Using slings for draws

I'm curious as to how many people who make quickdraws out of slings use a band to prevent the rope carabiner from twisting. I'm only asking because instead of buying more quickdraws I'd like to just use 2 slings to make my own quickdraws and use those at the top anchors of sport routes to set up my own top rope system. I was thinking I'd use atleast one locker on the rope end of one sling for redundancy. Does this seem pretty safe and redundant? Any suggestions to make it safer?

I do it all the time. I don't really use quickdraws anymore, don't do a lot of sport. Slings are perfect, but I don't understand why/how you would "use two slings to make your own quickdraws". Why two?

I don't always use lockers at anchors either. With two or three slings (one per piece) that's enough redundancy for me. Sometimes I'll toss on an extra carabiner facing the other direction. You could get a cordalette too, but depends on how the anchor system is.

i don't even get the point behind quickdraws. "trad draws" will catch a fall just as well as stiff quickdraws but they're extendable, and you can use them at top anchors. i see no downsides of using extendable draws in all situations.

My trad slings have done just fine for decades; suddenly they got shortened, thinner and turned into 'quickdraws by name only.

1/2 my sport rack is trad draws Im glad I gotem for roofs & other stuff
I do alota mixed rts so trad gear is always not far

http://mountainproject.com/v/general_climbing/extendable_draws/106700736

I got some pretty good advice with this post.

Eric Krantz wrote:I do it all the time. I don't really use quickdraws anymore, don't do a lot of sport. Slings are perfect, but I don't understand why/how you would "use two slings to make your own quickdraws". Why two? I don't always use lockers at anchors either. With two or three slings (one per piece) that's enough redundancy for me. Sometimes I'll toss on an extra carabiner facing the other direction. You could get a cordalette too, but depends on how the anchor system is.

Hey Eric, I actually meant to make two separate quickdraws to use at the top anchors to set up a top rope system, not two slings to make one quickdraw. Could of explained what I was asking better. So does anyone use the band to stop the draw from twisting?

Arik wrote: So does anyone use the band to stop the draw from twisting?

if you're making short draws for sport climbing, a rubber band can help and is perfectly acceptable to keep the biner on the rope side from flipping. Always leave the biner on the bolt side floppy. Most people in this thread are talking about using 24" slings to make extendable draws or "trad" draws which are useful in many applications as well.

T.L. Kushner wrote:i don't even get the point behind quickdraws. "trad draws" will catch a fall just as well as stiff quickdraws but they're extendable, and you can use them at top anchors. i see no downsides of using extendable draws in all situations.

So clearly you don't project much then. Nothing wrong with that, just means that you never find yourself in a situation where a stiff draw is an advantage. Similarly, I'd imagine that people who don't climb ice really don't understand the reason for one bent shaft over another. Or that non-bicycle enthusiasts miss the nuance between Tiagra and Dura-Ace.

If you have 2 biners opposite and opposed on the anchor....then you are "redundant". A single locker doesn't make anything "redundant".

"use a band to prevent the rope carabiner from twisting"

I just saw a Petzl ?? vid about NOT putting a band on a trad draw sling. During storage and/or racking the sling can "flip" around on the biner unnoticed with only the band holding it.

too lazy to find the vid.

T.L. Kushner wrote:i don't even get the point behind quickdraws. "trad draws" will catch a fall just as well as stiff quickdraws but they're extendable, and you can use them at top anchors. i see no downsides of using extendable draws in all situations.

Quickdraws are superior for sport climbing and they clip a lot easier. They can also be configured so that the way the gates open on the bottom is predictable, whereas with a runner equipped draw it is hard to tell.

That said I no longer reconfigure my draws for sport then back to trad. I just bring both.

In general I use trad draws for trad. Sport draws for sport. If you never climb at or beyond your limit you can get away with trad draws for both. Don't use a band on either biner to keep it from flipping if you are using a sling.

ukclimbing.com/videos/play.…

Trad draws...never heard that one before...oxymoronic? Always called them alpine draws or extendable draws. What if you used a trad draw on a sport route? GASP!

I'd been using rubber bands on slings to keep the biners in place until a week or so ago, when I saw this report of a fatal accident involving that setup. Checkout the UK climbing video that Joe linked to above, kind of scary.

mountainproject.com/v/injur…

I would think that the advantage of quick draws is how "organized" they are on your harness. You can grab them quickly, without much fumbling.

Alpine draws can get all twisted and fumbled up because of all the loose, doubled-up sling material....

in my opinion.

One serious point, we should avoid using a biner keeper or rubber band type product on an open sling, they are specifically for use on the rope end (the shorter) on sport dogbones. Serious accidents can result, knowing the biner can unclip itself and go unnoticed till failure. Just search for "open loop sling danger" if you would like to know more. The Tito Traversa tragedy isn't an exact representation of the problem, but it's cause and failure share similarities.

Craig Childre wrote:One serious point, we should avoid using a biner keeper or rubber band type product on an open sling, they are specifically for use on the rope end (the shorter) on sport dogbones. Serious accidents can result, knowing the biner can unclip itself and go unnoticed till failure.

True. And adequately discussed in this thread 3-1/2 years ago.

If we are talking two bolt sport anchors, just build a 6mm "quad" style anchor and be done with it. Hard to get any more bomber or redundant than that. As a bonus, if you already own 4 lockers, it should only cost about $7.00.
-Mackley

I tend to use quick draws for sport runners for gear lines. Sometimes an extendable is needed on a sport route, for clipping lower or for rope drag. In these cases I put a little tape on my rope biner side. Just above the biner to keep it from inverting. The hanger side I just leave free. You can also use a rubber band but they tend to bunch and if I don't like to do that especially if using a 3/4 tubular webbing, spectra doesn't much matter. These are usually situation based as well, so I usually have tape not a rubber band. I've never used a locker on a sport anchor, never felt it was necessary.

Just make sure that you keep the biner that goes to the bolt and the biner that goes to the rope consistent. You don't want to mix and match and risk getting burrs on the rope biner.

My extendable draws have one straight gate biner and one bent gate biner, so this is easy for me. A band is good, but if you move the band you lose the indicator.