The Ultra O Locksafe could be described as the perfect aid climbing biner – it certainly performs remarkably well in the big wall environment and the I-Beam construction gives it an excellent strength to weight ratio.

Perhaps multi day ascents, sac hauling, portaledges and extreme dehydration (eek!) are not your bag, but that doesn’t mean you should turn your back on the oval biner design, far from it.

At some point all of us will need to use a pulley system, most likely in a rescue situation. Oval biners are important because they allow pulleys to sit in a correctly loaded and equalised position.

The symmetrical shape also stops them shifting under load and potentially dislodging a marginal gear placement. The locking gate adds a final element of security to the system.