lowering with carabiners

[waitey]

i guess iv always tied the standard rigging knots since college and being as the lead climber didnt at my old place nobody else did...eventually u get quick at tying them and un tying them.i just find the carabiner un dynamic and most of the the groundies r pretty special and struggle to undo them...also find if i ground with them them they get stuck under logs etc and just generally piss me off...and yea big firs and cedars all day..spurs never come off

[kev7937]

I'm pretty sure that when we sent our boys on a rigging course recently they were only allowed to use crabs for clipping Into slings and were not allowed to use them in place of a timber hitch.

[Le Sanglier]

only just started doing it after years of bowlines/timberhitches, love it, especially the weight making it easier to throw round something out of reach, atm using old climbing karabiners but will buy a big steel one with a "o" next opportunity I get.

[MattyF]

Use them for nearly every thing, just put a half hitch in front for the big lumps before the biner, Never bent or broke one yet...

[carlos]

glad to see the responses to this thread as my boss was adament i couldnt do this, but have made up me own mind and kinda along the same lines as most posts fine for limbs (great for throwing and quick undo by groundy) then on to knots where theres a danger of impact on the karribiner, on word of caution is make sure they are three way as i have some that are only two way and the gate can roll open as i noticed whilst rigging a limb over a roof( luckly it stayed roped) now dont use them for that.

cheers carl.

[Steve Bullman]

by the book...your boss is still technically correct

[Dom]

Very rarely use carabiners for lowering, I find it quicker and less hassle to just tie everything with a running bowline and a half hitch. No metal hardware is one less thing to worry about, or to get snagged, yank hard to free it, and get a carabiner in the face.

[arbogrunt]

always use a bowline with a steel 50kn Krab, unless I'm doing hoofing great lumps or theres a chance of the krab being damaged on the ground. Its quicker for the groundies and the climber. As long as you don't exceed the swl, the spine is aligned and the gate is away from the tree/limb, its no problem.

[carlos]

by the book...your boss is still technically correct

 

yes he usaully is...... kinda annoying somtimes but good to have a boss where your saftey and that of propety comes first:thumbup1:

[D Mc]

i guess iv always tied the standard rigging knots ....eventually u get quick at tying them and un tying them....

 

You are doing it the right way.

 

If there is a need to control a branch or trunk, with the use of ropes, you might as well use a system that has the least chance of failure. Just because there are many that have side-loaded a carabiner for years, without failure, does not make it a good idea.

For knotless rigging use loop slings with an end-trapped carabiner. Use the weight of the biner to flip the sling around the branch, as previously described, but then run it through the other end of the sling loop and clip it back onto the lowering line.

This method is just as fast as the wrong way and is actually easier for the groundie to unclip and remove, while at the same time keeping the carabiner loaded properly.

 

Dave