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Recommendation on best all round draws?

ado_m

9-Oct-2014
4:21:31 PM

Hi all -

Any recommendations, both on what to get, and where to get them - in the next two weeks?

I was thinking of some mixed lengths - 6 x 10cm, 4 x 20cm, 2 x 30 cm.

I do a bit of everything, trad, sport etc nothing too finger busting, midrange grades up to 23/24 max - so I was thinking middle of the range weights - not Petzl sprints, not alpine ones.....

nmonteith

9-Oct-2014
4:58:42 PM

Draws a bit like shoes. The choice over what to buy is a mix of brand loyalty, what color you like, your budget, what fits your hand, what you have used previously - and lastly the actual usability.

My only recommendation is to have a few that have thick solid gates for use with hangerless carrots bolts. Wire-gates or skinny solid gates fall off.

martym

9-Oct-2014
10:48:33 PM

Keyhole gates. The hook on pin gates gets stuck on slings, gear and even your clothes.

Unless you're really observant, different lengths don't do a lot that a few slings wouldn't solve.. The main issue is clipping near a lip or on an arête where the gate is going to cause friction on the rope. If you position your draws well on your harness, eg. Shortest to longest - you could solve tht- but you generally just use what's available. I reckon using slings to extend when necessary is the better option. I have a pair of 30cm slings that do the trick.

Draws tend to be a bit cheaper by the dozen; but not astronmoically.. I heard an interesting logic point: you would probably go out of your way to get a pair of jeans half price, saving $50; but if you bought a new car and there was one a few blocks away for $50 less - you wouldn't consider it.
That's the same $50.

Oh and be sure to look up the Tito Traversa tragedy - basically faulty use of a rubber band to hold a dogbane in place led to several draws coming loose and killing a future climbing legend.

gfdonc

10-Oct-2014
9:25:21 AM

You'll see lots of votes for Heliums, a light, full-size biner with a hooded gate.
For solid gates (for brackets) I use a DMM.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

10-Oct-2014
9:41:43 AM

I am not much of a sport climber, so I dislike stiff draws, particularly the short dogbone ones.
My trad bias much prefers the slightly longer open loop (floppy), variety that don't tend to twist/lever open krabs with changes of rope direction.
On that topic, revolver krabs on the rope end can be useful at times...

maxdacat

10-Oct-2014
10:29:01 AM

The "best" draws are the ones having the most fun :p

Wendy

10-Oct-2014
10:32:16 AM

If you want them in the next 2 weeks, I'd go into your nearest store and get whatever looks good at a good price. Or try an Oz online retailer that will get them to you within a few days.

I have lightweight wires on everything and just pull out a dozen of my old school biners if I'm going to be anywhere with bloody carrots.

WHat i have off the top of my head:

BD Oz - can't think of any complaints with them, although you could probably get cheaper.
WC heliums - probably too expensive to justify them really.
WC things like heliums but without the clitoral hood feature - probably the best choice if you want an affordable full size biner
Mad rock helium copies - these are actually a bit smaller than heliums but they are also pretty good.
WC some ultra light ultra small thing (xenon lite) - there is a point where too small is bad. Anything smaller than the Oz seems to fall in that category. I use them for the gear end of my draws, but they suck for getting the rope into in a hurry.

I am an advocate of mostly short draws, a few moderately long draws, a few tripled over 60cm sling draws and a few more slings around the shoulders. I wouldn't fuss with medium length draws, they are almost always no improvement on either the short or longish draws.

All my slings and draws are dyneema style stuff, no more nylon. modern biners are often shaped for narrow slings anyway. And I hate that fat petzl style draw, if they even make them anymore.

Bugger the revolvers, they cost a fortune, weigh a tonne and good rope management should resolve any problems

Post edit: having just got my rack out to get ready to go out this arvo, I also have photons, cyphers, some dmm light things and those red and blue omega pacific things. The omega pacific ones aren't that great or that light, but the red ones do make good wire biners. I think the point of the exercise is to say that anything of the size and weight that you prefer (once you've worked that bit out!) will be fine.

On the hook vs key vs clitoral hood gates - I don't tend to have problems with the hook often enough to be stressed about it. once is a while it might catch a wire in it. I'm not fussed about it enough to prioritise it in my choice of biners.

TimP

10-Oct-2014
10:37:56 AM

Compare them all here:
http://www.weighmyrack.com/quickdraw
150 choices should make it easier for you ;)

Big G

10-Oct-2014
1:10:56 PM

DMM Aero - solid gate, solid dogbone - always seems to be what I put on when I'm scared

There are 9 messages in this topic.