Carabiners
Below is a series of links to all the publically available research on carabiners we have found to date (we exclude papers with analyses and other citations because there are so many!). We have made an attempt to find as much as we could, but it is a work in progress. If you know of any additional testing we are missing, please bring it to our attention (contact us)!
Published Research:
Unpublished Research:
Videos Showing Breaking Carabiners:
Also of Interest:
Published Research:
- Antonini, Giuseppe, Piazza, Oskar, 2014, Cadere sugli attrezzi: cosa succede? il Soccorso Alpino, April 2014:20-23 (Document in Italian, drop tests with a variety of hardware)
- Austin, George, 1966, Equipment Testing, Accidents in American Mountaineering 1966:6-10
- Baldwin, Jack, 1967, Equipment Testing, Accidents in North American Mountaineering 1967:2-6
- Blair, K.B., Custer, D.R., Graham, J.M., Okal, M.H., 2005, Analysis of fatigue failure in D-shaped karabiners, Sports Engineering 8:107-113 (Also posted here)
- Boothby, Steve, 2011, Advancing Our Knowledge of Rescue Systems & Components, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2014
- Boyd, R. J., Frater, N.K., 1968, The Strength of Brake Bar Systems, Speleo Digest 1968:3-62 to 3-66
- Jeffrey, Darren, McDaniel , Travis, Santillan, Gavin, 2010, Canyoneering Anchors and Basic Rope Systems, AuthorHouse, Indiana (Carabiners on pg 93)
- Dunn, Don, 1997, Destructive Test Results Of Old And New Cave Equipment, Speleo Digest 1997:383-384
- Kane, Brian, Ryan, Dennis, 2009, Residual Strength of Carabiners Used by Tree Climbers, Aroriculture & Urban Forestry 35(2):75-79
- Federation Francaise de Speleologie, 2013, Les connecteurs legers, Groupe D'Etudes Techniques
- Kovach, Jim, 2006, One View of Rigging and Anchoring in the Fire Service, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2006
- Macgregor, Kirk, 1978, Tensile Tests of Liberty 'Biners, Nylon Highway 9:10
- McKently, John, Parker, Bruce, 1999, Field Applicability of Laboratory Test Results or How Much Will It Really Hold? Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 1999
- McKently, John, Parker, Bruce, Smith, Cedric, 2003, "Point loading" aluminum carabiners, a cause for concern? Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2003
- Popall, Peter, 2003, A Little Something you Should Know About Carabiners, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2003
- Pylman, David, Spinelli, Philip, 2013, Drop Testing Versus Slow-Pull Strength Testing, International Technical Rescue Symposium 2013
- Schambron, Thomas, Uggowitzer, Peter J., 2009, Effects of wear on static and dynamic failure loads of aluminum-based alloy climbing karabiners, Sports Engineering 11(2):85-91
- Semmel, Von Chris, Stopper, Dieter, 2003, Vertrauen ist gut, Kontrolle ist besser, Panorama 2003(3):71-73 (Document in German)
- Semmel, Von Chris, Stopper, Dieter, 2005, Karabiner oder Mensch, Panorama 2005(1):72-74 (Document in German)
- Semmel, Von Chris, Hellberg, Florian, 2009, Augen auf am Klettersteig, Gefahren an modernen Klettersteigen, Panorama 2009(4):58-60 (Document in German)
- Stopper, Von Dieter, 2001, Vielfachbelastung von Karabinern, Panorama 2001(4):64-65 (Document in German)
- Stopper, Von Dieter, 2002, Auf Biegen und Brechen, Biegebelastung von Klettersteigkarabinern uber eine Kante, Panorama 2002(3):71-73 (Document in German)
- Storage, William, 1994, Aging Carabiners, NSS News 52(9):277-279
- Storey, James, 1971, The Super Locking Link, NSS News 29(5):57-58
- Unknown Author, 1973, Tests of Carabiner Failure, Speleo Digest 1973:239
- Unknown Author, 1997, Le rupture de fractionnement en cours de descente, Groupe d'Etudes Techniques de l'EFS, Spelunca 66, 4 pages
- Walk, Michael, 2000, Strain/displacement of a carabiner via interferometry, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2000
- Wallace, Garin, 2000, Is It Still OK To Use? Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2000 (dropping carabiners)
- Wallace, Garin, 2003, The Hot Topic of Carabiners, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2003 (heating carabiners)
Unpublished Research:
- Amca, Arif Mithat, 2015, Tensile Strength Testing and Breaking Mechanism Investigation of Used Aluminum Climbing Carabinesrs, Presented at the International Mountaineering Congress, CIMA 2015, Zaragoza Spain
- Ava Makes Things, 2015, Carabiners
- Bavaresco, Paolo, Unknown Date, Ropes and Friction Hitches used in Tree Climbing Operations, Treevolution
- Bedogni, di Vittorio, Unknown Date, "Preparati" per arrampicata, Il comportamento statico, pp. 92-95
- Blair, K., Custer, D., Graham, J., Okal, M., Unknown Date, Analysis of Fatigue Failure in D-shaped Carabiners
- Bressan, Giuliano, Unknown Date, I materiali per l'alpinismo e l'arrampicata === Le norme relative
- Draughon, Baron, 2004, PRM 426 Lab Test - Rescue Equipment - Test to Failure
- Francesco, Salvatori, Marco, Menichetti, Sergio, Celesti, Luca, Ponderini, Domenico, Bocchio, 2011, Influenza Della Velocita Di Deformazione Nel Carico Di Rottura Di Moschettoni In Lega Di Alluminio E Di Acciaio (Document in Italian)
- Garratt, Nathan, 2006, The Affects of Use on the Strength of Climbing Karabiners, 4th Year Meng in Mechanical Engineering
- Graham, Jon, 2001, Carabiner Testing, Final Report
- harness man, 2014, Worn Carabiner Testing
- Jackson, Natalie, 2008, Dynamic Testing of Climbing Karabiners, Technical Paper, MEng Aero-mechanical Engineering
- KP, 2016, QC LAB: Off-Axis and Tri/Quad-Axial Loading
- Margolis, Jim, 2015, Should You Retire a Dropped Carabiner
- McGuinnity, Steven, 2004, What Determines the Strength of Climbing Karabiners? Final Year BEng Honours Technical Paper, University of Strathclyde
- Okal, Marianne, 2001, Carabiner Testing, Final Report
- Pellizzari, Emanuele, 2012, Lab test of carabiners used at belay stations (Also posted here and data table published here)
- Powick, Kolin, Climb Safe: Weakness of Nose-Hooked Carabiners
- Powick, Kolin, 2015, Climb Safe: Choosing the Right Carbiner
- Powick, Kolin, 2016, Climb Safe: Carabiner Off-Axis and Tri-Quad-Axial Loading
- Richard Delaney, 2014, Members: Rigging slings on carabiners, Roping and rigging equipment compatibility. (Requires a subscription to Ropelab to access)
- Richard Delaney, 2014, Members: Three-way loading, Three-way loading of carabiners. (Requires a subscription to Ropelab to access)
- Richard Delaney, 2014, Members: Dropped carabiners (Requires a subscription to Ropelab to access)
- Richard Delaney, 2015, Scientific Process
- Richard Delaney, 2016, Carabiner Gate Mass
- Richard Delaney, 2016, Members: Back-clipping connectors (Requires a subscription to Ropelab to access)
- Scott, Virgil, 2008, Design of a composite carabiner for rock climbing, Final year project, MEng, Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London (also posted here)
- Shokoples, Cyril, Neff, Morgan, 2001, Carabiner Wear and Strength Reduction in Old Carabiners, Anecdotal Test Results
- Slacker30, 2014, Sewing Webbing
- Spinelli, Philip, Pylman, David, 2009, The Viability of Multi-point Rescue Anchors Employing Removable Artificial Protection, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2009
- Strait, Alex, 2015, Rock Climbing Clip Analysis Report, A Comparison of Tensile Testing and FEA Modeling for the Black Diamond Neutrino Carabiner (Data for the four tests are posted here: Test 1, Test 2, Test 3, Test 4)
- Sturmberg, Bjorn, Unknown Date, Do you need to retire dropped carabiners?
- Trihey, Lucas, 2006, Vertical Rescue Training Workshop Report: Equipment Testing
- Unknown Author, Unknown Date, The Strength of Old Climbing Equipment
- Unknown Author, Unknown Date, Corrosione Dei Moschettoni in Lega (Page in Italian)
- Unknown Author, Unknown Date, Testing
- Unknown Author, 2010, Le Forze Nella Progressione, Usura Materiali E Attrezzi Fragili (Web page in Italian) (Measured breaking strength of some used carabiners)
- Welsh, Steven, 2013, The Effect of Damage on the Strength of Climbing Carabiners, MEng Mechanical Engineering Technical Paper, April 2013, University of Strathclyde Engineering
- Wessel, Daniel, 2005, Failure Modes of Climbing Karabiners: Technical Paper
Videos Showing Breaking Carabiners:
- Azarky, 2008, Test de traction sur un mousqueton
- Ben Winston, 2012, When will your wiregate carabiner fail on you? (Video showing the failure modes of wire gate carabiners)
- Bob Kuykendall, 2007, Carabiner Strength Test
- Bob Kuykendall, 2007, Carabiner Gate Open Strength
- Bob Kuykendall, 2007, Carabiner Strength Test: Omega Pacific Classic
- CAI CSMT, 2014, dvd csmt
- CAI Scuola Franco Alletto, 2015, CAI - Centro Studi Materiali e Tecniche (CSMT)
- Cергей Веденин, 2012, станции из репшнура
- Dimnaltec, 2011, test de rupture d'un mousqueton
- DMM, 2015, Carabiner and Bolt Interaction (video that shows testing both slow pull and dynamic)
- Евгений Илларионов, 2012, Испытание карабина ,,Крок,, на разрыв
- ENSA Chamonix, 2012, Etude scientifique : tests lors d'une chute en crevasse. (Video in French. If anyone is willing to translate this into English for us, please let us know!)
- Escuela Vertical, 2014, Test a Mosqueton Skylotec PinchLock II
- Giorgio Fiori, 2014, Test on choked carabiner as anchorage. (video showing tests of carabiners as chokers around trees and limbs)
- Giovanni Duca, 2012, leri moschettoni oggi connettori - 2003. CAI - CSMT (Video of carabiner slow pull tests)
- Guglielmo Di Camillo, 2008, TECHNICHE E MATERIALI SPELEO ALPINISTICI 2o Parte (Video showing slow pull tests of a variety of pieces of equipment)
- Guglielmo Di Camillo, 2011, Tecnica e Materiali a Padova 2011 - Trazione lenta (Video 1 - Parte 2) (Video shows pull tests of a variety of pieces of equipment and knots)
- Guglielmo Di Camillo, 2011, Tecnica e Materiali a Padova 2011 - Trazione lenta (Video 1 - Parte 1) (Video shows pull tests of a variety of pieces of equipment and knots)
- Guglielmo Di Camillo, 2011, Tecnica e Materiali a Padova 2011 - Trazione veloce (Video 2o) (Video shows pull tests of variety of pieces of equipment and knots)
- Guglielmo Di Camillo, 2011, Tecnica e Materiali a Padova 2011 - La Torre (Video 3o) (Video shows pull and drop tests of a variety of pieces of equipment and knots, including drop tests on munter hitches)
- Guglielmo Di Camillo, 2011, Tecniche e materiali speleo alpinistici al CENS 2008 1o Parte (Alta Qualita) (Video showing pull tests of a variety of pieces of equipment)
- Harness destruction testing, 2011, readers digest version of multiple weather exposed spectra climbing slings tests.wmv
- iscmarketing, 2012, Alu Karabiner Test Demo wmv (video showing testing of carabiners that have been dropped)
- iscmarketing, 2014, ISC KL321 Offset Oval Karabiner (Video shows slow pull test of carabiner)
- Karphelos, 2010, Karabiner-Test DMM
- LuckyLuck2007, 2011, Karabiner Test - Bruchtest (Video of slow pull tests of carbiners)
- Mac McCaleb, 2013, Carabiner Testing (Youtube Video showing wire gate carabiner failures with gates open)
- Mark Tverskoy, 2013, Carabiner Tension Test
- Mashuk1800, 2010, HMS.avi
- Mashuk1800, 2010, Малый раскрытый.avi
- Mashuk1800, 2010, Meteor.avi
- Mashuk1800, 2010, Большой с муфтой.avi
- Metolius Climbing, 2011, Metolius Carabiner Testing and Quality Control
- MI Safety Inc - Safety Training Edmonton, 2014, MI Safety Inc. - Fall Protection Equipment Failures & Drop Tests
- mkaratsupa, 2008, Carabiner Light D tensile test
- Мимо Проходил, 2011, UIAA Mountain Equipment Testing
- NZcaver, 2007, Destruction testing of hardware at SMC
- NZcaver, 2012, Breaking Gear NCRC 2012
- ofvento, 2010, Карабин на оттяжке
- Outdoor Safety Institute, 2015, failure 7 hook
- Outdoor Safety Institute, 2015, failure 2 hook
- Outdoor Safety Institute, 2015, failure 11 hook
- Outdoor Safety Institute, 2015, failure 4 pin
- Outdoor Safety Institute, 2015, failure 16 hook
- Petzl Professional, 2011, Petzl - Laboratory Test Tower [EN-FR]
- pixelator66, 2009, carabiner and p-bolt destruction testing
- Richard Delaney, 2012, Biner Test - side load open gate with body weight
- Richard Delaney, 2012, Corroded biner #1
- Richard Delaney, 2012, Corroded biner #2
- Richard Delaney, 2012, Open gate carabiner
- Richard Delaney, 2012, Dropped Aluminum Biner #0:255m onto hard surface.
- Richard Delaney, 2012, Dropped Biner #2: 255m onto hard surface
- Richard Delaney, 2014, BigBinerBust
- Richard Delaney, 2015, Steel carabiner destructive test
- Richard Delaney, 2016, Carabiner gate mass comparison
- Richard Delaney, 2016, Carabiner: Back-clipped around hand rail
- Richard Delaney, 2016, Carabiner: Back-clipped around hand rail 2
- Richard Delaney, 2016, Two screw-gates - weaker or stronger?
- roeser12, 2010, Carabiner Fail Tests (Video of locking carabiner pulled to failure in major and minor axis loading, and hooked nose)
- SARRR, 2015, Carabiner Failure
- Seb Reynes, 2009, Test casse Materiel (Video of dropping a load onto an open carabiner)
- skylotecTV, 2014, pinchLockII Test
- Slacktivity Slacklines, 2015, How the shape of a carabiner influences its breaking load (Video showing the breaking strengths of different carabiner shapes and in different configurations)
- superbenjaman, 2011, Prueba de rupture de equipo de escalada tirolesa cable tensor polea mosqueton (Youtube video of slow pull testing carabiners at beginning and end of video)
- The More You Know, 2008, Metolius carabiner / quickdraw loaded over edge pull test (video shows carabiner broken over an edge)
- tterruel, 2008, Test climbing equipment
- Vertical Device Solutions, 2013, Pruebas de Caida y Resistenci Mosquetones de Aluminio-Mosquetones ISC en Mexico
- www.absturzrisiko.ch, 2012, Karabiner - kollisionin Absturzsicherung - carabiner- collision in fallprotection - crash (video shows a drop test with carabiner loaded on an edge)
Also of Interest:
- Denis, Kevin, 2012, Compatibility: Your Connection, Proceedings of the International Technical Rescue Symposium 2012
- DMM Climbing, 2011, Anodizing (Some observations of carabiner weathering in a video about how carabiners are made)
- Estany, Jordi Pina I, Unknown Date, Finite element method for carabiner analysis