Old School Tools - opposite and opposed carabiners
Image credit: from the Ropelab Instagram @ropelab.richard, run by Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney, used with permission.
With the bounty of options available these days for locking carabiners, many newer climbers may not know the (slightly old school) method of using two non-locking carabiners “opposite and opposed”, to replace a locker. (In the Dark Ages before locking carabiners were invented, this was the only way to do it.) If you find yourself short on lockers, this is still a good trick to know.
Here's the rule of thumb: Two snapgate carabiners, properly rigged with gates opposite and opposed, equals one locking carabiner.
First off, don't get hung up on the confusing terminology. Many rope experts do not use these terms correctly, so it's cool if you don't completely grasp it either. The important thing is to know how to set it up correctly, not necessarily the exact definition of each term.
There’s one correct way to set it up, and some that look correct but aren’t, so let’s have a closer look.
It's best practice to try to use two carabiners of similar shape and size. This can be a good place to use your oval carabiners, if you have any. Like I said, old school. Asymmetric carabiners can sometimes pinch the rope a bit if used in this configuration, but if you don't have ovals, no problemo.
Top left: correctly rigged opposite and opposed carabiners.
The gates are “opposite” (meaning, they form an “X”)
AND the gates are “opposed” (meaning, they don’t open on the same side.)
Or, to say it another way: the gates on opposite sides and the hinges are on the same end, so they are opposed when both are open.
Image credit: Richard DElaney @ropelab.richard
Let's look at the other three set ups and see why they’re not ideal:
Bottom right: Both carabiners are aligned the same. Not much more security than just using one.
Bottom left: The open gates do not form an “X”. Potential problem: if either carabiner flips 180°, the carabiners are aligned the same, like as the bottom right.
Top right: The gates do open to make an “X”, but the gate openings are on the same side. (Some rigging experts call this acceptable.) Potential problem: if the gates rub on a rock, both the gates can open at the same time. Carabiners are much weaker if loaded with the gate open, so we want to avoid this.
Now, let's take it a step further. Here's another rule of thumb: Three standard carabiners, with gates opposite and opposed, is the equivalent of two locking carabiners. Yes, the math in this example doesn’t quite match what we saw above, but that's how it works.
In the left photo, we have two opposite and opposed locking carabiners, standard practice in the guiding world for a very secure top rope anchor. (Extra points if these lockers are the same make and model, and if they are a wide bottom HMS belay carabiner as shown, which can give a smoother feed of the rope.)
Equally secure to this is the right photo. It’s a bit hard to see, but the two outside carabiners are opposite and opposed to the middle carabiner.
Granted, most of the time when you’re setting up a secure top rope anchor, you're probably going to have two locking carabiners to rig opposite and opposed such as the example on the left. Rigging a top rope anchor with three standard carabiners is something more often seen in a teaching or instructional type situation and not when you were out climbing with your pals.
Please note: we're talking about a top rope anchor here, not the master point on a multi pitch climb. A top rope anchor is typically high up and out of sight, and you may have beginners on the route who may not know how to properly evaluate the security of the anchor once they arrive. For this reason, the extra security of two opposite and opposed lockers (or equivalent) is the guide “industry standard”. For a master point on a multi pitch climb, a single locking carabiner is adequate, because you’re right there to monitor it at all times.
Do you in fact need two opposite and opposed locking carabiners at a top rope anchor? Some people will choose to set up a top rope from a single locker (or the equivalent for sport climbing, two opposite and opposed normal quickdraws) but it all depends on your acceptable level of risk. Personally, I always use two carabiners at the master point, with at least one a locker. The way I see it, you probably have the gear already, it takes another couple of seconds to rig, so why not have that extra level of security?
Remember, it’s YOU who’s accountable for your acceptable level of risk and comfort. Don't let it be dictated by someone else, regardless of their experience or credentials. If using locking carabiners everywhere on a top rope anchor gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, and you have the gear, by all means do it.
Below left is a top rope anchor with two opposite and opposed standard quickdraws, an anchor rig many sportclimbers are happy with. On the right is the same setup, only this time it has a “locker draw” to add extra security. A locking quickdraw is handy for all kinds of things, which we cover in this article. Which anchor would you prefer to climb on?
Quickdraws for a sport climbing anchor: gates in or gates out?
There is an interesting subtlety to using quickdraws on a two bolt sport climbing anchor.
You can rig it so the GATES cross to make an “X”, or the SPINES cross to make an “X”. In both cases the masterpoint carabiners are opposite and opposed. WHAT?!
This is highly confusing to many people! I’ll admit it was a bit of a head scratcher for me at first. Like many things in climbing it’s a better show than a tell. Here are some photos to illustrate how this works.
Let's start with a pair of quickdraws stacked on top of each other. All the gates face left.
There are two quickdraws in the photo, sorry it's a little hard to see both.
There's some masking tape near the top carabiner on the draw; that's for another project, please ignore it.
Take the top quickdraw and flip it 180 degrees, so the gates face to the right. This creates opposite and opposed carabiners (green) at the bottom masterpoint.
To hopefully make this explanation extra clear, I put some yellow tape on the bottom carabiners. This shows they’re staying in the exact same orientation in the next two steps.
It's time to build our anchor, and clip the top of each draw to a bolt.
If we clip the bolts with the gates facing IN (i.e,, TOWARD from each other), the carabiner GATES at the masterpoint cross to make an “X”.
If we clip the bolts with the gates facing OUT (i.e,, AWAY from each other), the carabiner SPINES at the masterpoint cross to make an “X”.
Note that in both cases, the bottom green carabiners have stayed in exactly the same opposite and opposed orientation. If the gates make the “X”, or the spines make the ”X” depends on how you clip the top of the draw: facing in or facing out.
This causes a lot of confusion! I hope these photos help clear it up.
So what? Is one better than another?
There's no firm consensus, but most people prefer to clip with the gates facing OUT, or away from each other.
(Gates out seems to be the set up in every rock gym I’ve ever seen, so that ought to tell you something.)
If the gates face in, you can occasionally have the gates jangle around or the rope flip or some other weirdness, and the gates can get tangled and twisted on each other. When the gates out, this is much less likely to happen.
Or, as mentioned above, you can use my preferred option: gates out and use a locker draw pretty much on every top rope. That eliminates just about any potential problem.