rock climbing GEAR

     This is the first example of knowing the limitations of your gear.  Broken protection is more common than you may think so be sure and learn the capabilities and limitations of your gear before you trust your life to it.  First we start off with the circumstances surrounding this incident...

    I'm the guy who broke the 00 tcu sun at sand rock. I was waiting to hear a Metolious response before posting. my friend sent an email to Metolious sun night and got a call at the start of business mMonday. they gave us the fed-ex acct. # to overnight them . Jason has been in touch with the president and vice president the last couple days and they took everything very seriously. all cams are currently being pulled from the warehouse and pull tested to half the rated strength this will also happen to all future cams.
    I was leading golden flake on sun wall and placed a couple pieces down low and cranked over the start and then ran it out till the top of the flake where I had a poorly placed #4 b.d. (should have taken the time to put it in better) stood up and had a bomber #4 tcu (it caught the fall) stepped back down to rest and plugged a bomber #2 bd between the #4's. I then went up a couple moves and put in the ill fated 00 tcu. I didn't realize the top by the anchors was bomber so I started down climbing to weight the 00, I was less than a foot above when i sat and it blew. I wound up 15-18 feet below with the busted cam at my waist. I forgot to mention that it was a brand new super light tcu and it was the first time it had ever been placed. the trigger had A 05/06 but we were told that the lot # did not matter.

PHOTOS OF THE EVENT 

THE RESPONSE FROM METOLUS

Metolius Climbing
August 3, 2006

IMPORTANT STRENGTH RATING INFORMATION FOR #00 AND #0 ULTRALIGHT POWER CAMS AND TCUS
We have recently been informed of two incidents of small Ultralight Cam failures.
One incident involved the failure of a #0 TCU during a 25 foot fall while aid climbing on El Cap. It is clear that the force generated in this fall exceeded the rated strength of the unit (5 kN). In the other incident, the leader fell onto a #00 TCU from less than a foot above. The piece failed and the leader fell 15 or more feet, before being stopped by a #4 Metolius cam. In both these incidents the climbers did the right thing by placing solid, full-strength gear immediately below the micro cams. Those pieces arrested their falls and thankfully both parties were uninjured!

Naturally, we took these reports very seriously and immediately began an exhaustive series of tests to verify the integrity of our cams.

Proof testing 100% of finished stock:
We immediately pulled all of our finished stock of #00 and #0 cams out of the warehouse and pull tested each piece to 4.4 kN (1000lbf.) #00 and #0 cams are rated at 5 kN (1100lbf). Normal proof testing would pull to one half a unit’s rated strength. We wanted to up the ante and hence pulled to 1000 lbf. to make sure we were seeing the whole picture. We had no failures during this testing.

We then retested several proof-tested units to confirm they were unaffected by this loading event. Through more destructive testing we proved that the proof testing in no way harmed the integrity of the cams.

Destructive testing:
In the last few days we have tested over 50 units to failure. As well as the standard CE pull test, we have done a series of off-axis pull-testing to confirm the cams’ ultimate strengths. The results of the standard CE test were as follows: No failures were experienced at or below the rated strength. The lowest failure was 1200 lbf. The vast majority failed at 1400-1700 lbf. and the highest failures were 2000lbf. We also pulled units in an off-axis configuration (with the stem aligned 45 degrees or 90 degrees away from the direction of the load.) These are extremely harsh tests, but can represent less-than-ideal, real-world situations. Again, we had no failures at or below rated strength. We also performed a number of tests on solder connections in which we purposely overheated or under heated the joint, added extra solder or did not use enough solder. Once again, even with defective solder joints, there were no failures at or below rated strength.

In addition to the above testing, we have tested over 100 of each size of TCUs and Power Cams in standard batch testing over the last 14 months, none of which have failed at or below rated strength. We have also conducted extensive outdoor drop testing in which units are placed in actual rock. We also test many of our competitor’s cams in exactly the same placements. This head-to-head comparison in a real-world setting was a big factor in our decision to move forward with the Ultralight design.

Our cams also bear the CE certification stamp which independently verifies that we have passed all CE test requirements.

While it is obvious that the rated strength of the unit was exceeded in the first reported incident, the seemingly low load reported in the second incident initially had us perplexed. After inspecting the failed unit and conducting the exhaustive testing detailed above, we have come to the conclusion that a load of greater than 5 kN was generated in the reported fall.

We believe that the unit was loaded out of alignment with its stem, which caused it to fail at a lower load than its potential maximum strength. However, our testing shows that, while an off-axis placement will fail at a lower load than an aligned placement, it will still not fail below the rated strength.

It is critical to understand the limitations of your equipment. It is impossible to make tiny cams as strong as large cams. The same is true for nuts or any other piece of gear. 5 kN is simply not strong enough to withstand the loads that are often generated in a leader fall. However, micro cams and other small pieces can be an important part of a system of protection as long as their limitations are understood and respected. Whenever you are placing small gear, try to place multiple pieces and equalize them. Always make sure you have stronger gear placed below the small gear that will eventually arrest your fall if the small gear fails. Never trust your life to any single gear placement, especially small gear.

If you own Ultralight TCUs or Power Cams and have any concerns about their integrity, we would be happy to inspect and pull test them for you, free of charge. Please call or email if you have questions or need assistance.

Sincerely,

Metolius Climbing
63189 Nels Anderson Rd.
Bend, Oregon 97701 USA

(541) 382-7585
info@metoliusclimbing.com
www.metoliusclimbing.com

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