UKC

Why do DMM do blue red and green belay biners - it's says that it's something to do with making it easier for guides and instructors to pass on knowledge re belays - so does each colour get used for a specific task or part of the set up ???

In reply to Ciderslider:

http://dmmclimbing.com/knowledge/coloured-carabiners/

is their argument. Personally my rack is like a rainbow; it is surprisingly useful when trying to find the right thing...

In reply to Ciderslider:

I use blue carabiner for Edelrid Aramid 120cm sling, green for Edelrid Aramid 60cm sling and then red for another 120cm red sling and some tat. It's usually doesn't work and I mix everything up, but that's how it is *supposed* to be in my rack.

Personally, I just like as many colours as possible. I would buy all gear in neon green, red, orange, blue, etc. I hate it all being grey!

In reply to Ciderslider:

This is a very good method to use when taking novices out, it reduces the confusion when you give them a coloured HMS and use it all the time when belaying them. You can keep it nice and simple that way. I try to keep it easy by telling them to take off the 'red' krab and clip it to their harness when seconding.

I also have individual coloured krabs for my cams, so i can look at my loop and see what i have left and where it is. I also rack my wires on oval's having a snap link for small wires and a wire gate for large wires. All my other sized and random kit is also on the exact same krab as to reduce the confusion. Sounds like i'm being a bit of a geek but when i needed to clip a piece of tat in the dolomites before i was going to take a pisser i was so angry i had clipped my hex to my runner loop. Keep it simple, the same and your leading will be easy.

Centurion05

In reply to Ciderslider:

They're great for teaching novices like centurion says..

For example they have a particular coloured krab to clove hitch into when they reach a belay.

Often we'll have two clients multi pitching so they can have one colour each.

In reply to jezb1:

You mean it´s better to teach them to climb by colours than actually understand what they are doing?

In reply to jimtitt:

I'm not sure they are exclusive? Yeah they've been handed different colour karabiners but that doesn't mean they don't know anything...

In reply to jimtitt:


Good grief what a pointless comment.

In reply to Ciderslider:

I just use any crab for anything
Though I have friends who use the colour crab for the same colour cam.
Just seems a bit OCD to me though

In reply to jezb1:



An excellent, well reasoned answer to the question is it better to teach climbing by reducing it to climbing-by-numbers (colours) than teaching basic skills and a complete understanding of what the pupils are doing.

In reply to jimtitt:

It wasn't worth the effort of explaining how I teach my many clients the ins and outs of climbing.

In reply to jimtitt:

I think that getting novices to tie in with the rope (learning/practising how to clove hitch in the process) while simultaneously reducing the possibility of confusion and subsequent errors (easy with three climbers on a belay ledge as in the DMM video) has to be better than just getting novices to clip in with cows tails...

Colours don't substitute for knowledge - the climbers still need the same skills - but they may help reduce confusion (and hence accidents) for those with less experience (which is of course only gained with time and practice).

In reply to andrewmcleod:

I'm a bit surprised that nobody who watched that video thought it worth mentioning that the clients both already have their own colour of rope. In the situation in the video, it is just possible that clients might get their carabiners muddled up but just about impossible that they might swap ropes they are tied into. The coloured carabiners seem rather redundant because "tie/untie to the carabiner with the red rope/blue rope" would seem to be a more foolproof way of achieving the desired specificity.
I'm not a guide though, so if people who do guide do think this is useful, I take their word for it (unless their word is part of a promo video, obviously).

Which is not to say that coloured biners don't have their uses. Like other people in the thread, I have all my cams on coloured snapgates specifically because I can look at a placement, instantly think "yellow camalot", and lay my hands on that piece precious seconds faster. That reduced faff time can make the difference between me doing a route and placing the gear and then resting/falling on it.

In reply to jezb1:

Thanks Jez,

Kind of what I thought.

In reply to Ciderslider:

Thanks for the replies - I use different coloured snapgate for my cams and hexs - wires all go on ovals

So now I get the other bit

In reply to jimtitt:


Yeah thats what I do, I take my clients out and don't teach them a thing other than colours. On a positive note they go home well rehearsed on a green krab and a red krab.

Giving them a comment like; 'remove the clove hitch on the red krab, clip the red krab to your harness and bring it up the pitch with you' will teach them a lot of things. They know how to untie a clove hitch, which krabs to bring with them when seconding and most importantly there is no confusion as to which krab to undo. When climbing with two clients the belays can be very confusing with a clove hitch probably being the most used knot. Telling them to remove the alpine moth knot from the silver hms doesnt ease the situation of there general unease.

Having heard/seen at many different crags instructors/people teaching their mates/families etc, and yelling variations on 'unclip/clip the carabiner, NO the other carabiner!' etc etc to infinity having coloured locking crabs is cool. if people are going to be 'titts' and turn their noses up at things that ultimately make teaching beginners safer then that's up to them

As a side note, having been at/made some belays that are absolute cluster****s of rope and crabs I can say I wouldn't mind a set myself :P