Dropped cam damage eval

Partner dropped my newish purple Totem from P2 anchors of Great Northern Slab at Index, WA recently. It bounced down the upper slab (~50ft) then free fell another 30-40ft and landed on a horizontal rock which it bounced off like a golf ball and went back up about 6-8ft in the air before landing on some grass/dirt.

Trigger action is fine, doesn't appear the axle is bent or any trigger wires are kinked/knicked/bent. Seems like it landed lobes down, all of the lobes have some level of denting on them, with 2 showing some deformation (albeit minor) of the cam lobe curve geometry.

Carabiner appears only to have taken some glancing blows, only a few minor gouges along the bottom edge but material was extruded out of those little divots slightly (some raised sharp edges around them).

Thoughts on continuing to use this gear? Partner offered to buy me a new one if I'm not comfortable using it, but he's my friend and obviously I don't want to ask that of him if it isn't necessary. Mostly I'm more annoyed than concerned because this was brand new less than a month ago. I'm not concerned about the carabiner but the visibly deformed lobe on the cam isn't great. I've never dropped anything before so I'm looking for other's feedback. 

It's farther than it looks because of the angle. Upper slab is about the same height as the lower wall from the ledge. 

I say climb on or ill buy it off ya if you dont wanna use it

Is this a troll post?

#makemicrofracturesrealagain

Look dude.. for reference... i use a bootied grigri and an ascender that i found at the base of El Cap. 

Your cam looks fine. I might relegate the biner to racking, cause why not.

Jesus guys this thing is for saving my life, seemed like a reasonable question to ask the community after throwing it off a cliff.

K Go wrote:

Jesus guys this thing is for saving my life, seemed like a reasonable question to ask the community after throwing it off a cliff.

Sorry, legitimately thought it might’ve been a troll post.

As far as pretty much anyone can tell, dropping gear doesn’t affect your gear at all if the damage is just cosmetic. Unless you can see that something else happened and everything seems normal, there’s a nearly 100% chance that it is normal and it’s totally fine. 

Doctor Drake wrote:

Sorry, legitimately thought it might’ve been a troll post.

As far as pretty much anyone can tell, dropping gear doesn’t affect your gear at all if the damage is just cosmetic. Unless you can see that something else happened and everything seems normal, there’s a nearly 100% chance that it is normal and it’s totally fine. 

Thanks Drake, my buddy's wallet will be happy to hear that.

Nope it's fucked. Send it my way and I'll dispose of it properly for you.

Well...It's only saving your life if you fall on it...The stuff is so overbuilt, I wouldn't hesitate unless you see cracks in the cam lobes 

Isac Fresquez wrote:

Nope it's fucked. Send it my way and I'll dispose of it properly for you.

0/10

Max R wrote:

Look dude.. for reference... i use a bootied grigri and an ascender that i found at the base of El Cap. 

Hey, give me back my ascender!

It would probably insure way more damage using a good whipper and I wouldn't hesitate to continue using it.   From the pictures you posted it looks to be in perfect shape, I wouldn't worry about it.

I still use gear found at the base of El Cap and walls in Zion that most likely took falls of a thousand feet or more and the gear works perfectly.

Use your own reasoning when making choices about what you trust your life to. Don't listen to some blow hards on mp. I'm sure there is seasoned climbers in your area who'd be better able to answer your concerns. 

I appreciate the nice clear, in-focus photos of the cam in question. I hate it when people ask a question and post a single photo taken with a potato and you can't tell if the photo is of bigfoot or a big foot. 

Also your cam looks fine to me and I would for sure use it if I was the one who dropped it.     

Isac Fresquez wrote:

Use your own reasoning when making choices about what you trust your life to. Don't listen to some blow hards on mp. I'm sure there is seasoned climbers in your area who'd be better able to answer your concerns. 

Thanks Isac. I asked several climbing friends and mentors but nobody had dropped a cam and recovered it afterwards so they all kinda shrugged.

Steve_ wrote:

I appreciate the nice clear, in-focus photos of the cam in question. I hate it when people ask a question and post a single photo taken with a potato and you can't tell if the photo is of bigfoot or a big foot. 

Also your cam looks fine to me and I would for sure use it if I was the one who dropped it.     

Thanks Steve, gotta show specifics if you want specific answers.
Well it's my cam but unfortunately I didn't drop it, hence the more thorough probing. Hard to ask a friend to compensate you for a mistake, so I probably won't bother. Gear gets beat up, that's part of the deal when sharing racks. 

Contrary to Isac’s assessment, you chose wisely.  The plain truth is,  Unfortunately,  you simply do not have access to my advice outside of MP.  

Best I can say is that personally, I would climb on it without worry.   

Mark Pilate wrote:

Contrary to Isac’s assessment, you chose wisely.  The plain truth is,  Unfortunately,  you simply do not have access to my advice outside of MP.  

Best I can say is that personally, I would climb on it without worry.   

Thanks Mark, and yes for as many trad climbers as I know, none of them are what I would consider seasoned veterans to ping about these things. I will keep plugging it. 

The impact spots on gear that fall tend to be kind of rough, so just get some fine grade sandpaper and smooth them out.