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In our last three catalogs we described how all climbers could improve their climbing power just by choosing lighter equipment without trading off unacceptable risk. We showed how to shave 30 lbs off High Altitude gear, 20 lbs off Alpine gear and at least 10 lbs off rock climbing equipment. At the time few seemed to realize the difference up to ten pounds of saved weight could make. Now in 1986 there is no question that lighter makes for much harder climbing.

But...there are problems:

Some are climbing on single 9 or 8.8 mm ropes and think they are almost as safe as with a 10.5 or an 11 mm. It is not true. We did some drop tests over real rocks and found that 8.8 mm ropes are much less than half as strong over an edge. A six foot fall with 45' of rope out using dynamic belay broke the rope! A thirty footer on an old 11 mm with identical conditions tore up the sheath but left most of the core! If you are using a single 9 or 8.8, be sure the route is worth the risk!

Kevlar cord is around 37/58 as abrasion resistant as 9/16" supertape. It performs 50% as well as 1" tube for a 180 lb drop over a round granite edge. Kim Carrigan described a test where lowering a 50 lb weight through a figure 8 device around 100 times wears the Kevlar's strength to 0!

"Heavy gear holds your body back on hard climbs; but gear you worry about holds back your mind. When you're out there working on ridiculous moves and falling all over the place you're sure to be disappointed if something breaks and you hit the ground."

Mini and hollow light biners have been breaking in 1985 along with all brands of ice screws. We have received phone calls from climbers unfortunate enough to have fallen further than they had hoped after a couple of carabiners or ice screws broke. When this gear is new it is strong enough, but it does wear out. All metal fatigues with use and this metal gets tired faster because there is less of it. Light gear is better for climbing, but it's not so good for falling and certainly does NOT last as long as the old fashioned heavy stuff!!

Heavy gear holds your body back on hard climbs; but gear you worry about holds back your mind. When you're out there working on ridiculous moves and falling all over the place you're sure to be disappointed if something breaks and you hit the ground. Ropes, slings, carabiners, and the metal in hardware have to be 100% reliable, but even the best equipment wears out and must be replaced. Motorcycle roadracers who are just as poor and wild as climbers do not get replacement parts from the old wrecks they find around the tracks. But even good rock climbers still greedily scavenge old gear from the bottom of cliffs and other places.

Climbing is an extremely expensive activity. To determine how much your climbing costs, add up all the gear expenditures, air fares and other travel, and finally your lost wages (Lost wages are figured like this: take your last job's hourly, daily, or weekly rate and multiply it times the amount of time you spent climbing). A reasonable guess is that climbing costs the average American climber $5,000.00 - $10,000,000 per year! With this unbelievable dedication in mind, it is absolutely stupid to use worn out stuff. A new rope and rack, which are the only things you totally depend on, cost around $400.00 (between 5 and 10% of the total annual cost). By misallocating less than 10% of your resources you could get hurt, or worse, you might worry just enough to hold back when you should go all out! It's a question of intelligent risk management. Bright is Right!

Stay Wild. Share Wild.