a lifeline in disguise...

For most outdoorsmen and outdoor recreation enthusists a carabiner is an unqestionable essential that you carry without even thinking about it. Good for climbing, clipping, attaching, securing, tracking, and holding carabiners can serve many purposes and serve many audiences. For rockclimbers carabiners are a lifeline, an object by which you literally rest your life in, for amateur users a carabiner could simply be an attachment to your key ring, but in either case carabiners are known to be strong and trustworthy, and similar to a pen; capable of being carried without the user even thinking about it.

When considering these aspects of a pen and a carabiner and how they could be inspired by another, cartography (map making) immediately came into my mind. While climbing, or on other outdoor excursions often times travelers will use a pen to mark routs and maps of where they have been and details about the climb. By attaching a pen to your existing carabiner you would have readily acessable pen attached to the shoulderstrap of your bag, on your chalkbag, on your belt loop, or even on your keys.

And so a story begins.... The climber who needs a tough, durable, and trustworthy carabiner sets out on an excursion to a domain he has never conquered...