Leaver Biners @ chains

I would like to point out this thread to the people reading this thread.

mountainproject.com/v/gener…

I suspect the only safe Biners to leave on chains are either steel biners or perhaps beaners made with round aluminum stock. At the very least we should be pretty aggressive about replacing worn biners.

pat,

thanks for bringing this up. given this recent accident i think it's prudent to check leaver biners for sharp edges prior to clipping them for lowers.

the rope severing which occurred in the above referenced thread occurred during a lead fall on to a chain draw at the first or second bolt. the forces in this situation are in the order of 10 times what they would be during a lower on leaver biners (*see note below), thus it is extremely unlikely in the latter case that a rope failure would occur.

based on the details of the accident it's probably prudent to use round stock carabiners for chain draws, and again (with regards to leaver biners at anchors) to check for sharp edges prior to clipping them for lowers, replacing them as needed.

(*note from above) i've measured the force applied to the quick draw in a lead fall on the second bolt of a sport climb. ten foot falls produced an average of 1150 pounds max force using a grigri and 900 with an atc. the force on leaver biners when lowering would be the weight of the climber divided by two (assuming there are two equalized leaver biners) - perhaps 75 pounds each for a 150 pound climber).

J. Albers wrote:Here is what we use in CA. maximuspress.com/shop/produ… These things last for fricking ever and the whole setup (minus the bolt and hanger) costs $20. No confusing these guys with booty. Unlike aluminum leaver biners, you can lower off these things at will. EDIT: but as others have said...no toproping off the anchor please, use your own hardware for that.

Starting to see a lot of those anchors around. Especially at The Homestead.