UKC

Call me an obsessed nerd, but can anyone tell me if there is a generally agreed optimum technique for clipping a rope into a quickdraw as quickly and reliably as possible?

In my trials, this seems to involve the thumb actually pushing the rope through, with fingers around the back of the karabiner, possibly holding the other side of the rope across the gate. The hand is either facing to away from you, depending on which orientation the krab is in.

I have also experimented with gripping the rope between 2nd & 3rd fingers, holding the back of the karabiner with the thumb, then bringing the fingers across the front of the gate to get the rope through. This was pleasingly fast and snappy 7 times out of 10 - but I totally mess up the other 3.

Anyone care to share their wisdom?

In reply to Thrutch Boy: for the righthanded clipper, you want the krab to be hanging with the gate facing to the left. middle/ring finger pulls down slightly on the rope krab, and thumb and forefinger push the rope bight through with a twist of the wrist. Personnaly this is the best technique, and much easier than in the other direction. works with all krabs, but best with bent gates/wire gates.
reverse facing direction if left handed.

Spider

In reply to Ross C: ross describes the best way, generally called finger clipping. By pulling down slightly with the finger you steady the krab and prevent it twisting which can be a problem with pinch clipping. However qds should be placed to set the gate in a direction that minimises the liklehood of the rope unclipping itself in a fall not to always face a certain direction to clip, the petzl catalogue/website used to have diagrams that explained this better than I can.

Finger clipping can be used whichever way the gate faces. In ross' example when clipping with the right hand, if the gate faces the right then you finger clip with the thumb instead of your finger. With practice finger clipping soon becomes automatic and you will be able to clip qds facing either way with either hand. It is an important skill as otherwise when you are tired you can wate time fumbling clips while hanging on one hand and of course mid clip is when you face the greatest fall potential.

The real question is whether if you pull too hard or for too long with your finger/thumb does this count as cheating?