New Grivel Twin Gate Carabiner

Described as a pear shaped carabiner with double straight gates and a very large carabiner for belaying with a Munter hitch and for abseiling, Grivel reckon “ Carabiners clip and unclip by accident, unclipping can cause injury, death and huge inconvenience… the only carabiner that successfully cures this is the twin gate.”
So it seems Grivel are offering the ‘twin gate’ as an alternative to a screw gate carabiner for belaying and abseiling, but you can also use them instead of a quick draw, for clipping on a lead climb, with the intention of preventing back clipping.

This new technology is being offered on 4 different carabiners including the wire gate versions. In this video, Stevie Haston uses the solid gate version:

Although the Twin Gate carabiner promises greater safety in many situations, ease of operation looks to be a potential issue. Problems such as clipping with gloves on an ice climb, extra weight and just generally being a faff when you’re pumped and want to try clipping desperately or have a really far reach.

They may work well for beginners in an easy stance, putting their mind at rest that they are not back clipping with the chance of the rope unclipping. But really, if you’re an experienced climber you should have learnt by now not to do this…. So perhaps they are a solution in search of a problem… Learn not to back clip and you shouldn't really have much of a problem with quick draws unclipping.

However, there has been nothing impressive in new technology for a locking carabiner for some time now and it does look like a sleek and effective innovation. They could also prevent loss of gear from popping off wire gates when hanging on a harness…. this has certainly happened to me on occasion, a whole rack of nuts falling into the Dorset sea…. Also not having a screw gate could prevent them freezing up in winter…. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have them as part of your climbing rack….

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This edition of latest gear is by Katy Dartford, a freelance journalist, travel writer and aspiring photographer, specialising in adventure travel and action sports.