbing top rope setups 9-Feb-2007 At 5:12:54 PM belayslave

Message

On 9/02/2007 bomber pro wrote:
>Alloys are light so get used by climbers alot, you said cross loading might
>be an issue.
>This is not my experience with top rope setups that are done right, rope
>action on the locking part of the
>gate is also not an issue, beware that if the gate is facing in such a
>way that the gate can come undone
>by rattling open due to gravity then this can and will happen over the
>course of a top rope session.
>Alloy's can have micro fractures internally from bieng droped onto hard
>surfaces i.e rock, these are
>almost impossible to detect, good idea to renew crucial links such as
>belay/rappel biners every now and
>then (have just done this myself) so double locking gates gives you a
>redundancy incase of failure.
>Steel gates on the other hand are almost indestructable (heavy but reliable)
>I have used them on
>Industrial jobs, and seen a crane exert tons of force on even cross loaded
>steelys and never had one fail.

Unless you can ensure that a karabiner does not move at all (which very few top rope setups can), you
can never ensure that a) it's never cross loaded, and b) that the screwgate won't become undone due
to the biner flipping around and gravity taking its course. I also use steel biners in industrial work, and
indeed have numerous myself. I guess it's just personal choice. I choose to backup all my setups as
much as i can, steel included. IMO (though not based on scientific fact) 1 steel biner can break/open
just as easily as an alloy. Maybe i'm over concious but hell...