Sling for Alpine Draws

Nathan Self wrote:Nice couplet, MattCarroll. Mammut Contact is the best. I carry 6 alpine draws and 6 over the shoulder with a single biner. WC Astro biners.

I tend to rack single set of cams one per biner with the exception of green and blue alien, those still are two on a biner. Tricams share biners.

I rack small doubles 2 or 3 to a biner (small being anything under #1 camalot size).

However, I've never liked pulling slings over my head in a clip situation. Just seems to offer a chance to go off balance or snag a sling on the helmet or whatever. I keep a 120cm clipped over my shoulder with a carabiner but that only requires opening the biner and pulling it, no over the shoulder maneuvers .

I keep a couple of short (1-foot) slings on the harness for fixed pins, bolts, cams that need a bit of extension but not much...

Several 2-foot slings over the shoulder. One skinny red one goes over the left shoulder with a few spare biners, lockers, and a Revolver. The others (12 mm dyneema/nylon blend, Sterling) over the right shoulder with one biner each (Astros!). This size also works well for a prussik or an autoblock.

A few longer skinny slings (Edelrid and Mammut) tripled on the harness.

I set up a bunch of alpine draws last year half with mammut contacts and half with edelrid tech webs. I like both for different reasons:

the contacts are super flexible/light and tend to be easier to handle

the tech webs feel far more durable but is a little stiff

having a few of both makes for good flexibility - mammut when I want something fast/easy, tech web if it might need to stand up to a little abuse