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Climbing Carabiner

Climbing carabiners have a wide variety of uses and styles, many of which are used in sport climbing. The word carabiner itself is derived from the German term, Karabinerhaken, which translates to carbine hook. It is said that the reason we borrowed this term was that early English climbers disdained carabiners, crampons, and pitons. Because of this English variations were never invented and the German, French, and Italian words used to name climbing equipment stuck.

A climbing carabiner is essentially an oval of metal that has a segment that opens to accept either rope or webbing. This opening can either be locking or free, but will be completely solid at every point around the oval when closed. Some carabiners can only be opened with a special key.

When a sport climber leads a route, or climbs it first, they carry quickdraws to attach the rope to the rock. A quickdraw is two carabiners attached by a short strand of webbing. As the climber ascends the route he/she will attach one end of the quickdraw to pre-drilled anchors while connecting the other end to his/her rope. This ensures that if the climber falls, they should not fall much lower than their last placed quickdraw. The climbing carabiner is an absolutely essential piece of climbing gear.

 

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