The Correct Way to Set Up Your Quickdraws

Espresso Note

Read Time - 2 minutes

April 2020

Some brands ship their quickdraws with the carabiners facing the same way, non-opposed, and others ship them opposed. Many climbers will keep them as such, but a decent chunk will swap the biners around to they way they like.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, most brands shipped their quickdraws with the biners opposed. However, last we checked, the following brands shipped their quickdraws out as follows:

Edelrid - Opposed

Omega Pacific - Opposed

Black Diamond - Non-opposed

Camp - Non-opposed

Grivel - Non-opposed

Metolius - Non-opposed

Petzl - Non-opposed

Wild Country - Non-opposed

DMM - Opposed on certain models, and non-opposed on others

But the opposed/non-opposed debate isn’t a matter of preference or fashion trends. The non-opposed orientation is safer.

As you all know, you should always clip your protection such that the gate of your draw faces away from the direction of expected travel on that pitch. This prevents the gate from being dragged in towards the rock, and potentially opening with the action of the rope as you lead. 

If your route is straight up, look before you hang each draw. There is almost always an optimal direction. Are there any bulges, edges, pebbles, or scoops, beside the placement? Hang your draw so your gates face away from these.

However, on opposed draws, you can’t hold to this mantra. No matter which way you hang your draw, one of your gates will always be facing the feature on the rock you’re trying to avoid.

A second more specific problem can arise when climbing on poorly orientated bolt hangers. Hangers where the eye of the hanger faces straight down the pitch rather than perpendicular to it. As the rope draws the QD in the direction of the pitch, the top carabiner rotates underneath the bolt hanger. With the continued action of the rope, the gate can open as it is pushed against the hanger. 

We can learn two lessons from this. Lesson one, make sure hangers are well oriented before you jump on a pitch. Lesson two, and better still, set your draws up so they’re non-opposed!

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