Carbon fibre carabiner (key chain)

Bison Designs, which seem to mainly sell key chains and other trinkets, have created a carbon fibre carabiner key chain which can hold around 500lb (227 kg) and weighs 10 grams. According to a description on carbonfibergear.com the gate is heavier than the body of the carabiner. Unfortunately 227 kg is about 1/10th of the strength required for climbing carabiners so it won't be so useful for that. But it will hold a mighty heavy set of keys. The niche for a carbon fibre carabiner for rock climbing still waits to be filled.

Image from Bison Designs

Totem cams and 20 gram carabiner from Metolius

The Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show finished a few days ago and rockclimbing.com has some great coverage.

Some of the highlights are the Totem Cam and the Metolius Mini carabiner which weighs 20 grams. The Totem cam is a unusual looking cam that has independently loaded sets of lobes (see photo and their website) - which they say is great for aiding, marginal placements and flares. There's more info and a worthwhile video at the Totem Cam website.

Image from rockclimbing.com

The Metolius Mini crab looks absolutely tiny, almost keyring sized, and is the lightest crab produced, 3 grams lighter than the Camp Nano, with 22 kN, 8 kN open.

Image from rockclimbing.com

Full coverage at rockclimbing.com: part 1, part 2, part 3.