Hook questions

Hello everyone, I’ve been having some difficulty finding the ratings on Black diamond cliffhanger and grappling hooks. Does anyone know what they fail at? Also, out of the black diamond talon, cliffhanger, and grappling hook which is best for small edges? 

Hey Man,

I don't think you will ever find a published strength rating on a hook because they are only designed as a body weight/progression piece. If they did include one I suppose it might give someone a bad idea on their capabilities. There are stories of early/home made hooks opening but it is not something that I would ever worry about. Every time a hook has failed me it is because the rock broke away, not the hook bending.

For small edges I think the talon would probably serve you best, but it really takes practice to judge what hook is best for what edge.

Hope that helps.

Luke Smith wrote: Hello everyone, I’ve been having some difficulty finding the ratings on Black diamond cliffhanger and grappling hooks. Does anyone know what they fail at? Also, out of the black diamond talon, cliffhanger, and grappling hook which is best for small edges? 

I tested the Talon, the results are somewhere on here if you do a search.

Adam Morrison wrote:

Thanks for your help, I am just taking up climbing, I'm not really informed about all this equipment, especially grappling hooks...

If it helps, "grappling hooks" are absolutely not normal climbing equipment.  So, you don't have to worry about them at all in the context of rock climbing.

Vdiff cites 2 kN as the strength of a hook, and has a great article on them here:Vdiff Skyhooks

 I imagine if you placed a hook over a hypothetical perfectly rounded thick flake the same profile as the hook curvature, such that the weight is spread over the whole hook, not just at the tip, it may be stronger than that (though I've never seen a placement like that)

John Reeve wrote:

If it helps, "grappling hooks" are absolutely not normal climbing equipment.  So, you don't have to worry about them at all in the context of rock climbing.

(He's talking about the BD grappling hook, which is actually a piece of legitimate aid climbing gear: grappling hook)

Adam Morrison wrote:

Thanks for your help, I am just taking up climbing, I'm not really informed about all this equipment, especially grappling hooks...

Just making sure you know a BD Grappling Hook is not a “grappling hook”.   It’s not meant to throw up over a cliff and climb on it.  

Sam Skovgaard wrote: (He's talking about the BD grappling hook, which is actually a piece of legitimate aid climbing gear: grappling hook)

Yeah, that's true and I knew that.  My answer was more from the context of "I'm just getting into climbing (in general)".  I was under the possible mistaken impression that the OP was maybe a little new to "climbing in general" as opposed to "new to aid climbing".

Must be much much more than bodyweight, lots of stories of Ken Nichols taping and/or tieing hooks off for use as lead placements. Which seems contrived to me, but hey, game on. I've never heard of someone breaking a hook (but I'm sure it's occurred), I'll bet Ed Leeper tested his Leeper hooks. anyone have any old summit mags they can look for it?

Edit: found a great thread. Both Jamie Logan (inventor of Leeper's Logan hook) and Jim Titt's Talon test posted) https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/112474850/hardness-of-hooks?page=2 The strength is much lower than I supposed. Thanks Jim!