Tuskan Raider

Post by **TankAzz** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:43 am

Hi,

Just an FYI, we took a biner off the anchors on Tuskan, and it was worn through to nearly less than 25% of the original thickness. Allah bent it with his hand, and we all know how weak he is

. There is still one good biner up there, but just wanted to give people a heads-up.
Also, the biner on the first draw is pretty bad. Allah will disagree, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the resulting core shot in our friend's rope when he fell on the first bolt. We replaced a biner on the draw below the hueco, and left the "better" one on the first draw, but it's still not great.
Normally I don't even bother to look, which is bad, but for some reason I did on this route. Just be careful on that first, and maybe bring a draw up for the anchors. Thanks!

Post by **Andrew** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:09 am

This isn't just about Tuskan Raider. It is about Rick being right, well... mostly.

Climbers need to take responsibility for fixed gear. Carry around biners to be used in case of manky gear, and replace stuff if worn.

I hear climbers say all the time things like, "it held my fall just fine" or "I have seen worse"

Maybe your fall was only 50 pounds away from breaking the biner, and you decking. Maybe your fall weakened it enough for it to break on the next person.

Thanks for replacing the gear, but the same people shouldn't be replacing all of it. Lets take some responsibility for our own and others safety. Replace crap gear.

Post by **TankAzz** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:40 pm

i agree totally, and this definitely was not meant to be a "hey, look at what a good samaritan i am!" post. i just thought it was crazy that people did not notice how bad the top biner was (even people in my group). it was the closest biner, and you could tell people probably had just been clipping that one and lowering off (i didn't make it to the top on my next burn, or i would have snatched the biner last weekend). forget the biner breaking; that would be the best outcome. what i feared was what happened on the first draw-the rope getting cut. it was pretty bad; definitely shot through the outer core, and some of the white rope underneath as well. granted, the rope was on its way to retirement anyways, but i don't think that biner helped anything.

moreover, i TOLD people about those biners last week, and people at the crag just kind of blew me off and looked at each other like i was paranoid. we happily replaced a biner with one we had, but unfortunately we were not really carrying extras. it's just funny (and annoying) that we had to take a crap biner down just to keep other people from lowering off of it. perhaps natural selection will kick in soon....

Post by **rhunt** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:51 pm

What? The "park service" doesn't replace worn gear? At my climbing gym, the owner guy always replaces worn gear, I thought that's how it was outside...huh?

perhaps natural selection will kick in soon....

...just wanted that to be said twice

Post by **Andrew** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:03 pm

Yea, natural selection, becuase someone dieing from gear failure will be great for access.

Post by **rhunt** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:13 pm

it sucks having to protect people from themselves

Post by **pigsteak** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:18 pm

dude, we own it...is RRGCC gonna close it?

Post by **Meadows** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:20 pm

Check out what's on the 11s at Purgatory (crane hooks). They're hard to steal, cost about 4 bucks, and they'll last awhile. I guess other climbing areas are using this idea.

Post by **Andrew** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:28 pm

I wasn't talking about RRGCC land. What about the fixed gear on non RRGCC land. That wouldn't be good.

Post by **Meadows** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:35 pm

TankAzz wrote:
it's just funny (and annoying) that we had to take a crap biner down just to keep other people from lowering off of it. perhaps natural selection will kick in soon....

So who's responsible for that crap biner?

It would be great to have pics of biners just before they failed so people have an idea.

Andrew, you bring up such a great point. I often hear, "It held just fine for me." That doesn't mean the gear will hold up for the next person.