Trad quickdraws

So I am trying to get my system dialed for what I carry on trad climbs. But I was wondering if you guys have quickdraws for trad and sport, or do you use one set for double duty? My one thought would be that the bolt side carabiner on your sport draws might not be good to use in a trad application because they might have burrs from banging around on the bolt. Any insight is appreciated.

Alpine draws for trad, regular quickdraws for sport.

anthony salomon wrote:So I am trying to get my system dialed for what I carry on trad climbs. But I was wondering if you guys have quickdraws for trad and sport, or do you use one set for double duty? My one thought would be that the bolt side carabiner on your sport draws might not be good to use in a trad application because they might have burrs from banging around on the bolt. Any insight is appreciated.

Bolt side burs (assuming they're not huge) wouldn't really matter since there's not much motion between draw and cam sling. A skinny and flexible draw can be nice for trad since it will not wiggle the gear as much. A big fat draw can be reassuring if there's a bolt you expect to be falling/dogging on.

And all that is ignoring that 9 times out of 10 I only bring alpine draws.

Depends on your budget.. I wouldn't buy a second set of draws just for sport, if money is tight. But if your budget allows, go for it.

As for myself, I have accumulated so much gear over the years that I do have a set of dedicated quickdraws for sport, and this seems to be pretty common from what I've seen. I have another set of alpine draws which are generally reserved for gear routs, or wandering bolted climbs.

If you're diligent about inspecting your gear every so often or after nasty falls, you should be fine using them for both. Personally, I rarely use quickdraws on gear climbs anyway, since I like the flexibility of an extendable sling (which tend to be more floppy, another advantage).

I have 8 traditional sport quickdraws. They have a straight gate for the bolt side and a wire gate on the rope side. I liked this setup and mimicked it with my "trad" draws. I have four 24" dyneema sewn slings. I set them up just like my sport draws with straight gates for the bolts/gear and wire gates for the rope side. All-in-all 12 quickdraws. On longer trad routes I always carry a few more 24" slings around my chest with just one carabiner clipped to each.

These are my go to alpine draw: Trango Alpine Draw

If you get them with a bit of discount it is super good deal for awesome draws.

It depends.

I usually bring a mix of quickdraws and a handful of alpine draws. If the route wanders, I'll be sure to bring plenty of the alpines. If it's a generally straight in crack or relatively direct face, I'll go heavier on the quickdraws - but generally ones with softer and more flexible dog bones. I hate stiff draws.

Quickdraws require less fumbling, which makes them great on harder routes, but lack of versatility for long routes and anchor building is a drawback. Long draws/alpines offer more versatility, but dicking around with extensions adds time to your placements - not ideal for single pitch or difficult climbs.

I used to only carry alpine draws while trad climbing, but more recently incorporated 4-5 quickdraws in the mix and enjoy the variety in sizes it offers, as sometimes i'd prefer that carabiner to be a little closer when I clip it on harder terrain.

anthony salomon wrote:So I am trying to get my system dialed for what I carry on trad climbs. But I was wondering if you guys have quickdraws for trad and sport, or do you use one set for double duty? My one thought would be that the bolt side carabiner on your sport draws might not be good to use in a trad application because they might have burrs from banging around on the bolt. Any insight is appreciated.

Depends on the route, really. Many places in the world you're going to find bolts on trad climbs anyway, so no point getting too hung up on the "bolt burr" thing. Just have one side of all draws that goes toward the gear or bolt and one that goes to the rope end.

On straight up crack climbs quickdraws are much easier to handle than alpine draws. But, of course, they don't extend.

Like a few here, I mix and match alpine and shorter quickdraws. I don't carry the stiff nylon draws which are meant for sport routes, they're too stiff for nut placements (especially RPs).
I've gone with the DMM Alpha Trad draws, much lighter than the Petzl Spirits while keeping a good size and clip-ability.
One thing useful is to have different colors for the rope versus gear side. For example I've got a silver biner on the gear side and grey one on the rope side, I only clip the silver one to gear, like that the rope side biner should never get any burrs caused by hard falls on bolt hangers.

The draws that come with the DMM Alpha Trad, WC Heliums etc. are fine for clipping bolts or trad gear.

caughtinside wrote: What the..

haha, guess I'm not much for words. Should have said I have some of these ones and some of these other ones.

Draw setup.

What do you like to use, and what do you own? Also, when you rack cams, do you have a dedicated 'biner?

I carry slings with a single biner, and alpine draws for trad. I may add a few quickdraws if I am going to run full 70m pitches. But I also have a dedicated biner for each cam, so I use the sling and single biner for cams (mainly) and use the alpine draws and quickdraws for passive pro. I have also accumulated a lot of gear, so I have the luxury of picking what I need to carry. One of my trad partners uses mainly slinds with a single biner and (mainly) quickdraws, because I don' think he has more than a few alpines. It works just fine for him. Since I am using the quickdraws mainly on passive pro, which is slung mainly on wires, I am not worried about burrs damaging the cams. I probably would nto be worried about it anyway, but in this case, it just isn't an issue at all.

That all helps a lot. Thanks so much for the help.

anthony salomon wrote:So I am trying to get my system dialed for what I carry on trad climbs. But I was wondering if you guys have quickdraws for trad and sport, or do you use one set for double duty? My one thought would be that the bolt side carabiner on your sport draws might not be good to use in a trad application because they might have burrs from banging around on the bolt. Any insight is appreciated.

Recently I've been trad climbing with about 6 Cypher Ceres II 16cm draws and 6 alpine draws. The Ceres draws are super lightweight and floppy. So far, I've really loved this setup and the Ceres II draws work pretty well for sport as well though the floppiness becomes a disadvantage.

I generally carry 3 size draws for trad. I have a few normal quick draws. I also have long alpine draws around my neck doubled up so they are the mid size ones. If I need a full length one I let the ones around my neck go long, It does create a twist since I don't rack them with 3 twist but it is rarely an issue and you can get the twist out if needed and I like having 3 lengths instead of 2.