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light climbing knife?

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Jun 17, 2007 at 10:21 pm #1223730

Brett .
Member

@brett1234
Locale: CA

I need a light knife which physically can not open when racked. I thought the 'locking' feature ofmy Gerber Mini Fastdraw was sufficient, but found the darn thing hanging open on my harness last weekend(!) so its going back to REI.
I found this 19 gram replacement. Any other good ideas?
Trango Piranha
With integrated bottle opener for after-climb festivities.

Jun 17, 2007 at 10:56 pm #1392594

kevin davidson
Member

@kdesign
Locale: Mythical State of Jefferson

Not that light. I use a CRKT K.I.S.S., myself, for climbing (65 g). Reliable and a design object. Overkill, really.

I hear the Trango can accidentally open on some ultralight 'biners—so be careful.

Jun 18, 2007 at 7:02 am #1392598

Brett .
Member

@brett1234
Locale: CA

I'll check to make sure it does not open. I rack my stuff on old Chouinard biners; wide tube stock aluminum. (and only one rating, 2200kg; none of this cross loading, gate open ratings stuff :)

Jun 18, 2007 at 1:11 pm #1392634

Robert Mohid
Member

@mohid

I can confirm that the pirhana can open with certain biners.

I use the shark (nut tool+knife) on trad rock climbs which has the same blade design. MOST of the biners that have a reduced cross section (DMM live wire, BD neutrino, camp nanowire) leave enough wiggle room for the blade to possibly come out.

No issue with fattie HMS's, don't recall if the "I-Beam" cross section provides enough bulk to avoid this.

just keep that in mind.

Jun 22, 2007 at 11:54 am #1393083

Craig Shelley
Member

@craig_shelley
Locale: Rocky Mountains

The Trango is what I use. As far as it accidentally opening, it can be opened with the Trango Superfly (Wiregate or Screwgate) and the DMM Sentinel HMS Screwgate (all my lightest weight carabiners). It doesn't open on the Black Diamond Quicksilver2, shown above, or the Petzl Attache HMS Screw-Lock.

Oct 2, 2007 at 7:04 pm #1404361

Jeremy Cleaveland
BPL Member

@jeremy11
Locale: Exploring San Juan talus

and why rack an UL knife like the Trango on a big heavy biner. Keep all the lockers and such ready for regular use and stash the knife the lightest way possible. I have a little Gerber that weighs about an ounce with a bit of cord through a hole and it plus a prussik clips onto my chalkbag, directly onto the strap with no biner, so all biners are available for use.

Oct 2, 2007 at 9:26 pm #1404376

Brett .
Member

@brett1234
Locale: CA

Jeremy, the reason to rack it on a biner is to keep it from opening. Does your knife lock in the closed position? If so it is a viable option. Once I found my previous knife hanging in the open position on my rack; it was a Gerber that used a thumb switch to 'lock' in the closed position, but opened anyway. So far my Piranha has not accidently opened because it quite literally can not.

Mar 2, 2008 at 5:03 pm #1422782

Al Shaver
BPL Member

@al_t-tude
Locale: High Sierra and CA Central Coast

I use an 11 gm Gerber Microlite LST with 2mm cordloop added racked on a 3gm BPL UrsaLight biner clipped to my rear haul loop. I tie the blade closed with a gardening wire tie (twisty seal coated wire). If I'm also carrying a chalk bag I clip it on the same biner.

This knife is sadly discontinued but the Ultralight LST at 17 gm can still be had at gerberstore.com.

I've never used a knife while climbing, but it's important to carry one that cannot accidentally open (especially in exposed, remote settings).

If Trango made a knife that locked closed on the 3gm Ursa biner and the blade was fully enclosed like the Gerber, I would buy it.

GOLDEN RULE: Always clip into a prussik attached to the rope above you BEFORE you open a blade. Climbing rope under body weight cuts like warm butter if even grazed by a blade.
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