Bear bag carabiner

[Adam G]

Sort of silly question, but I am in the market for a lightweight carabiner for use with a bear bagging system. Does this make me a gram weenie? I'm using the bear bagging system from ZPacks. So far, the bags are great, the rope is far superior to paracord, and the carabiners have been very disappointing. I have two bags, and both carabiners broke during the third time I used them. I was attempting the PCT hang, and I believe the branch I used somehow pried itself inside the carabiner and broke the spring. This happened to two different carabiners. This actually made the food stuck up the tree as the rope somehow wedged itself in an awkward position. It took me about 45 minutes of tugging and climbing the tree to get a better angle before I could get it back done. Obviously, I'm a bit disappointed with the carabiners and not interested in getting the ZPack ones again. Any recommendations for a sturdier carabiner that isn't too large?

[Dale Wambaugh]

Tie a knot instead!

[Kiel Senninger]

How did the tree branch wedge itself in the carabiner? It's been a while since I've done it, but isn't the biner attached to the food bag which is then lowered to meet a small stick/pencil in the line via a clove hitch?

Maybe the food bag is putting too much weight against the gate and damaging it? What if you tie the line to the end with the hinge, so the stick ends up against the hinge instead of the part that opens?

I use a cheapish REI larger keychain type carabiner with a solid gate and haven't had any problems. It weighs 0.7oz so 7x the weight of the 0.1oz zpacks carabiner listed on their site.

*Edited because I just thought of something else to add…

[DGoggins]

That is not a bad idea….though you would have to feed the entire line through (you would need to pass the end through the closed loop) whereas with a carabiner you get to just clip the line through. Hmm…another issue is that you would probably get some abrasion issues with hoisting the food up and back down. One part of your line would be abrading continually against 1 small section of the cord loop…which could be an issue.

Edit: I take that back….you could just pass a bend through the loop and then tie a clove hitch to the line…it wouldn't matter if there are 2 lines passing through the loop instead of one.

You would still have the abrasion issue.

[M B]

Yeah, a heavy foodbag can make the jam-stick put side pressure on the latch and bend it. Orientation of biner can make it more suceptible.

You can use anything, even cord loop, carabiner is just convenient to snap cord thru instead of threading line thru. A chain repair link will work, but be heavier.

Or there are much stouter biners with gates that arent wire.

[Andre Buhot]

You could try a Kong Mini pear biner.

The one I have weighs 0.35oz they are rated to 150kgs

[Michael Gunderloy]

If you're willing to add 20g, you can move from the ZPacks carabiner to a Camp Nano 23. Doubt you're going to manage to break one of those.

[James Marco]

?? OK. I don't use a carabiner for that. Simply tie a figure 8 knot.

For hangs, I use a tiny ti nightize, or double clip. Smallest available is usually in sets. I loop this through and clip it back to the line. This halves the pressure on it. 'Corse, I never carry more than 23 pounds of food at any one time. (About three weeks worth.)

[JCH]

I also use the zpacks "bear bag system", and the PCT hang method with a wire gate type mini-biner like those here: http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/carabiner.shtml. These are very common and branded by many companies as their own.
Never had a problem even with large/heavy food loads.

The trick I have found is to make certain the small end it up. You want the stick to wedge into the small end of the biner. At first glance it seems like the large end would offer more strength, but it doesn't as you don't want to put pressure on the loose end of the wire gate.

Hope that makes sense.

[Don A.]

Adam–I'm curious about what style carabiner from zpacks you were using. They sell both a "standard" type and a wire gate type. I think their current bear bag kit comes with the standard type.
FWIW I've always used the wire gate type carabiner and have had no problems with it. I've never done a strength test on it but I've hung some fairly heavy food loads with it including hanging 2 food bags on one line. The standard carabiner always seems a bit flimsy to me.

[kristen buckland]

The CAMP Nano 22 is the lightest climbing rated carabiner. $6-$8, 22grams

[Adam G]

It was the standard carabiner. I'm not entirely sure how it broke or how the food got stuck up there since it happened way up in the tree. I think the spring part popped out when it hit the stopper stick. I think this allowed the stick wedge itself inside the carabiner and trap the cord. This happened to two different carabiners.

[two pints]

The Edelrid 19g is lighter than the Camp Nano. It weighs in at 19g and is also climbing rated.

But I think it would be a bit overkill for bear bag hanging.

[Alex Wallace]

"…or how the food got stuck up there since it happened way up in the tree."

Are you leaving the 'biner attached to the line when throwing/retrieving it from the tree? I've always removed it when doing so because I figured it would catch up on something and get stuck "way up in the tree."

[James holden]

Dmm xsre carabiner … 8g, rated to 4 KN

You wont break it with normal camping use

http://dmmclimbing.com/products/xsre-carabiner/

;)

[Don A.]

If it happened once I'd blame it on a gremlin. Twice, then I'd blame the caribiner. I always like simplicity having learned that the more parts something has the more chance for failure and added to that a piece of gear is only as strong as it's weakest link.

That "standard" caribiner has 4 parts (body, gate, spring and pin) and the little spring is probably the weakest part. The wire gate type caribiner is pretty simple with two parts (body and gate). Hope you find a solution that works for you.

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