Gear slings?

[RaisedByPikas]

I thought she was placing the piece before taking it off the sling and then fell with it still clipped to the sling.

Edited May 5, 2011 by RaisedByPikas

[Dane]

Lots of ways to die climbing. A gear sling strangling you is one of the most unlikely.

 

In the incident mentioned "the rescue medic reported her deceased on site, and later offered the assessment that she was likely killed instantly given the nature and severity of her injuries."

 

So no one strangled on a gear sling.

 

As tragic and imo a totally freak accident. Here is the extremely sad story behind it.

 

http://www.summitpost.org/account-of-obelisk-accident/575614

 

[Tyson.g]

I like to use a gear sling for multi pitch crag climbs.

I prefer a padded sling because using an old runner hurts my neck with all the chaffing and such.

On long alpine or multipitch climbs where I will be carrying my pack to bivy I prefer to use the bottom of the shoulder straps on my pack, especially when cleaning. That way I am not fighting the pack/over harness scenario.

On sinlge pitch affairs I like to rack on my harness.

I am also an advocate of racking my slings alpine draw style although many of my partners do not seem to get the funcionality of this. I actually use them when climbing sporto routes as well.

 

[wdietsch]

... I prefer to use the bottom of the shoulder straps on my pack

 

this is similar to how the Mountain Tools Speed Racks are intended to be used by fastening them to the shoulder straps of your pack.

 

 

[NoahT]

I like cleaning gear while seconding to a sling/runner, but don't like gear flip-flopping around on a sling while leading. Cleaning gear to a sling is faster for me, and makes it easier to sort and pass at the belay. --N

 

 

[tradhead]

Regarding the incident from the ANAM with the woman and the gear sling, I had a scary thing happen last year that could have ended up similarly. I've historically used a gear sling for trad routes for faster change-over between pitches, but have over the last few years tried to wean myself from the habit owing to objections from partners.

 

Anyway, last spring I was leading with a gear sling on my right shoulder and took a leader fall. As I fell, a cam from the rack got hung up in the sling on the next piece below the one that I fell on and the gear sling came taut around my shoulder and neck at the same time as the rope caught me. Thankfully for the timing of everything I only got a sore neck but could see how the gear sling (and over the shoulder single runners to a lesser degree) are a potential safety liability that could have killed me that day!

 

I am now torn on the merits vs. risks of a gear sling. If I am pushing my lead limit I will likely no longer use one, but if the risk of falling is low the convenience still seems like it outweights the risk. I may change my mind after more time to reflect on the experience described above but that's where I'm at right now...YMMV.

[Crack]

A big fan of the gear sling, here are some things that I do which help:

 

*a single biner at the front of my rack (on the gear sling) clipped to one of the gear loops on my harness really helps with the whole rack swinging all over the place dealio, and

 

*to streamline the rack when I have doubles (or more), I clip the first "set" directly onto the gear sling (typically all of my pro/cams have their own biner), and then clip the doubles (and triples) to the biners of the same sized pieces. It does make the rack a little longer (the length of a biner), but it keeps the rack from getting ridiculously "fat".

 

*I prefer to climb trad, and rarely have more than a couple of quick draws (on my harness)...I'll wear slings over my other shoulder as mentioned earlier, but with only one biner on each. I usually have a couple of loose biners on my (somewhat) empty harness just in case I need to use two biners for a sling, which isn't often.

 

*Another thing that I like about using a gear sling besides the already mentioned and obvious, is it's nice to be able to instantly dump the weight at the belay!

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2011 by Crack

[Tyson.g]

I prefer mountain runners or rabbit ear slings over the shoulder clipped with one biner and all sewn slings (as alpine draws) on harness. This avoids ever having to pull anything over your head or having to consider which side needs to be free to access the runners.