UKH

Me and the other half are off out to Austria this summer boating but while were there we plan some via ferrata as we did the year before. The problem we had was she struggled with the hired lanyards (or what ever the technical name is) as they were twist and pull down to open the gate. I could manage it one handed but she was unable to. this made progress quite a bit slower than expected.

Are there any better suggestions with different brands or mechanisms or techniques we could try perhaps getting hold of a set from the UK before we go.

Any help from small handed people is greatly appreciated.

Steve

In reply to sbattams:

I have small hands and find the Simond set to be fine and it's easy enough to operate the carabiner one handed.

I have an older model but the crabs are the ones shown here: http://www.simond.com/en/cat/Via_Ferrata_lanyards/prd/Vitalink_via_ferrata_...

Decathlon should stock these so if you have one nearby you should be able to test it out before you buy.

In reply to sbattams:

I have a VF lanyard with wire trigger carabiners. It makes things really easy one handed. Not sure where you'd get them from these days though. My kit was Petzl.

You may want to have a look at LACD kit with gate carabiners which have a safety release on the back. You could get one from German Amazon:
http://www.amazon.de/LACD-Damen-Herren-Klettersteigset/dp/B00L3B0DIY

It's easy to operate with one hand holding at the base of carabiner. I don't know if my hands are as small as your's partner, but they are small enough to make it difficult to find gloves of my size. Said so I find LACD easy to operate.

Going for smaller carabiners may be a bad idea because wires sometimes are very thick. Last thing you want to discover is it can't be clipped due to small opening..

In reply to sbattams:

Are BD Magnetron's safe for use on Via Ferrata?
http://eu.blackdiamondequipment.com/en/climbing-carabiners-quickdraws/magne...

Even if you're hiring your VF kit, you could always buy a pair and take them along. Surely the 'biners can be swapped out? (Don't forget to reclaim your nice biners before returning the hired gear.)