In reply to ksjs:
> (In reply to UKC Gear) Interesting article. Would be good to know a bit more about QC / testing procedures.
In another article we will be looking at testing in more detail, using another manufacturer as an example.
There are five areas of testing; Construction, Sheath Slippage, Static Elongation, Impact Force on first fall, and Number of falls held.
Sterling test in house and...
'An outside body, or third party, certifies all of our life safety products to the applicable standard. Outside testing guarantees a superior level of quality for each and every Sterling product. At Sterling, we utilize two testing agencies. Our dynamic ropes are tested and certified to UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d' Alpinisme) and CE (Certified for Europe) standards by any one of the three UIAA approved testing facilities.
> 3-6 months to retire a rope after 'heavy sport use' seems excessive. What's heavy use: something like 3-4 sessions a week, 5-10 low factor falls per session or similar?
Yes, and it does depend on the rope, its diameter and specs.
We need to look at that more closely too and will be doing a Q+A with an expert.