Karabiners etc.

Cordes Courant Moka harness karabiner. Essentially a karabiner to replace the central maillon in an SRT setup. The Moka is an alloy, tri-act karabiner, strong, light, and convenient to use. As with the Omni, the advantages of this over a traditional steel maillon are weight, convenience (easier and quicker to unclip from the harness intentionally) and the reassurance that if any openings unscrew / undo, the karabiner is still as strong as long as the gate reains closed... not so with a maillon. They are dearer, of course! But the Moka is a good price... and you'd not want a single point of attachment that was *too* cheap, would you? I've used one of these since the start of 2010 and find it as easy to use as my normal Omni screwgate. Cordes Courant are making a (limited) range of good hardwear these days, as well as their ropes. Length is 87mm, weight is 54g. Long axis strength is 25kn, gate opening is 10kn

Faders Lotus HMS screwgate. Large pear - shaped alloy screwgate designed for belaying with the Italian, (or HMS or Munter) hitch. The pear shape facilitates the knot reversing in use when changing from taking in to paying out, and vice versa. Suitable for belaying directly, and also for carrying belay devices e.g. Petzl Reverso. Keylock style closure for ease of clipping in and removing the rope, and the screwgate ensures increased safety while belaying or clipping in. Longitudinal axis - 25kn. Gate open - 7kn. Cross loading - 7kn. Weight 88g.

Faders 405-00F steel snaplink - braking karabiner. A heavy steel snaplink which is well suited for use as a braking karabiner. Less aggressive braking than the Raumer Handy, and a less massively strong heatsink than the R400; but significantly lighter and somewhat smaller than the latter - and very affordable. Also useful if you want a more versatile braking krab i.e. it can also hold together the Garma harness when in ascent, be used as part of a Garda hitch, and works better on steel cable traverses than more specialised gear. Long axis - 24kn. Gate open - 6kn.Gate aperture 20mm (note, this is *not* a keylock). Weight 144g.

Kong Guide snaplink karabiner. Alloy keylock with a bent gate to facilitate clipping a rope in with a single swift movement. Designed initially for the lower half of a climbing extender (where the lead climber's rope needs to be put in the snaplink with utter efficiency)they are also useful for deviations, tackle bag haul cords, and attaching diving cylinders to ASM harnesses. They have some significant disadvantages when used as cowstails - take care if you use your cowstails clipped directly into P hangers...

Petzl Locker karabiner. Alloy, asymmetrical, screwlock karabiner. keylock gate. A compact and lighweight krab with a wide opening, well suited for cowstails if a screwgate is favoured over a snaplink.

Petzl Spirit karabiner. Alloy, straight gate, snaplink. Keylock gate. As a cowstail karabiner, nothing much better! The Spirit is particularly suited for quick clipping and unclipping, either as part of a quickdraw, or on a cowstail. Reasonable wide gate opening to accept ropes, karabiners, and hangers, in a small and lightweight package. Note that bent gate karabiners can be significantly less safe in the way that they can unclip from a tensioned rope. or bolt. For this reason Starless River does not recommend them for cowstail use, and only the straight gate Spirit is offered. Colours; gold, blue gate.

Raumer R400 karabiner. Stainless steel, heavy, wiregate karabiner. Originally intended to rig lower - offs at the top of sport climbs, it also works as a very durable braking karabiner for those who use thicker diameter ropes (10mm+), where the Raumer Handy can be 'too' effective.

Troll Sprint 9 wiregate. For the price, a seriously light, strong and compact karabiner. Suitable for deviations, clipping tackle bags to things / people, and general accessory use where a screwgate is unnecessary. You can also use it for climbing, which is what is was designed for! The lock is the old fashioned 'fishing hook' - marginally less easy to unclip than a keylock; but very light, and good at shedding mud in particularly foul places. Size on long axis 95mm, weight 49g, gate opening 22mm. Long axis strength is 27kn, gate loaded 8kn, gate open 8kn.