Yikes dude, that could have been a nasty fall. I always use two, opposite and opposed, draws to aviod there very thing. You might consider doing so going forward.

You clip two draws on every bolt as you climb?

Yep. People don't really think about it but you can be 4 or even 5 bolts up on some routes and if one bolt unclips, you're gonna deck. It's different on gear routes when you can exercise discretion on how it's protected but I'm not taking any chances on sport routes.

Two draws on each bolt, that sounds like serious overkill with a pinch of paranoia, seasoned with shear horror.

Yeah, no kidding!
That's why I just use 2 lockers on my draws.

Dude, are you trolling us? :) Two draws on each bolt, that sounds like serious overkill with a pinch of paranoia, seasoned with shear horror.

Anyway, one of the friends I go climbing always switches the biners on the draws so the gates face different directions. I watched one unclip once some 10 feet below me, and I've been switching back biners before I go lead ever since. It's always a hot topic when we don't have anything else to throw profanity at each other about. So it does happen sometimes. Wiregates are more susceptible to getting caught in the bolt's screw threads or on other stuff. Take the rotation of the biner into consideration next time you clip. This does happen sometimes and can become risky.

Best of luck

Whatever dude. I do it for the same reason I climb on twins. Redundancy.

I'm not saying anyone else has to do it, I just offered the suggestion since the OP already had one close call. If you guys want to take those kinds of risks its up to you.

Here's a pictorial showing how the draw can unclip itself from the bolt.

http://www.climerware.com/unclip.shtml

Today for the first time my quickdraw unclipped itself from the first bolt and went sliding down the rope. It was a petzl dirtbag draw. I'm certain that both the bolt and rope ends of the draw were clipped properly. It would have been a 25 ft groundfall. Luckily I was able to plug a cam about 10 feet later.

I'm assuming this has happened to other people... Does anyone know why this occurs? My only thought was that as the rope jiggled, it moved the bolt-side biner in a way that caused it to unclip itself, and I figured that the stiff dirtbag dogbone could have contributed to this.

Any thoughts?

Thought I'd add my 2c since I don't think anyone mentioned this, but I think the rope could also cause the quickdraw to unclip itself. Probably only a concern on routes that are less than vertical, but if you have the gate facing the rope as you traverse across the bolt, it can open the gate. This happened to me, but instead of unclipping the draw the rope clipped itself into the carabiner attached to the bolt.

I'm certain that both the bolt and rope ends of the draw were clipped properly.

Even when there is evidence that they were not clipped properly? I would not be sure of myself after having such a thing happen. I'm sure that it is easier to blame everything other than yourself but disregarding the possibility that you screwed up just makes you more vulnerable to that type of mistake in the future.

Dave

The reason I am sure is because I was apprehensive about making the next few moves, so I obsessed a bit over the clipping, making sure it was correct. It wasn't just your normal clip-and-go.

The only times I've seen a draw unclip, other than in a fall, is when the climber kicked it while passing it. Even if you don't kick it completely off, you can kick it so that it gets stuck on the bolt with the gate open, allowing rope drag to completely dislodge it as you continue to climb. The climber can be completely oblivious to the situation.

Jay

A few days ago I led a sport route and lowered, leaving all the draws. My partner then led it, and when he got to the fifth bolt, he pulled up slack to clip and the fourth bolt unclipped itself from the hanger.

I'm quite sure the bolt had been clipped to the hanger correctly, although it's certainly possible that the rope may have momentarily been clipped oddly in the rope-side biner. Though by the time he grabbed it, the rope was certainly clipped correctly.

My only guess is that somehow the biner got caught on something as it rotated up and toward the climber as he pulled up rope. Bizarre. And scary. Had he blown the clip and fallen, he would have ledged out from 40 feet up.

GO

that sounds effin EPIC
never seen a bolt unclip itself
;)

A few days ago I led a sport route and lowered, leaving all the draws. My partner then led it, and when he got to the fifth bolt, he pulled up slack to clip and the fourth bolt unclipped itself from the hanger.

I'm quite sure the bolt had been clipped to the hanger correctly, although it's certainly possible that the rope may have momentarily been clipped oddly in the rope-side biner. Though by the time he grabbed it, the rope was certainly clipped correctly.

My only guess is that somehow the biner got caught on something as it rotated up and toward the climber as he pulled up rope. Bizarre. And scary. Had he blown the clip and fallen, he would have ledged out from 40 feet up.

GO

Well, you lowered off. Seems like the top biner could have rotated and nosehooked or something without you noticing. I know I'm not watching the draws when I'm lowering off leaving them up. Hell, I look around the gym and half the time the top quicklink is crossloaded.

But if you climb enough you will see lots of weird stuff happen, part of the game.

To Notapplicable:
Why not just put lockers on your draws and climb with a fatty?

Locking biners on quickdraws? Thats just crazy talk. Silly nOOb!

Behold the new BD locking draw!

Sweet! I definitely want a whole set of those for Xmas! (think they'll get here in time?)

I especially like how the rope-end biner still even has a bent gate.

Ask Santa, if you've been good maybe they'll be under the tree in the morning.

Keeping a bent gate and having it locking was a challenge, but the elves managed to make it work.

I guess this is why the Rock Exotica guys came up with the Bi-Wire...

Yes, one way to make a carabiner un-unclippable is to make it unclippable.

Jay

It would be easier to use than an autolocker . . .

Which explains the popularity of autolocker-equipped draws.

Totally agree. I don't use them either but if someone wanted the extra piece of mind, these could be cheaper, lighter, and easier to use.

Has anybody had a chance to played around with the BD Magnetron?