Alpine Draws. What carabiners are you using?

its probably just my bad luck but i have noticed photons tend to 'nose hook' slings more easily than other carabiners (also a common issue with the Mammut Moses?)

I have had other people tell me they have heard stories (i never confirmed any of them) of photons breaking from the same problem i experienced here
 
I am partial to WC Heliums myself for alpine draws.

This baby snapped on me after it got hooked on the sling of a cam. It flipped the gate around to the backside from the force of the nose breaking. It was quite the exciting (and very long) whip.

2x Dyons, one on either side; no small biners on these, to be able to handle with gloves and not fumble/drop -- for me, that is quite worth the extra weight . Silver color for gear/metal side, orange color for rope/soft side. Mammut contact dyneema slings.

All of my alpine draws are BD Hoodwire and Petzl Spirits (I-beam ones). I used to use the Nano 22 and the Mad Rock ultralight wire gates, but I don't really like a biner that small anymore. They take more time to clip for me, and if you don't extend the draw, three strands of nylon and a rope pretty much fill up a small carabiner. I guess I am willing to carry an extra 1/2 pound and have a full size carabiner to clip. Plus the Hoodwire is a dream to clip, and doesn't catch because of the hood over the notch.

And the Spirit is kind of the Gold standard for regular carabiners, and at 37g, it isn't really all that heavy. If I could only have one kind of biner, it would be the Spirit.

Silver nano 22 on the gear end and black OZ on the rope end. 

Ange s for the gear, and dmm alpha light for the gear. Got an amazing deal on a spendy little binder, good thing it looks great in pink.

Parker Kempf wrote:

its probably just my bad luck but i have noticed photons tend to 'nose hook' slings more easily than other carabiners (also a common issue with the Mammut Moses?)

I have had other people tell me they have heard stories (i never confirmed any of them) of photons breaking from the same problem i experienced here
 
I am partial to WC Heliums myself for alpine draws.

This baby snapped on me after it got hooked on the sling of a cam. It flipped the gate around to the backside from the force of the nose breaking. It was quite the exciting (and very long) whip.

That is concerning. I'm not picturing the scenario, can you show how it nose hooks on a pic? Is it just hooking on the small divot on the nose? 

I got two 5 packs of heliums draws from a European website for about 80 bucks a pack. shipping took a couple of weeks but it came out to be 8 bucks a draw. Love them to death. Then i need a few more and decided to go with the wild country wild wire because they were so much cheaper. And they are heavy and dont feel as nice. im gonna keep looking for another set of heliums to go on sale. Also i buy normal quickdraws because its usually same price if not a little better to just buying carabiners. and then i have extra dog bones.

heres a Moses with the 'nose hooked'
you can grab a photon and recreate this easily
i guess its just the wide angle of the basket that makes certain 'biner more susceptible than others?

I like DMM Phantoms on both ends (actually on everything).  They are almost as light as the Nano 22 but easier to handle.  IMO, there is something about the BD Oz geometry that makes them hard to hold on to.  

I like the Photons for winter and the Alphas or Heliums when it’s warm.

I used Edelrid 19g for years on both sides before switching to Nano 22s. The Nano 22s are so much easier to clip. lolz. The newest 22s have a significantly improved gate action. For gloved climbing I use Photons and some Heliums, though the Dyons are absolutely awesome. I would replace my Photons and Heliums with Dyons if I had nothing else to spend money on.

Having said all that, FWIW, using Nano 22s on my trad 25cm DMM dogbones tend to do this due to their shape and the tension of the rubber sleeve:

The rubber sleeve is so tight that the draw travels toward the biner's smaller diameter nearer the gate. When I use them, I'll twist them straight, but I'm considering cutting the rubber out. Of course this isn't an issue with my open sling slowdraws (my favored word for "alpine draws").

I have about 10 alpine draws with black Nanos on one and and silver Photons on the other. My other alpine draws have Grivel biners that are similar in size and shape to the Photons. Those are black on one side and yellow on the other.

I went with the Nano/Photon mix because I happened to have enough of both in contrasting colors. I'd gladly go Photon only, too. Probably not Nano on both ends, just because of handling characteristics. 

I have yet to find a better 'biner for this purpose than the WC Helium.  It is 100% worth the high price.
As someone pointed out before, you really want notchless (or hooded) designs for alpine draws, for safety reasons, but also convenience when desperately trying to unfold a draw at the crux with one hand...  

Trango Phase

Nano 22 gear side. Tried them on the rope side and aside from being harder to clip they have a small rope radius, harder on your rope if you take frequent falls (not an issue for everyone on alpine draws obviously).

Rope side:

Photons: Have also noticed the nose clip issue on photons, sling has hung up a few times (not in falls thankfully). I don't think they are nearly as bad as the moses. Lots of them have really soft gate tension and the wires stick out from the spine of the biner a lot, they can be opened simply dragging against the rock in a fall.

OZ: hard to handle if your are cruxing and can't chalk. Whole damn biner is smooth and the back side of the spine is narrow. Somehow feel weird to clip withe a middle finger through the basket.

WC Astro: My current choice. Semi shrouded gate (wire protected from dragging on rock by spine of biner), good gate tension, easy to clip (wider i beam back), nice radius on the rope basket, light, cheap. 

Peter M wrote: I got two 5 packs of heliums draws from a European website for about 80 bucks a pack. shipping took a couple of weeks but it came out to be 8 bucks a draw. 

Do you perhaps mean $8 per carabiner? Because otherwise the math doesn't add up. 

I have the Heliums, red on rope side, metal on metal side (or protection side).

I don't like them for clipping bolts--the wide nose gets caught occasionally, but they're great for trad.

I'm happy with the heliums, but not with the dyneema slings on my alpines--the bar tacking causes problems constantly. I'll switch to Mammut contact slings when my current ones wear out.

+3 for dyons. dark gear side, yellow rope side. Mammut contact slings...red. Very elegant.

Love me the Black Diamond Oz's. I find the Nano's are just a hair to small to justify the 6 extra grams lost over how much better the OZ handles. But also getting a snag free nose is a big plus.

Heliums!! light, strong, no hooked nose, wide gate--the only way to go.