UKC

I'm about to purchase 10 new quickdraws. I've decided on Wild Country Heliums. Would people agree with this choice?

What I really need advice on is the length. The draws will be used primarily for trad climbing. I was going to go for 20cm but worry that they will be to long hanging from my harness?

So what do other people use?

In reply to phmcguin: I prefer longer quickdraws, they can help reduce rope drag

In reply to phmcguin:
Try and get a variety of lengths as in Trad you will meet a variety of placements and will need flexibility with you extensions.

Paul

In reply to phmcguin:

get longer ones!

Try buying 30cm slings and then use them with your biners. You can treble them over allowing you to convert them to short and manageable QD's, but are then easily switchable to long draws.

In reply to phmcguin:
20cm is about right for most of your quickdraws.
Perhaps later you should add or convert one to a 10cm extender and a couple to 30cm extenders.

In reply to phmcguin:

To be honest, most of mine are 10cm. Appreciate that is heresy, but tend to find I don't need the longer ones 99% of the time, and if I do then double them up...

In reply to phmcguin:

My trad quickdraws are 18cm minimum, with 2 x 30cm and 2 x trebled 60cm extenders - I'm really happy with that selection, if anything I would get more 60cm extenders as they are so versatile.

Don't worry about them dangling off your harness - it's not a problem, I don't even notice it. You'll also thank yourself when your runners don't lift out and you don't have monster rope drag.

Not sure how much trad you've done, but if you are new to it - you'll probably find you need to extend runners a lot more than you first expect, especially if you're using a single rope.

In reply to John_Hat:

I agree - mine are all 10cm - keep it simple!

Chris

In reply to phmcguin: I would normally carry a selection, with most about 10-15cm a couple of longer 20 and 30cm ones. the only time I change this is on bigger/less straight routes, such as mountain routes, where extra length is useful. On grit I only use 10-15cm draws.

In reply to phmcguin: Where is the cheapest place to buy the Heliums?

In reply to phmcguin:

Twenties are ideal. Anything longer is a pain dangling off the harness. When you need to extend placements an extra 10cm wont make that much difference, so use some 120 and 60cm slings with krabs. have those ready on your harness (shortened to keep them small).

In reply to phmcguin:

10cm, with two 20cm and a 60cm sling. Does me fine