Carabineers come in different types, which are used for different purposes. There are various levels of rating for every carabineer. Learn how to choose and use carabineers in this climbing video.
Buy the right carabineer
Buy locking carabineers
Keep carabineers clean
Josh is an avid climber that resides off the coast in central California. He has managed for a mountaineering sports company for several years and loves the sport.
JOSH HARING: Hi, I'm Josh and today I'm going to talk about carabiners. As with everything else we've talked about, it's important that you contact your local specialty retailer. There's several different types of carabiners and they all have different purposes. Each carabiner is going to come with a rating system in kiloNewtons as to how strong that carabiner is. 1 kiloNewton roughly equals 224 pounds of force. This particular carabiner, a standard oval carabiner, is rated at 18 kiloNewtons, which is about 4,000 pounds, pretty tough. This particular carabiner could be defined as an oval with a straight gate. This carabiner's D shaped and this carabiner would be a pear shape. The gate on this is a wire gate. These gates are considered to be lighter and in some cases, even stronger. With a wire gate carabiner, there's never any inadvertent opening of the carabiner when you hit a rock. With a regular gate carabiner, there is potential for that gate to open if it slaps against a rock. More common are locking carabiners. We sell several different locking carabiners which are used for everything from anchors to belay devices. Locking carabiners are nice because they ensure, if locked, that that gate will never open on the carabiner, and they're just as strong as the other carabiners. When buying a carabiner, it's important to consider what you're going to be using it for. The advantage to a pear shape carabiner is that it has a much wider gate opening. You can open this gate almost all the way and there's plenty of room to get rope in cleanly. With the standard oval carabiner, that gate doesn't open nearly as much and it's a lot more difficult to get your gear through there. Carabiners should be cared for just like a climbing rope. You want to keep carabiners out of the dirt, especially a screw carabiner, the screw gate carabiner like this. You wouldn't want dirt and particles to get into this carabiner. Carabiners can also incur minor fractures which are naked to the visible eyes. So if you ever drop a carabiner off the top of the climb and it hits the shelf, assume that that carabiner should be retired.
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