When to retire my harness

[barkernews]

Anyone know how often you should replace your climbing harness? Mine's four years old but looks great. It's a little fuzzy, but no fraying along the seams or anything. Any advice? Does the webbing in a harness decay significantly over a few years?

[Off_White]

I just use the admittedly unscientific "when worrying about it inhibits performance" measure.

[murraysovereign]

I use a similar, highly subjective method: if you don't trust a piece of climbing equipment, for whatever reason, you should replace it.

[Squid]

Just for reference- I've seen plenty of harnesses used heavily for 6-10+ years (know some old geezers with harnesses older than me). Like the others said above, retire it when you feel sketchy about it, but I wouldn't be concerned about it just because its 4 years old.

[Thinker]

Look at the bar tacking (is it worn, abraded?), look a the webbing where it goes thru the buckles, look at webbing at the tie in points for wear, look for burrs and wear on the buckles, is the webbing stiff or brittle anywhere??

 

Black Diamond specifies 3 years of use, or 5 years of storage...if I recall correctly.

 

I agree about the peace of mind thing...if you're worring about it then it's time to upgrade. Few things worse than having the mental clutter of whether your harness is OK before you make that commiting airy move. (Picture making the recently touted first few moves of Canary p2 in a harness you have doubts about.)

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

It seems sort of silly to retire it strictly because of age, unless it's all brittle or faded white or something. But as stated before, if it worries you, no question; 30-50 bucks is nothing for some peace of mind.

 

DFA has historically gotten around 3-4 years out of harnesses, with the critical wear usually at the tie-in points, specifically the leg loop area, but at the waist as well. Of course, Dr. Flash Amazing's a hangdogger, so that's the likely spot. If you're an offwidth thrasher or something, maybe the waist belt webbing is more likely to go.

 

Anyways, if it doesn't show any obvious signs of deterioration and you're not freaked out by it, keep using it. Unless it's some mauve J-Rat thing with neon accents, in which case it's time to upgrade ASAP. Try one of Arc'Teryx's laminated jobbies; they're great stuff.

[snoboy]

I still have and use my first harness, although I have a nicer harnesse that i use most of the time.

 

The age thing is less of a factor than usage. Nylon loses it's elasticity over time, but that is more of an issue in a rope than a harness. What will happen is that the harness will wear out in the key points that Thinker mentioned.

 

I also use the worry = time to replace theory for things other than ropes.