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Original Post
Dhayan Roark · · Crowley Lake, CA · Joined Jan 2010 · Points: 10

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Bobby Hanson · · Spokane, WA · Joined Oct 2001 · Points: 1,230

No.

supertopo.com/climbing/thre…
(be sure to see pages 7 and 8)

Also:
climbing.com/news/press/ali…

Edit to elaborate:
Depending on the cam size, you would want to test the cams at loads up to between 1300 lb (black) and 2700 lb (orange and larger). Those are 75% of the rated strengths. Bounce testing the cam should get the load up to around 1000 lb (less than the rating on a #3 BD stopper). You could set up a 2:1 or 3:1 mechanical advantage system to get the loads you are after. At that point, you would probably be better off using a mass other than your own body. If you can get ahold of a scale to measure the loads, even better.

Evan1984 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 30
dhayan wrote:What do you think? If I bounce test them am I good to go?
I think that if you're in love with your aliens, you'll use them, and, if you are not, you won't.

I'm really not trying to be a jerk about it, but this issue has been worked over every which way, and there are still people on both sides of the "yer gonna die" argument.

Nobody can come on here and give you the definitive "green light" to use your cams free of worry that you're looking for.

The bottom line is you know that aliens have quality control issues. You also no that your cams are no more dangerous now than they were when you were using them back in the day, blissfully unaware of the problems.

Tens of thousands of climbers have used aliens, and a handful have had catastrophic failures. Using aliens are a low probability but very high consequence risk.

You decide on your risk tolerance for yourself.

Evan
Eli Helmuth · · Ciales, PR · Joined Aug 2001 · Points: 3,441

good thing most folks never fall, or we'd see gear and anchors failing regularly... due to poor placements and bad rock choices.
I love to fall on trad gear and that's why I don't use or need aliens.

Tony B · · Around Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 24,665
dhayan wrote:Thanks for the info Bobby. I thought that with bounce testing on a static sling you could see forces greater than 1000 lbs but perhaps i am wrong... I wonder if any other manufacturers would test aliens to 75% their rated strength.
Bounce testing on a sling is a direct load which has a single end to it. With a rope or other means, falling, you double the load applied because the tension runs down through the biner BOTH WAYS, to the belayer and to the climber, such that a 200lb load fall generates ~400lbsF. and so on.

That's one of the reasons why gear has to be so strong. It has to hold 2X what the rope tension will be.

Now, let's say a lead fall would produce a 6g arrest of a fall... can you see where I am going with this? You don't want to "test" a 12g load on your body on a sling on that alien. You'll get whiplash. And unless you have a load cell, you'll never actually know what load you applied and tested to anyway.

So as some have already answered: "How much do you love your aliens?" but forgot to ask "How much do you love your self." I, for one, would be creeped out every time I was 5 meters above that piece, trying to figure the consequences of a fall if it blew.

I'd retire it or get it tested "for real."
Aric Datesman · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2008 · Points: 145

FWIW, all four of these looked good, yet weren't.

cross sectioned Aliens

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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