Partial Quickdraw Failure...

As at least one person stated above: determine the mode of failure before jumping to conclusions.

Alex G. Davis wrote:You should disclose the manufacturer. What's more important - protecting a company or protecting te lives of your fellow climbers? A responsible manufacturer would be able to deal with the PR consequences of a failing draw where no one gets hurt. However, it might not be able to handle a death as easily. I'm normally very pro business but your position is borderline rediculous. You are putting way too much faith in thinking that the company will initiate a recall. At the VERY least you could give the manufacturer 72 hour to initiate a recall before making it public.

Said company is very reputable and pro-climber. If there TRULY is an issue they'll handle it.

72 Hrs? Seriously? The company is in a completely different time zone. The time to SHIP said item to be inspected is a day, then you have to do a physical analysis and then send to lab for chemical workup.

No company is going to issue a BLIND RECALL without understanding what's going on.

Too many climbers assume to quickly that gear failure is the manufacturers fault rather than some other factor. Not saying it doesn't happen but climbing gear doesn't have much of a safety factor built into it, gear breaks - plan accordingly.

RGold made a good point in a cam discussion a while back - "...As for gear-makers responsibility to ensure that the (nearly blind) faith we would like to place in their gear is justified, it is important to remember that climbing gear cannot be engineered to withstand industrial safety margins and still be carried up the hill. The nature of the endeavor forces engineering decisions that could prove catastrophic in the field, and climbers need to understand that. I am not trying to excuse shoddy quality control, but simply say that fond as we may be of the concept of bombproof gear; it isn't, never was, and never will be. "

mattm wrote: Said company is very reputable and pro-climber. If there TRULY is an issue they'll handle it. 72 Hrs? Seriously? The company is in a completely different time zone. The time to SHIP said item to be inspected is a day, then you have to do a physical analysis and then send to lab for chemical workup. No company is going to issue a BLIND RECALL without understanding what's going on. Too many climbers assume to quickly that gear failure is the manufacturers fault rather than some other factor. Not saying it doesn't happen but climbing gear doesn't have much of a safety factor built into it, gear breaks - plan accordingly. RGold made a good point in a cam discussion a while back - "...As for gear-makers responsibility to ensure that the (nearly blind) faith we would like to place in their gear is justified, it is important to remember that climbing gear cannot be engineered to withstand industrial safety margins and still be carried up the hill. The nature of the endeavor forces engineering decisions that could prove catastrophic in the field, and climbers need to understand that. I am not trying to excuse shoddy quality control, but simply say that fond as we may be of the concept of bombproof gear; it isn't, never was, and never will be. "

That actually makes sense. I guess I'm just hyper-sensitive to companies not claiming responsibility until forced to (which is the vast majority of companies). Good quote by the way.

Spri wrote:Looks like the quickline was crossloaded and shredded on the stud that threads it shut once it spun.

Spri has the right idea - How many times have you seen this in a gym?

Draws get loaded on QLs like that ^ all the time. It is easily remedied and your responsibility as a leader to do so. Although I have no way of knowing if this contributed to the draw's "failure", I easily recognized the company's draw and in no way will this effect my decision to climb above their gear.

@Trad Ninja: I am 6'6" and 205 lbs.

I can say that at the time I clipped the draw it was not oriented as shown in mattm's image. BUT I think that there is a reasonable chance that the draw oriented itself that way in the moments before I feel. It would certainly explain the morphology of the fraying.

mattm wrote: Spri has the right idea - How many times have you seen this in a gym?

Thank you for the visual. Yes besides defect this seams the likely culprit. Please note (all gym staff out there) that this can be avoided by putting a zip tie around the quick link.

This incident however, is the first time known to me that damage might have occurred in this way.

I don't mind the "drama". I think it's good to be concerned and scrutinize manufacturers but lets not freak out just yet.