"Locker draw" - What is it, why carry it?
A “locker draw” is simply a short quick draw style runner, a.k.a. “dogbone”, with locking carabiners on either end. Some people may dismiss a locker draw as something that overly cautious sport climbers may use on a top rope anchor, but they have many more uses.
You don’t buy these premade like a normal quick draw, you need to buy the dogbone and locking carabiners separately. A good combination is to have two sizes of locking carabiners: one D shaped, and a compact pear-shaped HMS style, as shown below. (The CAMP “Nimbus” carabiner on the left, is perfect for this.)
Tip: Put the HMS carabiner in the small constricted end of the dogbone, and put the D shaped carabiner (here, orange) in the top loose end of the dogbone. Use the orange carabiner to clip the gear, the HMS carabiner to clip the rope.
Here are some ways to use a locker draw.
1) Bolted top rope anchor. A normal multi pitch anchor doesn’t require locking carabiners on the bolts. But a top rope anchor, which may be unattended throughout the day and have many people climbing on it, may benefit from having at least one locker draw. We cover toprope locker draws at this post.
Below is a typical set up, with one locker draw and one standard quick draw. Bottom gates are opposite and opposed.
Here are two extra long (25 cm) Petzl Express draws, which can be helpful if the bolts are far apart. Here we have lockers on everything. Some people may consider this overkill, but if you're in an instructional type setting, with many climbers all day using a single top rope, having lockers on all four points may give extra peace of mind. This can be especially true with kids or beginners.
It's debatable if two locker draws offer much more security than one. But if you have them and it makes you feel good to use them, why not? There's really not much downside.
2) Rappel extension. Extending your rappel device so it’s not directly on your belay loop is a good idea for many reasons, which we cover in this tip. There are lots of different ways to rig it, and one quick and easy one is with your locker draw.
3) Extending your tie in / belay point; declustering your anchor. When you a master point at one level, connecting both yourself and belaying your partner from that one point can be awkward. A locker draw can extend the tie in or the belay carabiners. This can make the belay more convenient and less awkward, depending on your stance.
Example: Standard anchor on a mini quad (180 cm runner). Nothing wrong with this set up. But depending on the stance, the leader’s clove hitch tie in point on the left and the belay carabiner on the right might be annoyingly close together.
Here, a locker draw is added for the leader’s tie in. This moves their connection point lower, making the anchor less cluttered at a single point.
4) Using it as a regular quickdraw before a hard move, before a big run out, or right off the belay as the first clip, to pump up the psyche.
If you find yourself doing this on a regular basis, you may want to invest in a pair of Edelrid HMS Strike Slider carabiners. These have a clever locking mechanism that is very easy to open with one hand, and can work better for making fast clips.
6) Rig a toprope with the rope through the chains to make it easy for a beginner to clean, but so the wear‘n’tear happens on your own gear, not the fixed hardware. (A regular carabiner can work fine here as well.)
And here's another way to set up a similar type of anchor, this time with vertically oriented chains and a locker draw. Note, the rope is going through the brown colored ring master point on the bottom, but all of the load from the climber is resting on your own quick draw. This is a great system, because you have complete redundancy from both bolts and also super easy cleaning; the last person just removes the quick draw and lowers off.
Photo: IFMGA Certified Guide Dale Remsburg @daleremsberg
7) Ice thread backup. If you make an ice thread anchor for a rappel, you can place a screw(s) above it and clip a locker draw to the rope as a backup for the first person(s) down. The last person cleans the draw and the screw after the thread has proven it holds. Be sure that all of the weight is on the ice thread, with no force on the locker draw.
photo: Dale Remsberg - https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsx7X6ZhcpA/
8) Winter climbing device attachment. No photo for this one but you can get the idea: Use it to extend your belay device farther away from your harness if you're wearing lots of thick winter clothing. This makes it easier to connect the belay device properly because you can see it more easily.
9) Always gives you two extra locking carabiners for any kind of rescue situation. If you've ever practiced any sort of rock rescue, about 30 seconds into any scenario, you're going to wish you had a few extra lockers. If you carry a locker draw, that gives you two lockers when you need them.
10) As a directional placement for ice or rock toproping. In many toprope setups, especially for ice, having a directional placement as shown below is a good idea. Using a locker draw here gives more security than a standard quick draw.
image credit: Sean isaac
