Climbing
With their lengthy, coffee grinder–like handles, Grivel’s 360 screws have long been a go-to for easier cranking in bulletproof ice. They’re also fantastic for maneuvering into tight placements or around large, funky features, but the chief complaint was they got tangled when racked. Now, Grivel has modified the hanger and crank so testers found they nested better when racking multiple screws on an ice clipper on your harness. The new hanger is also considerably easier to clip (though you no..." go to full review
“Hands down, the easiest screw I have ever used for starting in hard ice,” said one ecstatic tester after deploying Petzl’s new screws on water ice all over Colorado. Petzl optimized the aggressive steel teeth on the Laser series by lengthening them, and it shows with the increased ease of placement. “I rarely failed to start the screw with just one jab, which is a real blessing when you’re pumped,” another tester said. Laser Speed screws (four sizes, 10 to 21cm) have a fold-up crank that..." go to full review
The lightest biner reviewed, the slim, airy Cypher Mydas nonetheless had a capable feel and middling size that testers appreciated—the biner is just (just) large enough not to weasel from your grip in clutch situations, and the gate opening was ample and avoided snaggage. The Mydas’ I-beam construction is quite aggressive but still reliable in the hand: The three super-recessed I-beam pockets made for good grabability along the ridges and declivities, without compromising strength. As with..." go to full review
THE KEYLOCK ROCK
Petzl long led the quick-clippin’ pack with its early adoption of the snag-free keylock nose. The Attache 3D locker continues this tradition, guarding against unwanted hang-ups when clipping belay loops, slings, etc.
LOW-PROFILE GATE DESIGN
The screwlock gate has been streamlined, to reduce any unwanted snagging and allow for easy biner rotation.
NOW IN 3-D!
Petzl pared away excess aluminum to yield this distinctive 3-D shape . . . and a full-..." go to full review
HAIR TRIGGER
Set the eponymous, spring-loaded “trigger” bar to hold the bent-wire gate and voila, you have a wide-open gate, ready to be clipped or stick clipped. (With a little practice, you’ll find it easy to set the trigger one handed.) Like a mousetrap, only the lightest touch on the trigger, which physically occupies almost the entire gate opening, is required to release the gate.
DOUBLE DUTY
The Trigger Wire can be used like any standard biner, too — simply leave the..." go to full review
How many times have you looked down while belaying and noticed your locking biner has slipped sideways, so that either the belay loop or the belay device is smack up against the carabiner gate? Once a day? Every two minutes? This is cross-loading, and it’s dangerous—a locking carabiner is only about one-third as strong across its width as along its full length. Various solutions to this problem have been proposed, but most have been too heavy or futzy to catch on. Enter the Gridlock..." go to full review
I’ve long wondered why wiregates always had two wires—wouldn’t they be even lighter if you removed one? The sleek, innovative “H-Profi le” (basically I-beam) Ange S is the fi rst to do so, with its unique MonoFil Keylock gate, which the company touts as lasting longer because the gate is more recessed; it also clicks into a unique see-through nose that lets you clear away ice and debris. Looking almost like a Transformer or robot’s pincer hand, the Ange S was a sheer pleasure to clip: The..." go to full review
I have Jimmy Dean fingers, so I’m an outlier in terms of hand and digit size. (Laptop keyboards confound me.) That said, I had little trouble clipping rope into the FS Mini, which ties for the second-lightest biner reviewed—and is certainly the smallest. Because of its keychain-biner size, the FS Mini will have detractors: It’s a tough sell for gloved alpine climbing and for hangdogging, when you sometimes grab biners to clip the rope. (I couldn’t open the gate with even one finger inside.)..." go to full review
This was the largest clipper reviewed (the smallest-in-review Metolius FS Mini nearly fits inside), and thus, not surprisingly, proved very versatile. It might be the easiest of all to maneuver while wearing gloves, and it also was the easiest to slap rope into, with the review’s biggest-measured gate opening. One Achilles heel of certain larger wiregates is a tendency toward “limp” gate resistance—this makes it harder to stabilize the biner while clipping the rope into it, or to push the..." go to full review
The venerable UK outfit Wild Country sells a quiver of ultralight wiregates (Astro, Helium, Nitro, Xenon). I’ve been running Astro draws for a while, so I’m quite familiar with the carabiner. This is a great, middling-light clipper and lands squarely in the upper-middle ranks for gate-opening size. The nose is elegantly hooded, for minimal snag hassles, and the gate is properly stiff like a strong cup of Earl Grey. The I-beam shape is aggressive, with an innovative look that incorporates..." go to full review