A maillon, maillon rapide or quick link is a metal link, similar to a

carabiner A carabiner or karabiner (), often shortened to biner or to crab, colloquially known as a (climbing) clip, is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notabl ...

. Maillons have a threaded sleeve which tightens over a thread, as opposed to a hinged gate like a carabiner, making them stronger, but more difficult to use. Like carabiners, maillons are available in a range of shapes and thicknesses (i.e., strengths), and often offer greater versatility over carabiners as their different shapes and lack of hinged gates allow them to be used in multi-directional load situations. The word ''maillon'' comes from the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

, meaning "link".

Usage

Maillons are used primarily in

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders) to small boulders. Climbing is done for locom ...

and

caving Caving, also known as spelunking (United States and Canada) and potholing (United Kingdom and Ireland), is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific ...

. In caving, they are used to make secure and vital connections such as those required when using

single rope technique The single-rope techniques (SRT) are a set of methods used to descend and ascend on the same single rope. Single-rope techniques are used in caving, potholing, rock climbing, canyoning, roped access for building maintenance, and by arborists for ...

,http://www.cave-crag.co.uk/721/Maillon-Rapide-10mm-Semi-Circular.html or for attaching ropes to anchor points. In climbing, they are used to construct leave-in-place

abseil Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

anchors. Maillons can also be used for fastening harnesses with a dual attachment point.

Variations

* The length of the gate opening, and of the maillon itself, can be varied. Suppliers typically have a short and long (symmetrical) oval in their range, as well as other shapes. * "D" maillon: the central component of a caving harness or

kit on which all items of equipment are attached. So called because it is shaped like the letter D. * "Delta" maillon: a variation of the D maillon, the delta maillon is triangular in shape, rather than semi-circular.

References

{{Climbing navbox Climbing equipment Caving equipment