Should I try and fix my harness or just buy a new one?

I have an Edelrid Moe harness, with the little plastic protectors on the hard points, and a thin webbing band underneath to hold the rope in place when tied in. Last time I was climbing, I apparently threaded the rope through the hard point on the wrong side of the small nylon piece. When I weighted the rope to lower of the route, i heard a snap, and thought I was going to die. However, it was just the little nylon piece breaking, not the hard point or anything like that.

My question is should I bother trying to sew the little nylon strand back together, is it safe to climb without it, or should I scrap the whole thing and buy a new harness? I'm leaning towards the last option, because I don't want to be one of the "yer gunna die" people.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

That nylon webbing that broke helps center the rope on the reinforced part of the harness. The harness is still fine without it, in my opinion.

My thoughts as well. Do you think its worth sewing back together, or just use it as is?

I wouldn't bother, but it couldn't hoit! How's the rest of the harness faring? Are you due for a new one, anyway? It's nice to have a backup harness, which this one could be.

Based on that one nylon strap breaking, I think you're fine.

Its in pretty good shape. Its about 6 months old, and starting to show a bit of fuzziness as you can see in the picture. I was planning on getting a new one in the next few months or so. This will probably expedite that process. Thanks for the thoughts!

6 months old?? Please tell me you mean years! If so, I'd say it's time for a new harness. They usually recommend replacing every 5 years or so, and it's not something you want to ever worry even slightly about.

Just This Guy You Know wrote:My thoughts as well. Do you think its worth sewing back together, or just use it as is?

I'd just sew it back together and call it done. The piece you are talking about is called the rope locator, and it's not critical to the safety of the harness, it's more about convenience. But I would still sew it back together.

Thanks 20!

Definitely sew it back together. If you don't, that will increase the sawing action on your belay loop, which is part of the theory on the failure of legend Todd Skinners' harness.

Luc Ried wrote:Definitely sew it back together. If you don't, that will increase the sawing action on your belay loop, which is part of the theory on the failure of legend Todd Skinners' harness.

I don't understand how not having a keeper increases the sawing on the belay loop. Could you explain?

Plastic protector should negate that. Also the sawing usually affects the leg loop, not the belay loop in my experience

James Willis wrote: I don't understand how not having a keeper increases the sawing on the belay loop. Could you explain?

The keeper loop controls how much the part that connects the leg loops to the lower tie in point can move back and forth. When making moves that involve placing high feet or something similar, that section now has a larger range of motion to 'saw' back and forth. This can lead to fraying in the belay loop, leg loop, and tie in areas.
I've broken my keeper, and sewn it back together just fine FYI, it's not too big of an ordeal

You have again demonstrated a design problem with this little strap, in that it is possible to pass your carabiner through it in such a way that it takes the load. A canyoneering rappel accident several years ago involved this strap. The person rappelling managed somehow to only catch that strap and neither the belt or leg loops. It held their weight for several raps and didn't outwardly look wrong to friends that checked the harness. But it finally broke and the person fell 60ft.

Stich wrote:You have again demonstrated a design problem with this little strap, in that it is possible to pass your carabiner through it in such a way that it takes the load.

OP said he passed THE ROPE under the keeper, not a biner.

And why would anyone pass a biner around the hard points anyway? That's 100% contrary to the manuf. instructions. (But yea, people still do it, thinking a) they're smarter than the folks who designed the harness and b) they're eliminating a "possible failure point" by bypassing the belay loop.)

Gunkiemike wrote:And why would anyone pass a biner around the hard points anyway?

I can think of a couple. But they don't apply to most of us on any given day.

I wouldn't call that a design problem, that is 100% user error

climbing friend,

you will be going to do the dying. this small piece of nylon, while looking quite unimportant and sad, is actually the structural component main holding together the harness!

Jon Rhoderick wrote:I wouldn't call that a design problem, that is 100% user error

Of course it is, but the utility of the strap is really questionable, so why even have it there? People have f'ed up and tied into that dumb thing. If it was full strength like on a Metolius Safe Tech harness that would be OK.

Jon, it was definitely user error. Getting ready for a cool down after a strenuous gym session, and didn't even think about it. It would be nice if the keeper was strength rated to prevent the problem, but it was easily avoidable had I just looked at my harness before climbing.

Thanks Aleks, I was waiting for the truth to come out.

Good news all around though: I sewed it up and climbed a boat load today and totally didn't die. Thank you for reassuring me, Internet people!

Just This Guy You Know wrote:Jon, it was definitely user error. Getting ready for a cool down after a strenuous gym session, and didn't even think about it. It would be nice if the keeper was strength rated to prevent the problem,

An alternative re-design would be to make it out of elastic.

Gunkiemike wrote: OP said he passed THE ROPE under the keeper, not a biner. And why would anyone pass a biner around the hard points anyway? That's 100% contrary to the manuf. instructions. (But yea, people still do it, thinking a) they're smarter than the folks who designed the harness and b) they're eliminating a "possible failure point" by bypassing the belay loop.)

This is actually insanely common, Mike.

Unfortunately it's done a lot in the recreational rappelling and canyoneering crowds.

Why? Good question. I'll tell you. By going through the two tie in points you have redundancy...Hahahaha

Well, anyone with a brain knows that's bullshit. The tie in points are really one load bearing point and one non life supporting, I'll call it, stabilzing point. Even after explaining that if the swami portion of the tie in fails, you're still dead, they still insist on "redundancy" vs that little piece of 22kn webbing called the belay loop.

In some folks defense, canyoneers often use figure 8 style descenders which tend to work better with either the tie in points or an slight extension that allows for rotation of the device.

See photo for what I mean, however, notice, I'm still using the belay loop, just with the help of a quick link to adjust the orientation of the rappel bine/descender.