Harness fail.

[glassgowkiss]

Read:

here

[JasonG]

An interesting read, thanks!

[genepires]

I gotta get my climbing gear out of the laundry room.

 

[rob]

I gotta get my climbing gear out of the laundry room.

 

I've been storing mine in the aquarium.

[ScaredSilly]

To me one of the most interesting aspects was in addition to learning about thread specific failure was that the waist portion of the harness was not a continuos piece of webbing. BITD all harness were made that way. That is no longer the case and in the case of multiple piece harness it may be difficult to tell as the joints are often hidden by other material. As such, checking your harness is more critical than ever.

 

I should note that had it been a continuous piece of material the failure would have been catastrophic only if the buckle bar tack were affected.

[markwebster]

Great read! For a number of reasons, I use the Metolius Safe Tech Harness. It has one continuous piece of webbing all the way around, though it is sewn at the buckle. Perhaps a bit heavy, but burly as hell.

 

I do love my chalk bag back up harness. One inch webbing, tie into it for both belaying and rapping. This way I always have 5 feet of one inch webbing (water knot) for retreats, or raps off anchors with no chain. And I can pull my chalk around to the front in a chimney.

 

One thing they didn't mention is jumper cables. My buddy had his rope in the trunk one time, laying right on top of the jumper cables. That rope didn't kill us...but something to keep in mind...the trunk of a car is not the safest place.

 

As he said, keep your climbing gear in a bag, maybe even a plastic bin, and away from any chemicals. I also try to never set my gear down on the bare ground in parking lots, or out in garages.

[chris]

I thought it was really remarkable that the customer insisted that his harness hadn't come into contact with swimming pool-related acids, when the evidence seemed to conclusively indicate it had.

 

And I really, really liked how thorough BD was.

[DPS]

This thread immediately made me think of Mark Webster and how he always tied a 1" tubular webbing chalk bag belt through the rope as a harness back up.

[rob]

When I read this article, I wondered if it was possible somebody *else* had exposed his harness to corrosive chemicals, either accidentally or maliciously. Is he married? Maybe I'm just cynical, but if this had happened to me and I truly had no idea where the harness had been exposed, but it clearly HAD been exposed, I'd start getting suspicious. There has to be a reason, after all....

[genepires]

I thought it was really remarkable that the customer insisted that his harness hadn't come into contact with swimming pool-related acids, when the evidence seemed to conclusively indicate it had.

 

just because swimming pool chemicals had the same result as what happened to his harness doesn't prove that it was the pool maintenance chemicals that did the damage. they tested only a small fraction if the chemicals available. There could easily be something else with the same affect.

[glassgowkiss]

 

As he said, keep your climbing gear in a bag, maybe even a plastic bin, and away from any chemicals.

 

I would not recommend plastic bags, as soft plastics (at least in the US) contain BPA and Phosphoric Acid. In a heat (trunk of a cur or any other hot place) both will be contaminating whatever they are toughing. I am not sure about BPA ((CH3)2C(C6H4OH)2), but Phosphoric Acid (H3PO4) would have exact same results as other acids over a longer period.

[rob]

 

As he said, keep your climbing gear in a bag, maybe even a plastic bin, and away from any chemicals.

 

I would not recommend plastic bags, as soft plastics (at least in the US) contain BPA and Phosphoric Acid. In a heat (trunk of a cur or any other hot place) both will be contaminating whatever they are toughing. I am not sure about BPA ((CH3)2C(C6H4OH)2), but Phosphoric Acid (H3PO4) would have exact same results as other acids over a longer period.

 

LOL yeah, and keep your harness away from soda, cause that contains phosphoric acid, too.