UKH

I have a probably 30 year old Troll MK7 harness , been stored well for what I guess would be 30 years and used for very occasional top roping throughout that time. It has the absolute comedy design feature of velcro on the waist band where you velcro it up and then do up the doubled back buckle up - which means that when you weight it for the first time there is this terrible ripping sound as the velcro shifts and you have time to think "did I do the buckle up...".

But anyhow - does anyone have the capability and inclination to test it to destruction ? The belay loop looks solid and the waist belt looks like you could hang a tank off of it. 

I would happily send it to someone if they had the means, in the interests of science, of course... 

Leeds University used to have a rig; one Andy Perkins did hid PhD with it, but it was sized extra large.......

See if there's an engineering student/uni department who'd be interested ... back when I was a student, half the climbing club were engineers, and pulling old kit apart in the labs was a not uncommon passtime.

I remember that sound well. Which muppet thought that was a good "feature" of a harness?

It would be really interesting to see the results of tests like this on old equipment. It's often a discussion on these forums  concerning the shelf life of climbing gear, and it would be helpful to have some live feedback.

Obviously manufacturers have to err on the safe side and will probably build in a large safety margin to avoid any risk of being sued. When buying second hand gear there is always a risk attached because you don't know the full history of a bit of equipment, but when it comes to your own gear you do, and I suspect many climbers use equipment for a much longer period than the manufacturer's recommended shelf life, and in most cases it is likely to still be safe?

Totally agree that it would be interesting to know, but knowing that one bit of old gear is still safe, doesn't mean that all old gear is safe. Therefore I don't think a test "pass" would change my behavior. Perhaps a catastrophic failure would though!

The Petzl "Jump" harness had the same Velcro "assist".

Was actually quite handy when trying to put it on with all your gear still racked.

my thoughts entirely 

Was potentially an accident waiting to happen - somebody does up the velcro, gets distracted and forgets to do up the buckle

I had one of these (well, a mk7 vario) so would be interested to see the results. Aside from the safety risk from not doing up the buckle, it was a very good trad harness I think.

I remember an old harness (possibly Petzl Mercury ?) had "DANGER" written on the buckle in red. You had to double back the strap to cover it. Simple but effective.

I does make you look and check it fastened properly though.

Very scary when it first happens though

DMM might give it a test? I know they have done similar before. 

Contact SAR Products. They have some shared history with Troll. I’ve asked, and they will test it in house for you.

https://www.sar-products.com/home/

Cezza

Arguably more shared history with pre-1993 Troll than 2021 Troll have.

There's clearly an appetite to see what happens when that old harness is tested, but having been stored carefully all this time it seems to me like a bit of a shame to destroy it.

Thanks. I did get an email from someone who has offered to test it - if that doesn't work out I will give them a call.

Will post back with the results when done. Agree with others that it is a shame to destroy it, but as a 30 year old piece of safety critical gear - how many would want to take a lead fall on it...

Both my BD harnesses have this feature and I find it very helpful too.

Send it to Ryan at how not to high line you tube channel. 
 

helpful, and terrifying, in equal measure

Ahh, but I don't scare easily and I'm old enough not to be a snowflake

No, but I’ve still got a whillans somewhere. Would love to see some uni lads take lobs to test that to destruction. It would bring a tear to my eyes at the thought of the losses. 

I once met a guy in N Wales who had suffered 50% losses due to a big lob in a Whillans harness. He was remarkably matter of fact about it, if slightly bitter.

I learnt to climb at school with Whillans harnesses, but when I left I went straight out and bought a nice comfy Troll (Mk III, IIRC).

It would probably bring a few tears to THEIR eyes if they were to take lobs that way.

(And a lump or two to the throat)

The industry never forgot... https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-11-we-3605-story.html

Edit: and the bizarre/implausible climbing accident at the start of Stallone's film Cliffhanger ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhanger_(film) ) is a slightly obtuse reference to this