brittle gear loop

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Vincent Penoso

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Dec 31, 2021, 2:24:41 PM12/31/21
to Mountaineering Section
my wife’s petzl climbing harness gear loop was found broken. i decided to trim the gear loop and just leave ⭕️ to maybe clip a beiner through it ir something, probably not use that at all.

the piece i cut off snapped in half when i bent it.

wife thinks harness sitting in a bin in the attic did that.

i can tell by her tone getting a new harness seems unnecessary.

would i trust hanging gear on shitty loops?

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Vincent Penoso

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Dec 31, 2021, 2:25:33 PM12/31/21
to Mountaineering Section


Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 31, 2021, at 14:24, Vincent Penoso <vdotm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> my wife’s petzl climbing harness gear loop was found broken. i decided to trim the gear loop and just leave ⭕️ to maybe clip a beiner through it ir something, probably not use that at all.
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Caroline Mosher

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Dec 31, 2021, 3:08:42 PM12/31/21
to Vincent Penoso, Mountaineering Section
If gear loops are spontaneously breaking, I would be very suspect of the condition of the rest of the harness. 

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Mark Maier

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Dec 31, 2021, 3:59:30 PM12/31/21
to Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section, Vincent Penoso
You have to consider, if the harness has been stored for years and the gear loops are deteriorated, what caused it? Something that would effect other elements? As I recall, BD or somebody tested some samples of gear that was in storage for long periods and got really varying results.

Mark

Alex Warren

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Dec 31, 2021, 4:05:54 PM12/31/21
to Mark Maier, Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section, Vincent Penoso

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gmike

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Dec 31, 2021, 4:49:14 PM12/31/21
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If the attic is subject to high temperature during the year, I would toss out any climbing gear made of hydrocarbons (polyester fibers, etc) that's been up there for any significant amount of time (>1 yr). Heat makes the fibers brittle. I am fortunate to have a basement which is cool and dry for storage of all my outdoors gear (ropes, pro, tents, etc).

I'd imagine Neil's Alpine Tardis keeps his stuff in temporal stasis such that it never degrades - so you can trust his bamboo-shafted Chouinard axes with your life...

Michael

Vincent Penoso

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Dec 31, 2021, 5:00:37 PM12/31/21
to Alex Warren, Mark Maier, Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section
Good information from that link....



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Vincent Penoso

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Dec 31, 2021, 5:21:50 PM12/31/21
to Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section
Yeah. I am sufficiently freaked out to start replacing everything up there....my ropes and slings are kept in the climate controlled garage.

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Vincent Penoso

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Dec 31, 2021, 5:23:18 PM12/31/21
to Mark Maier, Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section
Thanks Mark. I will going into the new year with a shopping list...
I wont cheap out on this kind of gear. For sure!

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Mark Maier

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Dec 31, 2021, 7:11:04 PM12/31/21
to Alex Warren, Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section, Vincent Penoso
Alex,

Might be. I recall some other publication of tests that included some things stored that failed at unexpectedly low values (not necessarily catastrophically low). As I recall, and this is just memory not a reference, some of that case's stuff was stored near some suspect chemicals. Our gear has large safety margins. One of the few things that are known to be an issue with weakening over time is chemical exposure. Though there are cases where severe wear has led to failure in normal use, like the death of Todd Skinner from harness failure on a rappel.

I've had a great tour of the BD facility in SLC and seen a bunch of stuff get pull tested to failure. It is very interesting. One lessons I took away from that is a nose clipped carabiner really can fail at disturbingly low loads.

Mark Maier

Joe Ney

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Dec 31, 2021, 8:53:44 PM12/31/21
to PATC-MS PATC-MS, Vincent Penoso
I would be concerned about the threads that hold it together.

On Dec 31, 2021, at 3:08 PM, Caroline Mosher <caod...@gmail.com> wrote:

If gear loops are spontaneously breaking, I would be very suspect of the condition of the rest of the harness. 
On Fri, Dec 31, 2021 at 14:25 Vincent Penoso <vdotm...@gmail.com> wrote:


Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 31, 2021, at 14:24, Vincent Penoso <vdotm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> my wife’s petzl climbing harness gear loop was found broken. i decided to trim the gear loop and just leave ⭕️ to maybe clip a beiner through it ir something, probably not use that at all..

Emil Raev

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Dec 31, 2021, 9:02:47 PM12/31/21
to Mountaineering Section of the PATC
Isn't that a 15+ year old harness?

matt murray

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Dec 31, 2021, 9:30:52 PM12/31/21
to Mark Maier, Alex Warren, Caroline Mosher, Mountaineering Section, Vincent Penoso
Does the name Todd Skinner ring any bells?

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R. Neil Arsenault

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Dec 31, 2021, 9:46:06 PM12/31/21
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Amen.
 
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2021 at 4:49 PM
From: "'gmike' via Mountaineering Section of the PATC" <PAT...@googlegroups.com>
To: PAT...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [PATC-MS] Re: brittle gear loop

Vincent Penoso

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Jan 1, 2022, 1:11:55 AMJan 1
to matt murray, Mountaineering Section
Yes it does.....and it was terrible news when it happened. But that accident, if i remember, was because he had a worn belay loop that he was getting ready to replace.....he was aware of the wear on a critical part of his harness, and the music stopped and he died. Very very sad end to a very popular climber. 

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Vincent Penoso

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Jan 1, 2022, 1:14:53 AMJan 1
to Emil Raev, Mountaineering Section of the PATC
Hi Emil! Long time Amigo!
Both rock harnesses have now been retired.
We both came to realization that we have been climbing on those for quite some time now. 
Done!
Thanks
vincent

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