UKC

http://tinyurl.com/zrdg847

Two slings. Both the same make.

One is 2 weeks old used as a pigtail for sportclimbing.

One was used all last season for the same thing.

Why does this worry me? Both used on limestone...

In reply to Oogachooga:

A pigtail, or a cowstail?

In reply to jon:

Lambs tail....

In reply to Oogachooga:

Of course.

In reply to Oogachooga:

So which is which?
Logically one would assume the more worn sling (blue) was used all year, but if so why is that worrying?

In reply to Oogachooga:

Interesting, I have mostly the same thing with the same slings - the first an older Wild Country one, been going for a couple of years, still looking great.
Bought a second one of the same early this year, it's fraying surprisingly quickly. Also feels a lot softer... must be a different manufacturing process now?

Jon

In reply to Oogachooga:
ive had similar with ropes, whenever I could I'd use the blue rope instead of the red, but the blue always wore more. Same age used on same climbs.

In reply to CurlyStevo:


Sounds like the blueness is the problem. To the OP, I guess this was worrying because red traditionally signals "danger", but in this case it's the blue?

In reply to Oogachooga:

Looks well knackered bin it before it completely explodes

In reply to Oogachooga:

>Why does this worry me?

I don't know. Give us a clue.

In reply to pec:

Worrying because the blue is the new one!

In reply to JonLongshanks:

I should have been more clear in my first post, seem to have confused a few of the guys.

Yes the blue slings are a lot softer and have a slight shine to them. Fyi, 2 other blue Wild Country slings I bought last year are good and different from the new ones. No fraying.

I'm going to attempt to return the sling to go outdoors as not fit for purpose. Maybe it's a little anal but my faith in it has dropped, dont really want gear like that on long runouts to be honest.

In reply to Oogachooga:

You want to see some of the gear my mate uses. Scrappy HB carabiners and original wild country rocks. You are being totally over the top.

In reply to radddogg:

If your mate is comfortable sending it on that gear then that is his prerogative. Climbing is all risk assessment, if he chooses to not climb on gear he doesn't trust (quite rightly) then you shouldn't judge that.
We put our lives in our gear, I think he made the right choice.

I bet your same mate doesn't use the same scrappy rope he got when he first started climbing either!

I stick to replacing my soft gear each season. So new harness, rope, slings etc.

Does it cost me money? Yes.
Is the outlay worth the confidence in my equipment? Absolutely.

In reply to Oogachooga:

Is this a troll? The sling is fine..

In reply to jsmcfarland:


Exactly. Look how much of the sling ISN'T fluffy.

In reply to radddogg:
Fair comment but again missing the point.

My point is on build quality. Lets put this in laymans terms then... you buy a Ralf Lauren wool jumper, wear it once and it bobbles up worse than your identical year old jumper.

The red sling is pretty much flawless bar chalk marks - 1 year old well used

The blue sling is 2 weeks old and fluffed up and surface stitching breaking out (see further pictures on that thread).

If it reacts like that to a few hours over a couple of weeks, anchoring on to the chains via a crab and a cows tail, wtf is it going to be like after a season of use?

In reply to Dell:

Fluffiness on a rope is fine (core is protected). Fluffy slings are surprisingly weakened. If the fluffiness continued to increase at the same rate then it wouldn't last long before being significantly weakened...

That said, replacing all your soft gear every season is madness.

In reply to Hertz32:
Its not worth it if a visual inspection of the kit is not showing excessive wear.

In reply to Oogachooga:

Can't you put the photo on UKC or somewhere more easily publicly viewable.., not everyone uses facebook.

If any sling is worn right across its width I would be very careful about how I used it in situations of shock load. At the BMC area meetings Dan M demonstrated a salutatory lesson: a new sling rubbed heavily across its width for a few seconds on a lump of grit was weaker in destructive testing than a new sling cut half way across its width. In contrast furry ropes are usually fine (as long as the core isn't damaged)

In reply to Offwidth:
https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=21166147988

No probs, here is one of the blue

In reply to Offwidth:
https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=21166147862

Blue (new) against red (old)

In reply to Oogachooga:

Have you contacted WC? They may issue a massive recall. They also may not