UKC

My G22 crampon front bail broke at the weekend whilst soloing a route, which obviously isn't great. Luckily I could place a screw and abseil from an abalakov thread easily enough. I started using the crampons in December, and I've been using them most weekends, but four months is a worryingly short time for such a breakage, and I could quite easily have been in a more serious position when it happened. 

A picture of the break is here. The bail broke at the approx 45 degree bend, on the outside.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leeharrison/47276672081/in/datetaken-public/

Firstly I'm wondering if anybody has had similar problems. Secondly I thought I'd suggest why I think it happened and see what people think. 

I've used G14s with Cramp-o-matic bindings for 13 years previously and never had such problems, so I'm certain that switching to New-matic bindings isn't the answer. I've already ordered new G22 front bails, but I'm wondering if they even deserve another chance as one breakage is already one too many for me. 

I wear size 48 Batura II boots, which fit the bindings very well. I imagine that large boot sizes put greater stress on the front bail due to the greater leverage  Any mild flexion in the sole I reckon is going to stress the the <180 degree side of the bend that broke. I wonder if for bigger sized boots the Rambo-type front bail might be better because the coil design will better absorb these forces? I've been using these front bails on my G14s for a few years without problems (they're similar to the G14 front bales but shallower and fit my Batura IIs better). Otherwise I wonder if there is an inherent problem elsewhere with the G22 design that is placing greater strain on the front bail? 

Not nice to see and glad you managed to get down ok.  Very scary indeed.  I had a toe bail snap on Point 5 (old Mountain Tech Ice Vipers) and completed the route with one crampon as a roped second.  Had I been soloing I would have been very worried.

I would go for the plastic toe cradle.  You can get a great solid fit.  I use size 47 Baturas with G22 crampons. 

Email Grivel UK and see what they say.

Lee, I see yours have broke in exactly the same place as mine. I don't think its much to do with the size of boot or weight of climber, as you know I'm a skinny runt. I also don't think my size 44 G2's have that much of a bigger sole than more low profile boots. The other few I've heard of failing from this season have all been used on phantom techs or Baturas in the 42-44 size range.

We in the end put it down to metal fatigue due to the bail being slightly too wide for the narrow toe on most boots now. I guess we just climb too much

I found with mine that the bail became slight mis-shapen after a few weeks and had to adjust the size of the crampon accordingly. Other than that there was no other signs of wear or damage, which is tedious as it just breaks unexpectedly. Still waiting for news on our replacement bails, I think I'll be using the 22's for quite a while still as they do climb really well, but will admit to going with Cyborgs for Senja.

The #knektbøyleforening is definitely becoming a thing.

Actually, I did need to tighten the winder on the heel bail at the start of the climb as the fit was oddly a little looser than normal. I guess there was a little distortion in the bail that wasn't obvious to the eye. I don't think I can just accept that front bails will just break from regular use though as next time it happens I might be in a more serious position. I shouldn't need to carry spare front bails on a climb either. I'll see what Grivel say, but I'm thinking of switching to the Rambo bails. With time I know the coil in the bail sometimes gets smaller, but better that than the bail breaking. 

Perhaps use the standard curly bales, this worries me slightly as I have a g22 front bail on a petzl lynx only bail that would fit my boots perhaps this sort of fatigue would be accelerated in certain configs of crampons and different sized boots

Alarming! If the crampons are less than ten years old (and I imagine being G22s they will be) this sort of thing shouldn't happen I'd suggest getting in touch with the shop that you got from who should take it up with Grivel UK on your behalf.

Thanks Stephen, I actually ordered some replacement front bails from Needlesports in haste for the coming weekend. After a little more consideration though I'm coming to the conclusion that one breakage is one too many and that I should stop using the G22s until I'm happy that the same won't happen again. I ordered the crampons originally from another UK shop, but I live in Norway, and Grivel have said I can just send them the warranty form together with photos directly. Hopefully that will be enough evidence for them without needing to return the crampons for inspection. Yes I've never had a bail break in 13 years either! 

I can understand your concern. However, in all the years that we have been selling Grivel crampons (and they are by far the most popular brand), I can honestly say I can't remember having had a bail wire break, so I think you have been very unlucky.

Does anyone remember why the Grivel 2Fs got recalled back in the 90s? I remember Joe Simpson saying it was a crampon failing that led to his second major injury somewhere in Nepal back in the mid-90s. He said they missed the recall notice in High because it was next to an advert they had put in asking for people to join their trip as trekkers! 

I had 2Fs back then but never had any problems with them. Lasted forever.

From memory it was because the end of the bail was not bent over sufficiently so at certain angles it could / did pop out of the crampon.

Think exile is right, the end of the bail popped out in some circumstances. 

I mean from a purely engineering POV, it's failed where you'd expect it to fail, at an acute bend where it will experience higher stress and where there will be residual stress from being formed in the first place. Still surprising though. If a few have failed, maybe a bad batch that haven't been stress relieved or something? Definitely worth asking Grivel about.

I seem to remember it was because people were using them bolted up in rigid mode for walking into the crag. This wasn't really an issue in Europe where most walk ins were on snow, but in Scotland they broke.

That's interesting. Ironically a few partners of mine have recently had broken front bails as well. They weren't all Grivel, but a similar style. I would guess it's probably more of a problem on water ice. In the UK the style of climbing probably isn't so aggressive. More mixed and the ice is usually softer.

I don't know. I did something like 14 seasons of predominantly water ice in Finland and I don't think I remember even hearing about people breaking bails. I broke the main bit on one of my first pair of Terminators - they lasted 8 seasons, but I kept the toe and heel bails off them before recycling the rest because they still worked fine so figured they could be used as spares just in case!