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Old gear question

Original Post
Marco Velo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2017 · Points: 0

New to climbing and would appreciate a gut-check:

I ran across a couple of Petzl Attache HMS biners in a bin of camping equipment. They are ~20 years old and I know for a fact that they were bought new and have never been used. (I purchased them to take on a Spring backpacking trip in the Wind River Range to give a little confidence to one of our party crossing snowfields and rivers. Turns out we didn't need them.)

No corrosion, oxidation, etc. Screws operate smoothly. Nothing toxic stored in the bin (pots, spoons, stuff sacks, etc.)

Is there any reasonable doubt regarding their suitability for climbing at this point?

thanks,

Marco

Allen Sanderson · · On the road to perdition · Joined Jul 2007 · Points: 1,203

If as you describe, then no. Go use them. I have older biners that I still use.

Matt Himmelstein · · Orange, CA · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 194

If the gates work solid, and there is no damage or excessive under visual inspection, you should be fine. But they are $15 each. Use them for non-climbing tasks and buy the ones that you are going to trust your life to new.

B Jolley · · Utah · Joined Mar 2015 · Points: 172

Most metal products should last forever, with proper care and inspection.

Any products that have plastic based parts have a shelf life of about 8 years, even if its never been used. Ropes, Harnesses, Helmets, ect... Most products have a born on date or a product ID that can tell you. When in doubt, throw it out.

Alex James · · Redmond, WA · Joined May 2016 · Points: 191
Super Fluke wrote:Most metal products should last forever, with proper care and inspection.
Metal is not indestructible, it does experience fatigue failure over high numbers of loads. In this case, the carabiners haven't been used so they're fine if they don't have any visible damage.

If you have really old carabiners that you've actively used for 20+ years then you should consider the fact they might not be ok. After many years of use, the fatigue damage might not be visible because of a phenomena known as wide spread fatigue damage (this would be why airplanes have service life limits). Here's an MIT paper giving the cycle number to failure at various loads. One of their conclusions is that there is no visible surface cracks before failure.

web.mit.edu/sp255/www/refer…

The cycle count is in the thousands so this is really only applicable to really old (like 15+ year old carabiners). This should not be taken as limiting carabiners too early; instead this is just something to think about for really really old carabiners.
Marco Velo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2017 · Points: 0

Thanks Allen, Matt, Super fluke, and Alex,

Matt, I take your point about the relatively low cost of these biners. Clearly the wisest course of action.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Beginning Climbers
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