Online resources or journal referances for failed gear inves

[betaburgler]

I'm interested in any information I can get my hands on regarding failure investigations that have been conducted on climbing gear. The more technical the better. I've found BMC's web page with a number of technical reports on failed gear that I plan on reading through. (http://www.thebmc.co.uk) I've also found a few scientific journal articles that specifically investigated the properties of gear which I would love to read but not at $30 a pop.

Does anyone know of any other FREE resources out there in cyberspace? Or even some article titles that I might be able to go read at the library? Very interested in seeing what the typical root cause of failure is in climbing gear failures.

[Eager]

The British HSE contracted Lyon equipment to do a report on a bunch of Rope Access equipment years back. I'm pretty sure you'd find it somewhere in Google space. If you're looking for recreational climbing equipment, i'd be interested in seeing what you find.

[tintanium]

Maybe try this to start - http://www.theuiaa.org/advice_techniques_equipment.html

They also have links to the UIAA safety standards and testing regimens and documents outlining the comparative differences between UIAA and other standards. I'm thinking that you will likely find some footnotes that lead more directly to what specific studies regarding gear failure.

[ben smith]

Send me the references, I might be able to get pdfs for you if they aren't too obscure

[betaburgler]

Thanks Ben, I'll send you some references when I get the chance.

I'll be putting together a bit of a report when I'm done. Something of a literature survey, and also an explanation of some failure basics. It'll probably be a little while, but I'll be posting it when I'm done.

[betaburgler]

The UIAA documents have some references that look promising, thanks for the link. I'll put together a list, and hopefully I can get my hands on some of the reports. I'm still looking for the HSE/Lyon Equipment report.

Thanks for the resources, should help me find some more info!

[Eager]

Wow Google is amazing!

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/crr_pdf/ ... r01364.pdf

What exactly is this for?

[patzer]

Heh, interesting. If you weigh over 450 pounds, a factor two fall would break your rope! (And that is for a 10.5 at that). I would have expected a much bigger safety factor, gah!

[betaburgler]

I'm putting this together to improve my own technical understanding of climbing related gear failures. I'm a BSI (Broken Stuff Investigator) and I've been asked about climbing gear in the past. Thanks for the link.

[Brian!]

Heh, interesting. If you weigh over 450 pounds, a factor two fall would break your rope! (And that is for a 10.5 at that). I would have expected a much bigger safety factor, gah!

Isn't a factor two fall on a rope nigh impossible? Do people normally climb with their protection 30m beneath them? Or did I just advertise my ignorance about fall factors?

[Fred]

Factor 2 fall happens on multi-pitch. When you first take off from an anchor on a hanging belay... if you fall before you get a piece of gear in, you fall twice the distance of the amount of rope out thus a factor 2 fall.


Fall factor = (distance of fall) / (amount of rope out)

[STeveA]

You can also get close to a fall factor 2 fall if you have a lot of rope drag. If the rope is not pulling through the gear easily then you no onger have access to the stretch in all the rope that is out from the belayer.