Normal level of harness wear? (~3 months)

Hey everyone,
So I purchased the Petzl Adjama after all the glowing reviews (and loved the giant gear loops).  However, after about 3 months of indoor/outdoor use, I’m starting to notice some concerning wear at the leg loops, which seemed excessive compared to what I’ve seen from previous harnesses.  Thoughts?

It looks good, you are not in any danger of it giving out. You can inspect it just as you would inspect a rope. There are some guides for rope inspection online. They show what is acceptable. And what is not. Your harness looks fine. 

So I agree that it’s not a safety hazard - more concerned about the general build quality, as this seems weird to be freying so quickly.

Here's a BD Aspect I got around 2010 that has seen light usage for the last 9ish years. No loose threads. The webbing is just fuzzy.

Kellen, what, are you a Petzl sales rep?   That sure as hell doesn’t “look good” for a 3 month old harness.  Maybe if he spent the last 3 months dragging a portaledge up and down El Cap.

Agree he’s not about to die, but I’d send those pics to Petzl and pursue their input. Not normal wear or “typical” for the service history  you describe 

I am on my third Petzl Adjama, current one bought 22 months ago.  It always goes to the gym and outside with me year round.  My current one has a small degree of loose threads like that.

It looks like the threads are coming from an inner wear layer and not the load bearing material? They do on mine.  If so, it does not personally concern me much.

Yeah, I’d just tell Petzl that you are concerned about whether the harness life is compromised. See what they say.

I inspected my 4 year old Petzl harness around the leg loops and at first it looked perfect:

phylp wrote: I inspected my 4 year old Petzl harness around the leg loops and at first it looked perfect:

Then I looked closer and saw this!!!

I think my harness is good for another 4 years though...Happy Holidays, Ted!

Yer already died, obviously 

There has never been a more "Ted Pinson" thread in the history of MP.

Even if a leg loop blows up, you're not going to die.

Tradiban wrote: There has never been a more "Ted Pinson" thread in the history of MP.

Even if a leg loop blows up, you're not going to die.

I’ll just add, I do know of a case where, on rappel, one leg loop released and resulted in a broke a rib or two.

Miserable alpine outing for that crew. They were forced to bivouac by an afternoon thunder storm. The person undid leg loops during the night to pee. But did not properly re-buckle one leg loop. And there was not an inter-partner harness check when they continued to bail in the morning.

Tradiban wrote: There has never been a more "Ted Pinson" thread in the history of MP.

Even if a leg loop blows up, you're not going to die.

Bro chill, I’m not asking “am I gonna die?”  I’m asking: “is this a normal level of wear, and if not, should I see if Petzl will swap it out for a non-defective one because it’s annoyingly?”

Tradiban revels in being MP’s resident “cotton headed ninny-muggins” This time of year.  

I had the same harness and also noticed a faster than usual rate of wear. I didn’t like it so I got rid of it and got a different harness. 

Ted, its obviously due to your poor footwork. 

Ted Pinson wrote:

Bro chill, I’m not asking “am I gonna die?”  I’m asking: “is this a normal level of wear, and if not, should I see if Petzl will swap it out for a non-defective one because it’s annoyingly?”

Then contact Petzl directly.

I have always steered clear of adjustable leg loops. That buckle is a major wear point. Unless you pretty much only use it in the gym, you will get extra wear there.

You can get some tubular 2" webbing and slide it over the buckle. It's loose enough that you can inspect and adjust easily. It offers a lot of protection and weighs only a few grams.

2" is usually available at surplus stores and places that consider rappelling to be a sport. If they sell a bunch of black biners and use words like "tactical" they'll have 2" webbing.

^^Good point, although I never had this problem on my Misty Mountain Cadillac.

Tradiban wrote:

Then contact Petzl directly.

I did, but I also posted here to see if this was a common problem and if I should bother or just live with it/get a new harness that doesn’t unravel in 3 months.

Julian H wrote: look at the buckle in the 4th picture the  black paint is gone and the edge is looks like you you used a grinder to round the edge.  If you managed that much damage  why do you expect the webbing to be in a better shape?

This was my immediate takeaway. While it's totally possible that the paint/metal removed from the buckle and the fraying of the nylon occurred independently, it seems more indicative of thrutching up a chimney or OW or some other form of groveling...

Julian H wrote: all climbing gear is disposable  after using it once but

look at the buckle in the 4th picture the  black paint is gone and the edge is looks like you you used a grinder to round the edge.  If you managed that much damage  why do you expect the webbing to be in a better shape?

That's bullshit. 

Otherwise draws would be trashed in a weekend. Ropes would last a few days.

I've actually completely destroyed a harness or two by grinding up wide stuff. It took a year or so and I climbed almost nothing but wide stuff and I did it a lot (weird time in my life).

Something caught it and pulled it and now it's fraying. This isn't how it normally goes, in fact this almost never happens. Don't blame him, his stuff ought to be designed for this.

If it were mine, I'd clip off the fray and give it a quick pass with a lighter. Protect with 2" webbing as I mentioned earlier. I bet he still gets another 3-4 years out of it.

simplyput . wrote:

This was my immediate takeaway. While it's totally possible that the paint/metal removed from the buckle and the fraying of the nylon occurred independently, it seems more indicative of thrutching up a chimney or OW or some other form of groveling...

Hmm I may have done a fair bit of groveling.  Fair point.