Sling for Alpine Draws

mammut contact slings 10/10

Thin, light, strong, very clean stitching

i to use the mammut contacts great flexibility doesnt get that fuzzy wear to it as quick IMO easy to rack and they make an 8 footer which is nice to have for weird anchors and trickery in the alpine

Ha wish this post was out there in the fall. I ended up making the same move with BD 18mm nylon runners for my alpine draws and although they work they are bulky and add weight.

Not sure if it's worth the $$ to switch them out for the lighter stuff though. Misty mountain makes a sweet 11mm nylon runner that feels much lighter weight and less bulky then the BD 18mm but the mammut runners sound pretty sweet. Maybe check out misty mountain and check their specs too.

It really is worth it for the thin slings. There are few things you use as much as your draws/alpine draws. It's worth doing these right

another +1 for Mammut contact 8mm. The petzl fin'anneau 8mm sling is approximately identical. Very durable, very light and small. I think the low bulk is worth it.

Regarding your second question:

Not sure I have ever heard of anyone making an alpine draw with just one biner (or even how that might be done).

But I sometimes climb with a mix of alpine draws on my harness and slings over my shoulder (each with one biner), giving me the option to carry fewer biners. Not something I do on routes where I am pushing my limits, though.

Oh, yes, I do see some folks rack with a single biner on a sling. Put them over your shoulder. I can see the value in having a few like this, but you'll want plenty with 2 biners also on your harness for clipping nuts.

I also rack my TCUs 3 per biner. If I'm really trying to cut caribiners, I'll rack the smaller camalots 2 per biner also.

I might as well also note -- I originally tried Camp Nano's on my alpine draws because they are cheap and light. Then I tried putting one nano and one Oz hoodwire on so I could use them with gloves / not struggle to clip/unclip.

Finally, I ended up with all Oz Hoodwires on my draws. There are some other good light keylock style biners out there (DMM Alpha light etc). I still like camp nano's for racking cams though because they are very narrow so it's easy to fit gear and get it on and off my harness, but not for much else.

I use both nylon and dyneema slings but for different applications. For general trad cragging or scrappy desert towers nylon is nice since its much cheaper to replace and you can cut them up and tie knots in them to leave as rap anchors. For alpine climbing or long backcountry approaches the dyneema is the way to go for less bulk and weight.

It's important to understand the difference in physical properties of the 2 materials as well. Nylon is stretchy and will absorb some of the impact force transferred to the actual piece, but will also absorb water and gain weight/lose strength. Dyneema is as strong as steel but has zero stretch and can not be trusted to be tied into knots since it is slippery.

I think its good to rack the slings both tripled with 2 biners but also at full length with 1 biner over the shoulder. Again, they each have their application. When you know virtually every piece will be a cam with its own biner and you'll want to extend them (ie: splitter OW's where you're placing the cams deep), the single biner-long sling makes sense.

Flex wrote: Again, they each have their application. When you know virtually every piece will be a cam with its own biner and you'll want to extend them (ie: splitter OW's where you're placing the cams deep), the single biner-long sling makes sense.

That's the key - you do this (one biner on a shoulder-length sling) if you rack cams each with their own biner. I rack 3 cams per biner so I don't carry single biner'ed slings.

When I climb in the alpine I almost exclusively use single biner slings. Maybe 2 with two biners For nuts or the like. I've even girth hitched a sling to a nut in an event where I didn't have a biner. I'm sure that's weaker then a biner and I'm gonna die, but I always felt there were bigger fish to fry.

Definitely the mammut contact slings. No exposed stitching to get caught on things, lightweight, and you can see when they need to be replaced when you see red threads beneath the sheath of them. I have 8 of them and they're awesome.

I'm a big fan of carrying 60cm slings over the shoulder with only one biner instead of a full arsenal of alpine draws. It works great for extending cam placements that already have a racking biner in place (I prefer racking one cam per biner) But I also carry a few standard alpine draws and regular quickdraws for when I place a nut, when long extension isn't necessary, or for when grabbing a sling off my shoulder is awkward.

The thinner slings are absolutely worth having in my opinion. Mammut contact slings are nice and lightweight, but I actually prefer the Black Diamond dynex runners - they don't seem to get as twisted up on me.

+1 for Petzl FIN'ANNEAU.

I keep a 120cm with 3 Spirit SL carabiners on the back of my harness for anchors and then usually roll with 6 of the 60cm slings with 2 Ange S carabiners for my trad rack. That is supplemented with 6 of the 10cm ANGE FINESSE draws for clipping bolts, nuts, pitons, and general ease. Overall this system is a really compact, lightweight, and versatile setup. I use the Ange carabiners and draws as they have a really small nose profile which tends to fit in old tight piton eyes as well as elsewhere. They are of course really light as well.

10cm Ange Finesse quickdraw - 63g
60cm Fin'Anneau - 20g
120cm Fin'Anneau - 35g
Ange S carabiner - 28g
Spirit SL carabiner - 45g

I use the Ange S carabiners on all my cams as well (BD UL Camalots). Used to use the CAMP Nano but found they spun a lot and the noses always got snagged.

Scott Morris wrote:I'm a big fan of carrying 60cm slings over the shoulder with only one biner instead of a full arsenal of alpine draws. It works great for extending cam placements that already have a racking biner in place (I prefer racking one cam per biner) But I also carry a few standard alpine draws and regular quickdraws for when I place a nut, when long extension isn't necessary

+1 to this.

Nice couplet, MattCarroll.

Mammut Contact is the best. I carry 6 alpine draws and 6 over the shoulder with a single biner. WC Astro biners.

Wow, racking alpines with 1 carabiner is a great idea! I always felt awkward clipping an alpine draw to a cam that already had a carabiner on it. Racking multiple cams per biner also seems like a nice idea and might be more flexible. I guess the main drawback is that you would have to carry extra biners if you plan on placing nuts. I've never been a fan of having a bunch of slings around my neck...

Arthur wrote:Used to use the CAMP Nano but found they spun a lot and the noses always got snagged.

The nose on the new nano 22 has a much better angle. The last ones had more of a "hook" shape (kind of like BD neutrino). I wouldn't run out and suggest replacing your ange line up, but for anyone setting up a new rack just know that the nano has changed significantly.

I personally preferred the Wild Country 10mm mostly because not many people had them and getting my gear back was easy. I also prefer the 10mm vs Mammut 8mm because seems to tangle less and wear longer. BD dynex is fine, one of my partners has those and they seem a little stiffer than the WC or Mammut, but way less bulk and weight than the nylon.

That said, I've run out of a source for readily available WC 60cm 10mm slings, so I ended up buying Mammut 8mm. I also have a mammut 8mm cordellete length sling. Love that thing. Less weight, less bulk, but when you have to bail on it, you are going to cry at $25! Whereas a 7mm cordellete gets cut without hesitation.

Not sure I'd upgrade the nylons all at once, just cut them up for rappel/bail anchors and slowly replace them.