Best Carabiners In 2022

How We Chose Our Selection Of Carabiners

Many of us are outdoor types with copious rock and ice climbing experience. Nonetheless a climbing carabiner is a device that could make the difference between life and death and so just to be sure we were on top of things we reached out to others in the climbing community to get their input. This is not the kind of product where branding is going to carry a lot of weight. With climbing carabiners it’s all about performance. We also took perhaps a longer look than we normally do at customer reviews to ensure we weren’t missing anything. And, although we love a good value, price was the least of our concerns here. Saving a few dollars with this type of product isn’t such a deal if the biner snaps on you or the gate fails when you need it most.

Features To Look For In Carabiners

Size - Carabiners come in all different sizes. This is especially true now that the market it being flooded with lots of quasi-carabiners designed to hold keys and potted plants instead of falling climbers. From a practical standpoint the larger the carabiner the easier it is to manipulate. And that’s particularly important if you’re 200 feet up an ice fall trying to hook a biner into a screwhead with hands that are numb because you’ve been extending them up over your head for an hour. But large carabiners aren’t to everyone’s liking. You really need to try a few different sizes with and without gloves and get a feel for which works best for you hand. Typically the more experienced the climber the wider the range of sizes they’ll employ.

Shape - When it comes to carabiners there are 4 main shapes used by most climbers and then a number of custom shapes that have been adopted by company’s creating “carabiner-like” products. We’re going to leave the quasi-biners out of the discussion and focus only on the standard accepted shapes for climbing biners.

• The asymmetric D - This is far and away the most popular carabiner shape. This type of biner typically has a slightly larger gate opening than a standard D which makes hooking ropes etc that much easier.
• The standard D - D shaped carabiners were the first offshoot of the old fashioned oval biners. D shaped carabiners are used for a variety of purposes. The D shape is widely regarded as the strongest shape and features a larger gate opening than an oval carabiner.
• The pear shape - The pear shaped biner typically has a semi-isolated loop at the narrow end that provides for better control of the belay rope. You’re not going to see these hanging off of screws or chocks on fixed rope systems. They tend to stay close to home on the harness.
• The oval - The oval carabiner is the original design dating back to the early days of mountaineering. They were the standard for decades and are still widely used today. Their symmetry enables them to hold more gear than D-shaped biners and they do a great job when employed as brakes due to their symmetry.

Weight - It doesn’t make any sense to needlessly weigh yourself down with gear before heading up a granite face or icefall. That said you shouldn’t make decisions about which carabiners to take up with you based solely on weight. The first and most important criteria is whether the biners you have are the right ones for you and for the task at hand. Once you determine which type and how many carabiners to take don’t load up your rack with twice as many as you need just to create some attractive gear noise.

Material - Most carabiners are fashioned from high grade aluminum. This provides outstanding weight to strength ratio and allows manufacturers to keep the weight down. Some are fashioned from stainless steel and still others are aluminum but features stainless components. The stainless steel carabiners are heavier than aluminum as you might imagine, but they can typically endure more extreme forces and will last longer. Because they’re not as durable nor last as long as a steel carabiner the practice of using aluminum carabiners on fixed rope systems or fixed quickdraws is discouraged.

Locking Mechanism - Not all carabiners have locking gates but many do. The twist lock carabiner provides protection against accidental opening of the gate at an inopportune time. For this reason they’re considered much safer than non-locking biners. On the other hand locking and unlocking climbing clips when you’re in a tight spot toward the end of an exhausting climb can be something of a pain. Locking carabiners are considered the only logical choice for use in a belay station and at critical protection points. But they’re almost never found on quickdraws. The thing to consider when it comes to locking carabiners is how easy they are to open. Ideally you’d want a locking mechanism that can be manipulated with one hand without too much trouble.

Strength - Carabiner-like devices intended for use around the house should never find their way into your climbing gear. Most are only rated to hold 10 - 50 pounds max. True climbing carabiners are designed to withstand the extraordinary forces brought upon them by a falling climber. These forces can easily reach the equivalent of a couple of tons and so the biners employed throughout your rope system and at the point of contact on your harness (and the harness loop itself) must be up to the task. The relative strength of a carabiner is expressed by the letters kN, which stand for “kilonewtons”. The kilonewton is a force of gravity rating with one kN equal to approximately 225 pounds. You can find the kN rating engraved into the spine of your carabiner. If you don’t see a kN number there the biner is not for climbing.

Carabiner FAQ

Q: Do carabiners break?

A: They can and they will if you employ one that isn’t made for climbing or you’re using climbing clips in critical spots that don’t have a sufficient kN rating and you ask it to catch a large climber. Keep in mind too that (real) carabiners are rated along both their major (long) axis and their minor (narrow) axis. If you have the carabiner employed in such a way that the force of a falling climber would be brought upon the narrow axis there’s a good chance it’s going to fail if asked to catch someone. So how you deploy the biner is as important as the biner you deploy.

Q: How many carabiners do I need for climbing?

A: Ask 10 different climbers this question and you’ll likely get 10 different answers. Some will say as few as 2 locking carabiners and that’s it. What these folks don’t say is that while they’re only taking 2 locking biners they’re also bringing along a half dozen quickdraws, which are pre-made protection setups with a carabiner at each end connected by a powerful nylon strap. So while they may say they never take more than 2, they’ve actually got 14 carabiners on their rack. They’re just not all individual biners.

As a general rule we’d advise newcomers to take 4 or 5 locking and an equivalent number of non-locking carabiners along. As well as several of the aforementioned quickdraws. That’s given that the route does not already have a robust fixed rope system in place and it’s more than a pitch long. As you gain experience you’ll figure out the right number and combination for you depending on the route.

Q: What equipment do you need for rock climbing?

A: Proper clothing - Rock climbing differs in some fundamental respects from ice climbing. And one of the most obvious is in the amount and type of clothing you need. On ice you’re dealing with sub-freezing temperatures for prolonged periods of time. You’re also often exposed to harsh, bitterly cold wind. So your clothing needs to be up to the task of keeping you warm. With rock however you’re almost never dealing with brutal weather. Therefore the standard rock climbing outfit typically consists of lightweight, comfortable clothing such as lycra pants along with a T-shirt. Some folks approach their climbing outfits as though they’re a fashion statement when really the primary concern is comfort and flexibility.

Rock climbing shoes - It will only take one attempt at climbing in traditional sneakers to convince you of the wisdom of getting a proper pair of rock climbing shoes. These are tight, rubber soled shoes designed to provide optimal grip. In some cases you may need to depend on the stickiness of that rubber to provide a bit of leverage when there is no actual foothold. If you’re confining your climbing activity to indoor rock walls rock climbing shoes don’t become as critical. Although they’ll still make your experience easier and more enjoyable.

Harness - Carabiners and state-of-the-art ropes are all very well and good but without a harness you’re not going anywhere (that is, if you have any sense). The harness is your connection to the protection system. The rope attaches to the carabiner which attaches to the forward loop on the harness. The harness goes around your waist and extends down to grab hold of the upper portion of your legs. If you fall, which will likely happen at some point, the harness keeps you from plummeting to a nasty end.

Helmet - If your harness or carabiner or rope fails and you freefall to the ground a helmet isn’t going to save you. That’s not what it’s for. It’s primarily to protect you from loose rock and other debris that often cascades down upon climbers from above. Maybe it’s debris knocked loose by the lead climber or maybe a bird. Or maybe it’s just time for a particular rock to fall. In any event you want your head covered just in case.

Rope - Climbing ropes are not like the rope you see employed to tie ships up to the dock. Climbing ropes are fashioned from a special nylon weave that provides them with flexibility, durability, impact resistance and strength. A good rope is going to cost more than a few bucks. But climbing ropes literally save thousands of lives every year.

Chalk - Who knew that after the chalkboard disappeared from classrooms chalk would reenter the cultural conversation as a means for allowing the ever growing number of climbers to obtain dry, secure holds as the navigated their routes. If you’re serious about rock you’ll need a chalk bag on your belt and plenty of chalk to keep those sweaty hands nice and dry.

Carabiners - We discussed biners at length above so we don’t really need to get into the gory details again here. Suffice to say that your climbing clips are the point of connection between the rope, the mountain, (or rock wall), and your harness. You’ll want to have a nice variety of the best carabiner sizes and types to accommodate different types of climbs.

Chocks - Chocks or “nuts” are used to wedge into crevices on the rock face and attach protection to. They come in all sizes to accommodate all different sized cracks. You attach a carabiner or quickdraw to the end loop of the chock and run the rope through the biner. Chocks are to rock climbing what screws are to ice climbing.

Tape slings - Tape slings are not tape at all. They’re strips of incredibly strong nylon that can be anywhere from a few inches to a few feet in length. They’re used in tight spots when you don’t have any obvious means of anchoring yourself with a chock.

Belay plates - The rope is run through the belay plate or figure 8 in order to provide friction the belayer can use to help take some of the load off the person they’re belaying. They’re also used to help control the descent while rappelling. And to prevent the rope from feeding out in case of a fall.