RRC Archives

This is scary and interesting stuff. The first link includes description of the failure of an orange alien in which the head popped off during a fall and some pictures. The second link includes CCH's less-than-popular reply. For those of us who love aliens, I think this is well worth following.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/topic/104150
(topic titled Orange Alien CCH)


http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/view ... 32#1279332
(topic titled CCH response to alleged defect)

If you saw the pictures before the bandwidth was exceeded they looked a little hokey. He seemed to have a frame by frame account of the failure (suspicious). I think CCH thinks the same, hence their harsh reply. I have fallen on my orange without a problem. Who knows though?

The picture of the alien with the detached lobes looked pretty real though. You are right that it may be a hoax. However, as those of us who choose to fall on or even place aliens are trusting our lives to their structural integrity, I thought the links were worth posting.

I'd like to see a close up of the cable and the brazing on it. You would be able to tell if it was pulled out cold or pulled out after heated to melting point. Maybe I'll get on RC.com and ask the guy to do that. Let's call him on it and see what happens.

Well it now looks like CCH is having it tested by an indy lab in Colorado. Let's see what they have to say.

TradMike wrote:If you saw the pictures before the bandwidth was exceeded they looked a little hokey. He seemed to have a frame by frame account of the failure (suspicious). I think CCH thinks the same, hence their harsh reply. I have fallen on my orange without a problem. Who knows though?

Well if you're taking photos with a motor drive, you're gonna get lots of sequence shots. When I shot Ron Kauk in Vedauwoo....there was a guy next to me who MUST have shot 200 photos in the 75 feet Ron climbed....using that damn motor.....

If you can't see the situation happening, just hold down the button....

i was trying to clean a #1 blue metolius FCU, and pulled so hard on the trigger that all 4 cables came clean from the swage connecting them to the lobes. nothing broke, just bad swages. the cam's still there if anyone wants it. i keep meaning to go get it out with a chisel, and take pictures of what happened. maybe metolius will give me that blue pocket vagina i've always wanted.

I'm real curious how the results from the testing lab come out. It would be very difficult to fake the results without it being obvious.

512OW wrote:

TradMike wrote:If you saw the pictures before the bandwidth was exceeded they looked a little hokey. He seemed to have a frame by frame account of the failure (suspicious). I think CCH thinks the same, hence their harsh reply. I have fallen on my orange without a problem. Who knows though?

Well if you're taking photos with a motor drive, you're gonna get lots of sequence shots. When I shot Ron Kauk in Vedauwoo....there was a guy next to me who MUST have shot 200 photos in the 75 feet Ron climbed....using that damn motor.....

If you can't see the situation happening, just hold down the button....

The only thing I question is why didn't the cable pull out if it really pulled out? Shouldn't he just have a cable and a biner attached to the loop after it pulled? There's plenty of room for the cable to pull through the trigger sleeve after it pulled from the lobes. The lobes should still have been in the crack or at best a separate piece flying through the air. I also don't even see the orange alien cam in the first picture. He claims it's at foot level. I sure don't see it. And he placed a piece between the two - what is he aid climbing? The rope seems to disappear through the alien's biner on the second photo. Blow it up in Photoshop and adjust the color/contract/brightness and you will see what I mean. And why are the two photos different shades. When in full auto mode isn't the camera locked in on a aperature size and speed resulting in similar photos. It could be legit, who knows. It won't be the first time. It just has a fake feel to me. Just a hunch, I could be completely wrong let the test lab determine.

Everyone who owns aliens should be following this thread on Rockclimbing.com. Mountain Gear just tested a bunch of aliens and many of them failed below the factory specs.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/topic/104768

Like most people I would really like to see some numbers. I won't be nearly as concerned if they failed below, but near their strength rating. I am currently looking at getting some WC zero's to use instead of my aliens for the time being.

I have taken some good falls on my aliens in crappy placements and they have always come through. I really hope this isn't a big problem.

On The Seam a black alien held about a 8-10 foot fall in the shallow crack near the bottom, placed horizontally in the vertical crack. I still can't believe it held, because the placement was super crappy. FYI I was belaying.