Marking my gear with small zip-ties rather than tape.

Hey guys, I have been meaning to get around to marking my gear because I climb with a lot of different people and often mix gear for a given climb. I didn't have any colored tape which is the usual norm, but what I did have was a whole container of colored zip ties.

Some pictures of how I marked them can be found on my blog
chroniclesofgnarnia.wordpre… if you are interested in how it turned out.

Mostly I am just wondering if anyone sees any inherent problems in marking my gear this way

I hate the little sharp edges that are always left when you cut the end of the zip tie off.

looks like the zip ties might interfere with the rope moving through the carabiners. perhaps if they... actually, I'm not sure, you may be just fine.

Pat C wrote:looks like the zip ties might interfere with the rope moving through the carabiners. perhaps if they... actually, I'm not sure, you may be just fine.

That was the only problem I could think of. Which is why I tried to put them on the narrow end of the biners where the rope will not be. I'll find out on Friday and report back.

I would say dont do it but it looks like its to late. The zip ties will eventully loosen and get in the way of the rope. Most climbing gear is designed to eliminate sharp edges that snag on things like the rope, other gear, your clothes. Why introduce sharp edges? Putting zip ties on a cam stem where it could one day interfere with the trigger. Bad idea. Not to mention it looks pretty dorky.
Stick with the tape or fingernail polish

You must become one with your gear and be able to recognize it in a crowd like a mother penguin and her chick.

Evan Simons wrote:You must become one with your gear and be able to recognize it in a crowd like a mother penguin and her chick.

Taking cues from the animal kingdom, we should all mark our gear using our distinctive-smelling scent glands. Mmmmm: MuskyGear

(In that case, I won't be biting the rope to pull up more slack...)

Thanks a lot for the input guys. Makes me glad I posted this
In light of what some of you have said, I think I will remove the ties from the carabiners and redo with some tape or fingernail polish (hadn't thought of that one).

But I may leave them on the cams because I don't really see how the current placement could cause a problem

This is new from CMC...I haven't tried this yet, but it seems like a good way to mark gear.

http://www.cmcrescue.com/product.php?CatalogID=1&dept_id=20991&rootNode=0&pid=0

I have some marked, but have gone the crafty way -- swim against the stream with the no-marking. At the end of the climb, if it's not marked, it's mine, obviously. Peeing on the rack works well too, nobody seems to question it.

Just use paint.

be careful using fingernail polish on the plastic parts of your cams, it may eat away the plastic. I doubt this is super critical, but tape is quick, cheap and easy. and oh yeah, its 3 dollars a roll, black, green, red, yellow, and blue at lowes. Also consider a different position then other people do it... sometimes that can help if you and someone else use the same color tape!

I use a dremel tool and grind my name in. I figure, if its not as deep as the julian date stamped into the part, I should be fine.

Usually just deep enough to buff off the anodize coating.

Easy to see. Doesn't fall off. Doesn't interfere. No residue.

Darn handy when sorting gear at the end of a trip!

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

I like Trango's Rack Tags.

Tristan Higbee wrote:I like Trango's Rack Tags.

+1 and they have allot of different colors.

Brian in SLC wrote:I use a dremel tool and grind my name in. I figure, if its not as deep as the julian date stamped into the part, I should be fine. Usually just deep enough to buff off the anodize coating. Easy to see. Doesn't fall off. Doesn't interfere. No residue. Darn handy when sorting gear at the end of a trip! Cheers, -Brian in SLC

I hope this is an April fools day joke?

KYclimberAdam wrote: I hope this is an April fools day joke?

So you are going to fall on something you don't think can handle a little scratch mark?

Coeus wrote: So you are going to fall on something you don't think can handle a little scratch mark?

Fair point.
I just can't imagine going at my gear with a dremel tool.

I've considered engraving my initials in my gear, I've seen it done and thought it was a good idea. I just don't have that kind of patience.

KYclimberAdam wrote: I hope this is an April fools day joke?

When I first saw your post, I thought the same thing... And I was thinking it was subtle enough to be pretty clever.

i think the whole thing is subtly crafty. I mean asking others if its cool to put zipties on your gear. AND THEN post a trip report of you doing so! hilarious! Bravo young man. also, the term GNARia is awesome as well.