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Rack spare carabiners in a "football"

I think I first heard of this tip from big wall ace Pete Zabrok. Pete wrote a great book on big wall climbing called Hooking Up, highly recommended!


Here's one way to help tame the entropy of your big wall gear harness.

Aid climbers need a LOT of free carabiners. Here's one good way to carry them.

Rack seven carabiners together. One to your gear loop, and then three more pairs hanging below that. This keeps them fairly compact and tidy. Seven, like the points for a touchdown in American football, eh?

Are you concerned that your fumbly fingers might accidentally unclip the top carabiner and then you lose all seven? An Instagram friend suggested racking 6 carabiners / 3 pairs, and making the top two opposite and opposed. This makes it less likely that he might accidentally unclip the whole thing. I think this is a pretty clever idea. So there you go, do it with six or seven, your choice!