Grivel Tau Wire Lock Carabiner
In 2014, Grivel released the Mega Twin Gate Carabiner. This new design used two, opposed and non-locking gates to create an auto-locking carabiner. It was quickly followed by other Grivel carabiners employing this new twin gate system. Not surprisingly, these carabiners have received mixed responses from the notoriously hard to please climbing community. Much like marmite or black licorice, people either like them or they don’t.
Many climbers feel that the carabiners are not intuitive (opposing gates that open in two different directions), and put them down shortly after playing with one. While, some climbers try them and grow to like them.
I own and use the Sigma and the Clepsydra twin gate carabiners. The Sigma lives on my harness holding cord and I can't say I would notice if it was another locking carabiner instead. On the other hand, the Clepsydra is the best belay carabiner I've owned, working extremely well with my Mammut Alpine Smart.
In 2017, Grivel continued to innovate with their carabiners with the release of the Tau, featuring the WIRE-LOCK system. The Grivel Tau also uses two gates to create a locking biner, but unlike the others, the gates open in the same direction. Only the inside gate is spring loaded and the outside gate protects the inside gate from accidentally opening. This system should feel a lot more intuitive to climbers.
Grivel Tau Specs
Weight - 55g
Strength closed - 26kN
Strength cross-loaded - 9kN
Strength open - 9kN
Gate opening - 2.0cm
Price - $16
The design makes it difficult to imagine situations where you can accidentally open the Tau.
I’ve used the Tau as the carabiner for my tether/personal anchor. It is much quicker than a screw gate with the benefit of not freezing shut on wet ice climbs or accidentally getting over-tightened.
The Grivel Tau makes for a nice small locking carabiner. We’ve seen people using the Tau paired with a Grigri 2 in the gym and it seems to work well for them. The Tau could also be useful as bolt end carabiners for anchors. The small size makes it less useful as a master point and the shape makes it unsuitable for tube style belay devices. We're not certain of Grivel's plans on releasing other carabiners with the WIRE-LOCK system, but most climbers would likely find the system easier to use than the Twin Gate system.
As of right now there are no Canadian retailers we know of carrying this product. Let us know if you find one.
**MEC no longer carries it on their online store but some locations may still have stock remaining**