UKH

Hi guys,
looking for some advice, got a bit of a climbing bug in 1997 bought a load of new gear, ropes, rocks, nuts, slings etc. But work and life took over and stuff only got used about dozen times. No falls, no wet weather well looked after. And has since been in the loft bagged up. What's your opinion on using the gear now I've got a bit more spare time. Everything still looks brand new. But has it passed its use by date or still good to go.
Advice and opinion appreciated.
Sully

In reply to Sully:

I. d probly use anything except an old rope.
think company's recommend 5 year shelf life for soft stuff. I.e slings and harness.. just to cover there own backs really.

In reply to Sully:

All the metal should be just fine (unless visibly corroded). Soft stuff might not, as the plastics used have a nasty tendency of degrading over time. Almost 20 years is quite a while, so I'd would replace everything soft, like the harness, ropes and sligs/QD's.

After all, bar the rope and harness, most of the soft stuff is quite cheap. And stuff harnesses have evolved quite a bit, heck even the cheapo WeBee harnesses from Ocun are rather nice, in fact I find them more comfortable than quite a few high class ~2005 harnesses.

In reply to Ben07:

You may be right about companies covering their backs with a 5 year shelf life recommendation.

I wonder if any research has actually been done on little used 5, 10, 15 even 20 year old ropes, slings, harnesses etc? I don't recall seeing any papers on the subject?

Maybe there's a challenge for some post grad student out there? The problem is though, that, normal wear and tear apart, it's not really of interest to the manufacturers if punters hang onto old stuff which hasn't been damaged, taken falls etc. rather than regularly renewing.......

Just a thought, but in the meantime I guess we just have to play safe and not risk it.

In reply to Sully:
There will be nothing wrong with that stuff at all if it's been kept out the sun.
There's plenty research on old ropes, nothing wrong with them.
One of my ropes is 15 years old, don't use it much now as I have others, but have no qualms about using it sometimes.
The sheath protects the individual strands.
Obviously any visible damage replace it.
Some of my crabs were bought second hand from a lodge instructor 32 years ago, just abbed off one in France a couple of weeks ago when it rained.
Some of my friends are the originals, although I replace the slings every 5 years or so.

In reply to Sully:

The answer to this question is yes, almost certainly has and yes, almost certainly is.

As others have said above, I'd give it a good coat of looking at and for the metal work most likely wouldn't give it a second though. Unless it gets damaged theres no reason that stuff shouldn't last you a lifetime.

For the textiles as long as it looks and feels right probably the same. (I do tend to be less risk averse about that kind of thing than many on here though, so ymmv.)

In reply to Sully:

The problem with loft stored equipment can be that lofts alternate between being very cold and very warm on regular (daily) cycles. Clothing that I have had stored in my loft has, in some cases, disintegrated. I'm not sure what the effect would be on nylon ropes/harnesses but I wouldn't like to trust the stuff.

In reply to Sully:
As others have said the soft stuff is probably perfectly fine , particularly as its been kept out the sun, however how much of " probably " is your life worth ? A common joke at the moment is: "what could possibly go wrong?" , but in lots of situations it's a very worthwhile question to ask .

In reply to Sully:
And another thought, go into to needless sports (other good shops are available ...but not many) and have a look at some mid range wire gates and skinny slings, gear has moved on a lot in 17 years.

In reply to Trangia:


http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/busted

In reply to Sully:

Thanks for all the advice. That article put on by Ron made intresting reading.
So I'll be getting new rope an no doubt the gadget bug will catch again and the other stuff will get replaced over time so bt the time my competence is back up so will the gear.
Thanks Again.

In reply to Sully:

Some more food for thought here https://kragrags.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/sentimental-attachment

In reply to Ron Rees Davies:


In the CE test, components failed on several harnesses that did not show previous visible damage. Even though a harness component may look acceptable, it may be the weakest link in the rig.

Rather undermines those suggesting that visual inspection is sufficient...

In reply to Martin W:


Not really if you look at the numbers. Used/aged equipment failing the CE test for a new design doesn't automatically equal unsafe; it could (and in this case I would argue does) just indicate the test requirements are quite high, partly to account for degradation in use. Even the low-end figures for the harness bits they tested would be hard (bordering impossible) to generate in a real climbing scenario.

It's a shame the tables and pictures are missing.

OP: Were it mine I'd use it all. Plenty of my kit is from that era and has had a much harder life. Your call.

jk

In reply to jkarran:


I can't remember where I originally saw that paper - I knew it existed and I'm sure when I've seen it before it had the pics/graphs too.

Ron