PETZL Sirocco broken buckle fix

I've had a PETZL Sirocco helmet for a year and I like it a lot. But my buckle just broke during my yearly Christmas trip to Joshua Tree. Before the Sirocco I had been wearing a 1993 Joe Brown helmet. It blew a rivet, so this Sirocco looked very attractive. It's super light, and as long as I stuff something inside it (to protect it from crushing), I can pack my pack normally and it survived until last week. The buckle Petzl uses is very fragile. The plastic snap tabs are ultra small. There is a magnet inside the buckle that helps pull it closed. Unfortunately, the magnet also attracts iron ore, of which there is a lot in Jtree. I was constantly having to scrape and blow out the sand stuck to the magnet before it would snap.

Finally, up on the "Heart of Darkness" route, one side of the buckle broke completely. I had to borrow a helmet that day. When I got back to camp I replaced the buckle with one I bought at the jtree climbing store. To get the old buckles off, I shaved down the plastic with a razor knife until I could slide the nylon out of the old buckles. Then I prusiked on the new buckle, extended the strap with some tubular nylon using a water knot and had a helmet again. The repair job is stronger than the original. Here are the photos:

Little late now but I'm pretty sure they made it so you can take the magnet out in places with alot of iron dust

Greg Shea wrote:

Little late now but I'm pretty sure they made it so you can take the magnet out in places with alot of iron dust

I broke the buckle trying to remove the magnet. As mentioned above, the buckle is fragile. Does ANYONE like the magnet? Everyone I know hates it but it still won't die. 

I’ve broken two buckles. I love the helmet but the magnetic buckle is awful. What problem are they trying to fix with this ridiculous design????

Somewhere, maybe in their advertising literature I read that they like the buckle because it self closes with mittens on. Dumb idea for sure. My fix leaves the buckle permanently threaded, which was the standard in the early '80s before they invented snap buckles.

When new and clean, it might self close. With a little iron dirt stuck to it, it also self OPENS. I have never had a helmet almost fall off mid-route but it happened twice on the same pitch with my Meteor since the buckle was too fouled to fully close and the helmet almost fell off when it glanced a roof. Oh well, if it is going to be dangerous and annoying, at least the magnets add weight and cost...

I would like to revive this thread in an attempt to shame Petzl into eliminating the magnets from their helmet buckles.  I recently broke the buckle on my Sirocco, for the second time. The magnets in both sides of the buckle attracted a tiny amount of grit, despite my efforts to keep it clean. The buckle doesn’t stay shut if the slightest amount of dirt is in the way. Testing to see if it’s securely closed breaks it. A helmet that won’t stay on your head is worse than no helmet. Until the magnets are eliminated, Petzl should make buckle replacements (of the male side) easily available at no charge.

And I forgot to mention that once the buckle wouldn’t close, repeated attempts to clean the grit from the interfaces failed. The magnets only allow displacing it temporarily.

A year and a half later I'm still using the buckle fix shown at the start of this thread. I still love that helmet, lightest thing ever. I suppose I should replace the entire helmet harness, it's looking old and sweated out.

In the back of my mind I know that all the best climbers never wear helmets. None of us wear them in the gyms, at all. So it's kind of a security blanket....sort of a teddy bear thing.

Still, my climbing buddy Paul Bailey has been blind for 10 years now after taking a ledge fall and landing on his head without a helmet. He crushed his optic nerve. Helmets are good.

This is Paul, before the accident:

Hey Fritz —
Good to see your voice. I haven’t used the rope much. Unless I need a 90, I use shorter, thicker, older ropes. It’s great to have for linking pitches when the belayer stays on the ground.

Mark Webster wrote: A year and a half later I'm still using the buckle fix shown at the start of this thread. 

That's a good fix, but for $100+ helmet, Petzl should damn well fix the problem themselves. I just had a buddy lose his helmet part way up the Polish route on the Hulk because that stupid buckle self-released. I'm a big fan of their gear in general, but it's pathetic that Petzl hasn't addressed this.

Derek Doucet wrote:

That's a good fix, but for $100+ helmet, Petzl should damn well fix the problem themselves. I just had a buddy lose his helmet part way up the Polish route on the Hulk because that stupid buckle self-released. I'm a big fan of their gear in general, but it's pathetic that Petzl hasn't addressed this.

iirc the buckle is designed to break and release so you can't hang yourself on it if it gets stuck. I think this is a good feature. I've also found the sirocco to be amazingly durable having climbed on the same one about every other weekend since 2013...

Ben Kraft wrote:

iirc the buckle is designed to break and release so you can't hang yourself on it if it gets stuck. I think this is a good feature. I've also found the sirocco to be amazingly durable having climbed on the same one about every other weekend since 2013...

Yeah, because there’s been such a spate of buckle related self hangings with other helmets. They had no choice, really. They had to stop the carnage. 

Broke my buckle last year, sent petzl an email , 4 days later I had a new buckle for free....

Evan Kirk wrote: Broke my buckle last year, sent petzl an email , 4 days later I had a new buckle for free....

Me too, twice, the first time after I insisted I didn’t need a whole new helmet and to just send me the buckle.

George Bracksieck wrote: Hey Fritz —
Good to see your voice. I haven’t used the rope much. Unless I need a 90, I use shorter, thicker, older ropes. It’s great to have for linking pitches when the belayer stays on the ground.

Good to see you again! You were my favorite partner who was over let’s just say sexagenarian status. I will be in Durango from Friday early morning until Sunday early morning and then departing northbound on the Colorado Trail with an estimated completion time of CTR of approximately six days. Wish me luck!

We sell a lot of Petzl helmets (I have a Sirocco 2) and I’ve never heard of this happening. We’re the kind of store that people return things to for the smallest thing so I’m surprised we’ve not had anyone come back with this problem, seeing that it’s quite common in the US.

Maybe we don’t have as much iron or metal in our dirt in the U.K. or Europe? Sounds silly but I’m being serious. It’s the only reason I can think of hat this is not an issue over here.

Evan Kirk wrote: Broke my buckle last year, sent petzl an email , 4 days later I had a new buckle for free....

I sent Petzl America an email and got a prompt response. James Ruda sent me a male half without a magnet, along with instructions for removing magnets. Despite the great customer service, I won’t buy another Petzl helmet unless the magnets are eliminated from the buckles. Removing the magnets isn’t as easy as it looks. 

George  - could you share the instructions for removing the magnet?

wilcox510 wrote:  George  - could you share the instructions for removing the magnet?

I tried copying the link with my not-so-smart phone. Didn’t succeed, so I copied it by hand. Hope it’s accurate. 

Thanks!