Dropped Reverso...Is it still OK to use?

With cold fingers the other day at eldo I made the mistake of dropping my Reverso from about 40 feet up and it hit and rock at the bottom and launched into the woods. I ended up finding it and there is no visible damage. Is it still OK to use or would you recommend just cutting my losses and buy a new one.

http://www.geir.com/mythbuster.html

Thanks for the link; it's good to finally see a "clearinghouse" for all these myths! You don't mention it here, but I recall reading about a manufacturer (BD?) collecting dropped biners from the base of El Cap and load-testing them. Apart from ones that had obvious damage like deformed gates, these biners all performed at or near original specs.

I was reminded of that study a while back when I was setting up to rap from the top of the Nose at Looking Glass (NC) and stupidly dropped my ATC guide 400' to the bottom. When I got down, I found my belay device sitting on a rock along with a note from the climbers who found it, saying it had landed in a pile of sand. I examined it carefully; apart from a couple of small dings on the exterior surface (none on any rope-bearing surface), it was good as new and is still quite serviceable today.

JL

In 1993 I dropped an ATC from the top of Military Wall to a rock on the base, above Pink Feat. This is about 50 meters. The device bounced and launched into the woods. Inspection revealed a "ding" in the equipment and although I felt the piece would still be reliable given the position of the damage and the design of the equipment, I opted to retire it anyway. It was worth the peace of mind to do so on a single-point-of-failure type of protection.

I placed it on a flat stone and repeatedly heaved 20-30 lab rocks over head to drop onto it like a massive hammer, breaking several of my "hammer" rocks in the process. In the end I had a pile of stone and a "paralleled" A.T.C.- bent half way closed. I guess a rope of ~9mm would have still fit in it. I sent the piece to BD to pull test, and a quality engineer there agreed to do it for the sake of reference and humor.

The piece still failed within the specified range.

This should not be taken as advice to use everything despite its apparent condition- the point is to quell the paranoia to some degree and support the thesis: "If it looks good, it probably is."

Ugg... it's just so hard to let go of the drop it throw it away attitude. Is it really worth the $5-30? I drop it, it's gone. I applaud the bravery of your climbing partners.

questions like this are better served up over there on that other site.

Really.

No, REALLY.

JT512 loves answering questions like this, and there's no point in beginning those kind of antics over here.

I think the real question to ask here is whether or not your belay device should ever want to climb with you again. If you got dropped 40' onto a rock how would you feel?

Stymingersfink wrote:questions like this are better served up over there on that other site. Really. No, REALLY. JT512 loves answering questions like this, and there's no point in beginning those kind of antics over here.

Okay, I'll play along -- pick your favorite rc.com-style answer to the OP's question:

a. If you have to ask, you shouldn't be climbing.
b. Do a search, this has been covered a thousand times.
c. You are a clueless n00b, take up shuffleboard.
d. PTFTW! [whatever the fuck that means]
e. STFU!
f. (incomprehensible drawings with colored arrows from you-know-who)

Personally, I find the mp.com answers far more interesting and informative.

JL

g. all of the above

fact of the matter is, unless there's visible structural damage, the biggest worry about dropped gear is being able to find it when you get back down to the ground. Period.

[.02]
:shakes head:

personally, i wouldn't encourage these kinds of questions on this board. MP is unusual among climbing boards that i've visited to this point, in that it has seemed to stay fairly focused on serious climbing subjects/discussions/issues.

none of the n00b shit from RC, very little of the hyper-thread-ism of supertaco... if a member wants to participate in that kind of shit, they should go there.

they're free to return here at will, but IMHO, that kind of shit should be left at the login page.

[/.02]

I"d replace it... twenty bucks and you feel fine... thats cheap insurance.
That said, its probably fine. About 20 years ago I found a #4 friend at the base fo the Nose... it had been dropped form the top of the Stove Legs. I had a friend who worked the Xray machine at the hospital Xray it for cracks. he did like 10 Xrays... it was fine. Its still on my rack, I think.

Hey Stymingersfink and Saxfiend...if you don't like the question...Don't fucking answer it. Sounds pretty logical to me. Sounds like you all live an action packed life filled with hours of mindlessly clicking though rock climbing forums to see if there are any repeat threads! You keep doing what you're doing though. The rest of us will just help each other out and go out rock climbing. Please no clever rebuttals, those belong on rockclimbing.com

Greg Mionske wrote:Hey Stymingersfink and Saxfiend...if you don't like the question...Don't fucking answer it. Sounds pretty logical to me. Sounds like you all live an action packed life filled with hours of mindlessly clicking though rock climbing forums to see if there are any repeat threads! You keep doing what you're doing though. The rest of us will just help each other out and go out rock climbing. Please no clever rebuttals, those belong on rockclimbing.com

Sorry you misinterpreted my post, Greg. I was making a joke at the expense of rc.com, not you. The point being that those are the kind of answers you would probably have gotten if you had posted there, instead of the informative ones you got here (did you read my first response, by the way?).

JL

PS -- Stymingersfink, you did kind of take a shot at the OP with your comments about "those kind of antics," do you think that was really necessary?

Stymingersfink wrote:in that it has seemed to stay fairly focused on serious climbing subjects/discussions/issues. none of the n00b shit from RC, very little of the hyper-thread-ism of supertaco... if a member wants to participate in that kind of shit, they should go there. they're free to return here at will, but IMHO, that kind of shit should be left at the login page. [/.02]

from another thread...
------------------------------------------------
Chris Sheridan wrote:
In addition, the zipper closes with the slider at the top, just underneath your harness waistbelt and right in front of your hip bone.

Stymingersfink replied: THAT is SO effin GAY!!!!1111

WTF?

Why build a zipper that must continually fight gravity to stay closed? I can understand it on a jacket (there aren't many options there)...

but PANTS?!!!??!

get fucking real, Yvon. you really need to crack some heads in your design department, maybe beat some sense into them.
-----------------------------------------------------

uhhhh... where to start? The homophobic gay bashing shit is lame. If you are going to talk shit, and claim to be above "the other" sites, then atleast use your real name.

John J. Glime wrote: from another thread... ------------------------------------------------ Chris Sheridan wrote: In addition, the zipper closes with the slider at the top, just underneath your harness waistbelt and right in front of your hip bone. Stymingersfink replied: THAT is SO effin GAY!!!!1111 WTF? Why build a zipper that must continually fight gravity to stay closed? I can understand it on a jacket (there aren't many options there)... but PANTS?!!!??! get fucking real, Yvon. you really need to crack some heads in your design department, maybe beat some sense into them. ----------------------------------------------------- uhhhh... where to start? The homophobic gay bashing shit is lame. If you are going to talk shit, and claim to be above "the other" sites, then atleast use your real name.

John:

The only bashing I was doing was on an engineer/designer's work who probably had limited field experience to base their designs upon.

I am not homophobic, and in fact to prove it, I'll offer to let you suck my cock any time you want (that is, if such an arrangement is copacetic with my girlfriend.)

On that note, You know the difference between "love" and "like?"

...

Same difference between "spit" and "swallow."

Like,

~Sty

Stymingersfink wrote: John: The only bashing I was doing was on an engineer/designer's work who probably had limited field experience to base their designs upon. I am not homophobic, and in fact to prove it, I'll offer to let you suck my cock any time you want (that is, if such an arrangement is copacetic with my girlfriend.) On that note, You know the difference between "love" and "like?" ... Same difference between "spit" and "swallow." Like, ~Sty

What does guideline #1 state when you post a reply?
How about keeping your antics on that other site?

Respectfully yours,
John

I call bullshit again.

How is that real name stuff coming? Talk shit all you want, but let's know who's saying it. If you can't admit to any of your own hypocracy, well... whatever.

You do take good pictures though, I really liked the Patagonia dinosaur/dog/hand print photo. Good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7vuGbfVlt0