Guess which carabiner breaks last 👉 CARABINER SHOWDOWN

We tested 12 wire gates climbing carabiners in a chain until the last one was standing. If you use rated gear, it is super good enough. This is edutainment... NOT science! We share HOW to buy, not WHAT to buy at the end of this video.

#carabiner #showdown #climbing

[exgenica]

Unless I misunderstand how the test was set up, I think there's a meaningful problem with it: each link interface is different because you connected the carabiners directly together, and those differences will affect test results.

Because of differences in size, cross-sections, materials, etc. this changes precisely where and how the stresses are applied to each carabiner. That introduces variables that determine and can significantly alter how each link will perform under load.

There should have been a common linkage device connected at both ends of each carabiner to normalize how all the forces are applied on all the ends throughout the chain of carabiners.

In the test of different carabiners for example, if a high-strength material carabiner#1 has an cross-section instead of a round one at the point it contacts carabiner#2, that relatively sharp edge (lower surface area) can put much higher stress at a specific location on the carabiner#2, and how it deforms as the loading increases would likely also vary considerably. So instead of say...10, 000 psi it might have seen, that particular area of contact sees 50, 000 psi. That would likely cause carabiner#2 to fail earlier than it would have failed. (note: numbers are just for example...not intended to be accurate in any way). A similar issue would come into play even if all contact points were circular cross-sections but with differing diameters and alloy strengths, especially as the carabiners began to deform around each other at the contact points.

[therflash]

Towards the end, most of the biners that broke were right next to the quicklink. Almost as if the larger diameter was compromising it.

[cartertrautmann]

The fact that the black diamond stayed operational (sort of) after being taken past 20kN that many times was the most impressive to me. Whatever they're doing in terms of maybe a heat treatment or cross section design is really impressive.

[matriix]

It would be dope to see slow mo guys do this with their Red cameras running at 100, 000 fps to see the structural failure in more detail.

[WadeMD]

I think you should repeat the test with the same exact biners and with static ropes to see if they have the same break strength. I’m wondering if the biner on biner may have abnormally loaded them causing them to break sooner than normal.

[sobertillnoon]

"It'll help disperse the comments of how we did this wrong" almost flew by me and still almost made me do a spit take. Hilarious

[mangrumpyold]

I fined It interesting that 6 of the 12 broke at the end of the chain not including the last two. I wonder if being in contact with the end locking carabiners influenced the results. thanks for the test it was fun to watch.

[Alex]

Hey man. I found your channel a few days ago and I honestly love what you do. I'm in the arborist section but I'd really like to get into more climbing and maybe one day high lining. Bought some carabiners to try and support the channel. Keep doin what you do!

[PabloXCastle]

I'm really glad to see cypher make it all the way to the end. My local shop carries them exclusively, but I had never heard of them before, so this makes me feel worlds better about running them.

[robwilcher]

Ryan you are an inspiration and provide not only answers but proof to the questions no one asks and for that we love you brother!
Don't tell anyone but I climb trees, mountains and buildings and it's difficult to comply with all the regulations across these disciplines since many are mutually exclusive. I am a human and have been known to make errors yet I'm still alive because the equipment is "Super good enough"! 
To all my fellow climbers from all disciplines it is my considerable experience that "CONFIDENCE" is the most important bit of equipment you need! Followed by "CHALK"
Love and peace you to all.

[drew]

Kind of interesting, doing the test this way actually tests even more than just ultimate strength, it tests strength over repeated near-maximal loading (along with some intense smacking around, microfracture myth be damned lol), which might even be a more useful measure of a carabiner's strength and overall durability.

Given the results, I'm digging the Black Diamond Litewire, it stayed pretty functional after being heavily loaded 8 or so times, pretty impressive!

[jackberdine]

Id like to see you break some side loaded aluminum and steel triple locking carabiners to mimick the way tree guys and tower climbers will choke a round object and sideload a carabiner

[zfigarox]

HMS: Halbmastwurf: Munter hitch. They are the carabiners literally designed to have a munter hitch in them.

[AutisticWombot]

You should be able to compare the breakage sites to get an idea of how they're made. In theory, forged biners should be stronger than cast and tempered and cast with tempering should be stronger than just cast ones.

[jakepawlak]

Used quite a bit of cypher gear over the years and have been surprised at how satisfied I have been with them. Definitely a bit of a slept on brand.

[laurelholmes]

Loved, loved, loved this test!!! As a newbie, I've been hesitant to buy wire gated carabiners. This video gives me that knowledge and slays that gear fear!! THANK YOU!!!!

[z]

I knew the team that had one of the earliest failures from this phenomenon, in the mid-1980's, when an oval biner broke during a moderately long sport fall. As most biners fail first at the gate notch or pin, theirs had the spine break and the gate junction was not broken. One thesis was that the biner did not just get knocked against the rock, because think about it - that would only open it at the moment of first impact of the slack taken up, not the subsequent full loading a split second later, at which point the biner gate might have swung closed. They ruled out the gate being held open against the rock, and theorized the rope stretching under increasing tension thru the biner caused oscillating vibration, which "fluttered" the gate open and closed rapidly. I haven't seen a thorough study of the concept; one flaw in it is that most biners flex enough to lock closed under fall loads via the notch or keyed gate design, and so aren't supposed to end up opening in a free-hanging fall situation.

[roosterrr]

A neat observation about how these fail. The most important feature of a carabiner is that it stays closed when loaded so it holds max strength. Some design thought that has to go into the geometry and how if flexes as it gets loaded. Ideally you want the nose of the gate to get pushed into the latch as it flexes. You can see the red biner doing that here. 6:03 Then you have a good example of one not doing that here. 9:07 The load causes the nose to move the other way and pops the gait open.

[loganvilas]

I see a big trend of them breaking at the quicklink

[Dazdigo]

Now do this with the locking (screw, auto, etc.) carabiners. I wonder how well the auto locking ones hold up.