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range_time
Sep 23, 2011, 5:12 AM
Post #1 of 3
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Registered: Aug 18, 2011
Posts: 1
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so after 22 year with both feet on the ground and a thousands of miles away from the UK where i did my trad climbing as a boy i find my self in Vegas sport climbing. My question is on quick draws and wire gates. I saw some that a solid gate on one end and and a wire gate on the other. Wire gates are new to me, why have different gates on each end of the quick draw?
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mikebee
Sep 23, 2011, 6:30 AM
Post #2 of 3
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Registered: Sep 16, 2006
Posts: 190
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Wire gates have the ability to hang up on the bolt hangar and become unclipped or have the hook of the nose get caught on the bolt with the gate jammed open. This significantly reduces the strength of the biner.
A solid gate doesn't have this limitation, so solid gates are often used on the top of a quick draw.
Conversely, a wire gate is seen as safer on on the bottom biner because the gate has less mass and thus is less suseptible to gate flutter (or whiplash). Basically, the wire gate would gain less momentum in a swinging fall and have less ability for the momentum to open the gate at the wrong moment, thereby weakening the biner.
Also, wire gates are lighter and (I think) easier to clip, so I prefer them for the rope end.
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uni_jim
Sep 23, 2011, 2:33 PM
Post #3 of 3
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Registered: Mar 27, 2008
Posts: 429
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mike pretty well nailed it.
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