A carabiner is a connector used in climbing with a sprung gate. Carabiners used in climbing should conform to EN12275 which prescribes (amongst other items) minimum strengths in a few configurations.

Carabiners come in numerous forms, locking and non-locking, straight or bent gate, solid or wiregate.

Straight Gate Carabiners

A basic carabiner with a standard straight gate.

Bent Gate Carabiners

Similar to a straight gate carabiner but the gate has a curved shape to facilitate clipping the rope into it.

Locking Carabiners

Locking carabiners come in a number of different shapes and sizes, and there are a few different locking mechanisms used.

Screw Gate A screw gate carabiner locks by manually turning a small sleeve on the gate. This is the type typically seen and is the type used in club belay device carabiners.

Auto Locking Auto locking carabiners have a sleeve over the gate that automatically turns and slides up when the carabiner is closed. To unlock one of these you must press the sleeve down and rotate it a quarter of a turn.

There are other variations on the auto locking design patented by different companies.

Wire Gate Carabiners

Wire gate carabiners are similar to straight gate and bent gate carabiners but the gate is made with wire instead of a solid piece of metal. This has the advantage of decreasing the weight of the carabiner and providing a different 'feel' when clipping. Typically these are found on quickdraws.