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The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Racking screws?

Everyone seems to use the plastic clippers from BD and Petzl.  I do as well but I don't know many who haven't broken one or lost screws at one point or another.

I think there is a market for a hot forged aluminum....racking specific biner......... in the $20+ retail range.  I mean come on!!  Loose one screw and it is $60 these days!!!  $20 would be a bargin for a hot forged clipper done right.  I'd prefer the Petzl pattern myself and no rubber bands or tape.  BD? Calling BD??!!
Come on guys..."do it for the children"  :-)
But till them Joe has a good idea.   Good enough I am going to go looking for some big biners this week.

6 comments:

Evan said...

Dane,
As I commented in the youtube thread as well, I don't think the taped biner solution would work half as well as something you might conjure up ;)

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on this after you try it.

Dane said...

Not me! I tried and didn't like the end result. I'd like Black Diamond to fire up that hot forge and duplicate Petzl's racking biner with the slot clip included.

No tape or rubber bands involved.

I'd pay $50 in seconds flat for a pair rated to 2000#.

Anonymous said...

yeah, the plastic clippers suck. I know a few unlucky climbers (thankfully not me), who have dropped a general portion of their rack in the middle of a pitch because of this. Not too great at all if you happen to in a middle of a long climb. Mixed grooves in particular are places, where this can easily happen. I'd buy aluminiun carabiner with clipper shape in a heartbeat should anyone make those. It most definitely should be noseless (ala Wild Country Helium). Having broke the attachment slot for clipper from two harnesses, I kinda like additional securing with rubber band though.
-Ari

dallen said...

I use the old fin Biner that BD used to make my second runner up is the Omega Pacific Five-O. The Fin is almost perfect for racking-Really Deep Basket to hold lots of screws. A bent gate for easy on and off. and it is strong. If I could change anything about it I would make it a key gate and get rid of the fin. Maybe we can get BD to come out with a biner like the fin in size with a couple of modifications. Until then I have 6 that I will continue to use hord- (not all at once though)

Ulf Renman said...

What about these? http://www.simond.com/en/cat/Protection/Others/prd/Rack_-_Gear_rack

Kai said...

I wonder if the solution is a hot forged carabiner with a wire gate that keeps it in the correct orientation. Like these belay biners, but wider basket and non-locking.

http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/gatekeeper.html