UKC

To cut down on weight when sportsclimbing in spain I thought of just cliping in with krabs and dispensing with the quickdraw.
I realise this is not "best practice" but other than the small amount of dynamics a quickdraw gives are there any other pros or cons?

In reply to John Berry: How about the very real risk of the rope unclipping itself from the single krab. I would keep using quickdraws if I were you. Weight shouldn't be a problem on sports routes. If you are climbing hard routes you would generally work the route. In this case you would not be carrying the draws on the red-point.

In reply to John Berry:

Could you not end up with the rope pulling the krab so that it would be cross loading the gate? Or even worse the gate opening if the krab ended up resting on top of the bolt and the you fall on the 'pear' side cause the draw to become clipped from the wall?

In reply to IanC:

Just had a thought is this a wind up?

In reply to IanC: Surely all these arguments aply equaly to quickdraws?

In reply to IanC:

No.I realise there must be very good reasons as to why quickdraws are used.
I'd just like to know them.

In reply to John Berry:
No they don't, because the flexibility of the sling means the 'rope' krab is free to move about a bit relative to the 'bolt' krab - so both karabiners can remain oriented correctly.

Oh, and quickdraws don't add any 'dynamics' to the system at all - that's almost entirely down to the rope stretch (with a small contribution from belay slippage, knots tightening, etc...)

Its a no-brainer - stick with the quickdraws.

If you really want to shave weight off the way to do it is to spend money on light, modern 'draws, a lightweight harness and a skinny rope (which will need replacing sooner because it'll be less hardwearing than a thicker one). But, honestly, looking at the grades in your profile, its really not that much of an issue. If you're anything like me (and most other mere mortals), you can more effectively reduce the weight you're carrying by laying off the pies a bit.

In reply to John Berry:

Even on bolted routes the bolts will not be in a perfect straight line. You will need the length on the draw to stop rope drag. If you use just one krab you will be in danger of the rope making a z shape up the route and you could find it very hard going.

Have a good one in Spain.

In reply to John Berry: They weigh nothing......they put your hand closer to the bolt.....they stop the gate opening under pressure.....chris sharma uses them.....really!!!???!!!

In reply to deepsoup: Difficult I'm a baker!
Thanks for the other input though.

In reply to womblesi: Cheers I'll try

In reply to John Berry:

We sport climbed with screw gates once because i had left half of my kit at home again. It worked but was a pain having to turn the binas round before clipping the rope and then screwing the gates up.

In reply to John Berry:
Ha ha - you're talking about an overall weight reduction of about one pound. (Unless your 'draws/karabiners are relatively heavy ones, in which case you may have found an excuse to lash out on some whizzy new wiregates.)

You'll probably lose more weight than that while you're actually in Spain.

In reply to John Berry:

take normal quick draws and have an extra big poo before hand. It'll work out about the same weight saving!

In reply to John Berry:

Just wear less clothes!

Seriously, the weight of quickdraws must be a very very minor factor?

In reply to Bulls Crack:

Though massively important when flying with Ryanair!

In reply to bouldery bits:
A dose of the jollop at bedtime and an extra strong coffee with breakfast then?

In reply to John Berry:

Hi John,

In addition to all the other good reasons mentioned, bolt hangers can put burrs on alloy krabs. QD's often have two different krab types on them, one for the hanger, one for the rope. This way, the burrs can't rip up the rope mantle.

Regards, Paul

In reply to Dark Peak Paul:

Hooray a sensible answer at last!