How To Check Your Harness

by Mick Ryan Harnesses and harness wear has been put into sharp focus by the tragic death of Todd Skinner reported in the news last week. From tragedy however can spring good things and one of these hopefully is that climbers will pay more attention to their equipment. UKClimbing.com has been in contact with several experts in the industry and at the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) and offers up this website as a platform to discuss gear misuse, strengths and weaknesses. On Saturday 21st October the BMC hosted the ´Know Your Gear´ confererence (read report) at the National Mountaineering Centre, Plas y Brenin which focussed on many gear issues. Dan Middleton Technical Officer at the BMC writes, “This is one of the things we tried to achieve with the BMC Know Your Stuff conference, which was sold out and was very well received by those who attended. One of the sessions looked at the strength of worn and damaged tape webbing, showing that abrasion can be much worse (whilst looking less serious) than a cut. One really useful source of information is the Petzl website, they?ve always been good when it comes to information supplied with their products and in their catalogue but this goes to another level. There is a whole section devoted to inspection of equipment, with movie clips, downloadable inspection forms, and examples of different kinds of damage and how to deal with them. ” Dan gave us this link at the Petzl website. Click on ´harnesses´ and witness a short clip on how to inspect your harness.

QuelleUKClimbing