It's a bit sad to call an inanimate object made of aluminium and nylon "sexy", but come on - to all the climbers out there: look at the curves on that - phoarrr!
I've decided that on blogs you get a lot moaning - it's the democratisation of the media, finally the little guy gets chance to yell "this is really rubbish" about a crap consumer good he or she got tricked into buying by clever advertising or whatever. I write gear reviews that, if done well, is basically institutionalised moaning. So I think I need to sometimes sit back and look at stuff that really works. This will probably be climbing gear and outdoorsy stuff, but maybe other stuff as well and might become an irregular series.
So to start with the DMM Cobras - mid-90s welsh engineering at it's absolute finest. Ridiculously strong, and with brilliant ergonomics - I still don't think there is any karabiner that is easier to clip. I think there is a probably reasonable fear that the bulbous nose makes it slightly more likely that the krab could unclip - particularly if back clipped and that is why this design has been superseded. But basically back clipping is your own dumb fault and easily avoided - whilst in its favour, that nose made even the most tenuous of clips a breeze. Cobras would be considered heavy in comparison to modern krabs, but that probably about the only thing against them for rock climbing to my mind.
Quite agree. My winter clips are DMM crabs - stright gate for the gear end and curved for the rope end, on petzel extenders. The exude a hard core confidence in the capability that is reassuring and encouraging in the direst of Scottish gullies.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog and am well impressed!
ReplyDeleteBit jealous though as I just started my own efforts.
Liking your content. Im also trying to champion things I like and not "moan" to much.