gear retirement article in which NSS News?

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gear retirement article in which NSS News?

Postby ek » Aug 27, 2010 2:16 pm

I believe Bruce Smith wrote an article in the NSS News in the recent past about retiring gear, which included recommendations regarding maximum lifetimes for certain categories of items. Does anybody know what issue of the News that appeared in?
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Re: gear retirement article in which NSS News?

Postby mgmills » Aug 27, 2010 6:45 pm

I'd like to read the article if any one finds it.

Last piece of gear I retired was a jumar. The spring that held the cam broke when I was half-way up Neversink (164 foot pit in AL). My ascender started slipping unless I paid close attention to the orientation. It was pretty scary as I was frogging. After I determined what was wrong I attached a Prussik loop as back-up to complete the climb. The ascender was still functioning (sort of) at the top but I was glad I'd had the back-up loop readily available on my harness as the jumar could easily have come off the rope. I guess that is a case of using a piece of gear until it fails. It is the only gear failure I've ever had.

That said, I haven't purchased a new ascender since 2000 . . . these days I don't do much vertical caving but would be nice to know what the recommendations are for retiring gear. I always store my gear cleaned and dried so hopefully my stuff is OK. I'm sure gear vendors would love to sell me new gear :laughing: :laughing:
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Re: gear retirement article in which NSS News?

Postby JSDunham » Sep 2, 2010 9:38 am

That was in the June 2009 issue. The article isn't exactly about when to retire gear, more about the need for inspection and proper cleaning and storage. But he does have a short list of recommended lifetimes.
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