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Quick question I hope someone can answer. If a bag full of gear( cams, nuts, caribiners and whatnot) falls 35 feet is it still good? Had it happen and although nothing looks physically damaged its structural integrity could be crap. Any guidance is appreciated

I'm not an orthodontist, but I would say the gear is fine. If it was in a bag then that took some of the shock out of it, and if it isn't land directly on a rock, it's probably cool.

der uber wrote:I'm not an orthodontist, but I would say the gear is fine. If it was in a bag then that took some of the shock out of it, and if it isn't land directly on a rock, it's probably cool.

since there's no way to be certain that it didn't land on a rock, it can't be used. I have a gear recycling program, and I'll be happy to make sure it doesn't go into a landfill

The nuts will almost certainly be OK. The cams will probably be ok too, but you should do some close inspection of them. The flexible stems on the cams will be fine, and the cams themselves even if they are slightly weaker, they should still hold just fine since camming is more of a compression force than an elongation. The biners that hit the rock are likely to be significantly weaker than they were before, but will probably still be stronger than you actually need.

It really all depends on how much you need the gear. If you're rich, go out and buy a new rack. if you're poor, then you probably wanna keep most of the gear and maybe toss most of the biners.

The gear is fine.

If you can't see damage with the naked eye, it's fine to use. Modern gear will not have problems that you can't see with the naked eye.

Not true ^^^ I would trust the cams and nuts but not the biners, depending on what they landed on. Soft dirt not so bad, hard granite bad.

Dustonian, please provide some evidence for your claims.

One of many recommendations from manufacturers to retire aluminum carabiners after a drop:

http://www.ropesonline.net/index.php?op ... -and-links

(see Carabiners section)

So, there are a few engineers that say this is unnecessary. But there are countless reports of carabiners breaking with "no apparent cause" on an annual basis. Is this really something you want to take a risk on?

Visual inspection is enough, IMO.

However, I do like Omega's guidance on carabiner care:
"Small scratches can be buffed away with light action from abrasive cloth"

I have this vision of redpoint in his basement buffing out the scratches on his quickdraws.