A misleading safety standard for belay devices

When an article endorsing a certain category of products is accompanied by adverts for a particular brand from that same category, my alarm bells begin to chime. 

In a recent article in the German online magazine Climbing.de it is brought to attention that the association of German climbing gyms, KLEVER now recommends the use of a certain type of belay devices, namely semi-automatic devices (like Petzl Gri-Gri) and auto tubes (like Mammut Smart), over regular tubular devices (like Black Diamond ATC). That article is based on another article from KLEVER's own website. 

Below I will discuss KLEVER’s data and make my own conclusions.

Petzl Grigri
a semi-automatic belay device

Mammut Smart
an auto tube belay device

Black Diamond ATC
a tube type belay device

In 2013 German climbing gyms had a total of 1,035,505 visits where of 236 (or 0.02%) led to accidents of varying seriousness. This is equivalent to 0,076 accidents per 1000 hours of climbing. In comparison, professional football has 9.4 accidents per 1000 hours of playing football. It can be concluded that professional football is associated with far more accidents than climbing in a climbing gym. So far so good. 

Of the 236 accidents recorded 145 (61%) were accidents related to bouldering and 29 (12%) were related to the belayer, and 35 (15%) were related to the climber. This could lead one to believe that bouldering is more risky than lead climbing, but this would be a misconception. For that we need information on how many of the climbing visits included bouldering. 

Of the 29 accidents, which were related to the belayer, 18 accidents (62%) involved a tubular belay device, 2 accidents (7%) involved an auto tube and 5 accidents (17%) involved a semi-automatic belay device while unknown belay devices were used in 2 accidents. Here comes the misconception of KLEVER, as they believe that tubular belay devices are more risky than the other two types of belay device. Again, we need information on how many of the climbing visits, which involved lead climbing, plus we need information on the climbers belay devices. With these data missing, one can not recommend a specific type of brake over another. Not very clever !!

Pocket Calculator

Our new dry-tooling facility

Yesterday was a great day for those of us who perform the dark art of dry-tooling: We initiated our new training facility. We call it DBKK Dry-tooling.

Last year when the revered Danish Alpine Club acquired a new bigger and very modern climbing gym they (we) more or less abandoned the good old gym at Sundholm. About the same time, the smaller ice climbing club CPH-ICE struggled finding a place for their (our) dry-tooling facility. Frankly, the fusion of the two was not among our first thoughts, but now it seems like a logical decision.

But what is dry-tooling, you may ask. Well, you know that mountaineers need ropes, crampons and ice-axes when scaling the summits. When we need these tools as we negotiate ice, we call it ice climbing and when dealing with dry rocks, we call it dry-tooling. What do you think we call it when it is a mix of the two? Yes, you are right, it is mixed climbing. When in steep terrain this not a trivial past time - it is slippery, high up and you wear pointy things.

That is why we like to train strength and technique in a controlled environment of a gym.

Peter at the old dry-tooling facility, CPH-ICE (at Carlsberg of any place).

Yesterday, we were eight who met up in DBKK Dry-tooling to start setting up the first routes for dry-tooling. We started by sorting climbing holds discarded for sport climbing but perfect for dry-tooling. Then we fixed ropes to climb on and began screwing the holds onto the wall with bolts. It is a stimulating task, as you have to figure out things like a climber’s reach, balance and strength in combination with friction and geometry of the holds and at the same time make the route fun and challenging to climb.

Sorting climbing holds

Anders HP bolting on a climbing hold.
(note all the holes in the wall - they have threads for the bolts)

Andreas climbed up the rope as he bolted his route.
Now he is figuring out which hold to choose for the next placement.

We produced 4 routes and a traverse circumnavigating the entire gym. Then we ate some pizzas before climbing our brand new routes.

Csaba, climbing the traverse.

Morten, climbing his route.

Andreas climbing his route using all means.

Mathias cruising up in elegant style.

It was a great evening in. From now on, we will hold club evenings every Wednesday. Can't wait until next week when we are going to make and climb more new routes.

Cheers!

Choosing a Hanging Stove

As you may know from my earlier post, I recently got myself a Primus ETA Lite. Now why did I wish for that particular stove? To tell you the truth it was a close race between some very specialised ones. I wanted one for alpine- and bigwall climbing, and that already narrowed the field down to gas stoves well suited for hanging. For 1-2 people, a useable volume of 0.5 L is sufficient when boiling water, and 1 L when melting snow. When backpacking or in a basecamp for any length of time I would prefer a bigger pot and a stove suitable for liquid feed. Anyway, here are the contenders:

Jetboil SOL-AL, Jetboil Flash, MSR Reactor 1.0 L – and Primus ETA Lite.

In order to be able to compare stoves, like now, I have begun developing a scoring system. For the purpose of this comparison I show relevant parts in the table below. 

Scoring System

Score	Weight	Packed Volume	Internal Volume	Wind	Simmer Control	Hanging Kit	Adaptor
*	<500 g	<2.0 L	>0.5 L	Fair	Fair	Fair	Fair
**	<400 g	<1.5 L	>1.0 L	Good	Good	Good	Good
***	<300 g	<1.0 L	>1.5 L	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent

Whereas weight is important for obvious reasons, among manufacturers there is less focus on the packed volume. To me it is as important as I don’t want too much bulk in my backpack. Some of the parameters are entirely subjective and some are difficult to evaluate. For example there is no standard for comparing wind resistance. Until such has been developed we will have to depend on hearsay :-)

Comparing the Stoves

Below are shown the dimensions and weights of the stoves as specified by the manufacturers. The external volumes were calculated based on the specified dimensions, and the usable volume is the maximum level recommended by the manufacturer or the maximum level indicated on the pot.

Dimensions and Weights (including hanging kits)

	Weight	Diameter	Height	Packed Volume	Internal Volume	Usable Volume
	g	cm	cm	L	L	L
Primus ETA Lite	355	10	15	1,18	0,75	0,5
Jetboil SOL-AL	354	10,4	16,5	1,40	0,80	0.5
Jetboil Flash	454	10,4	18	1,53	1,00	0.7
MSR Reactor 1.0 L	445	12	15,5	1,75	1.00	0.7

Wind Resistance

While the reactor is said to be notoriously stable in even the harshest of winds, the other two are lass so without being sensitive to wind.

Simmer Control

Some have found a way to make the Reactor simmer, however some care is needed, and it gets a small star for that reason. The other two simmers easily and gets three stars.

Hanging Kits

The Primus hanging kit is very elegant, as you just have to flip over the handle and tie on the supplied string. The MSR hanging kit is also nice as it is made from thin wire, which fit inside the pot. The Jetboil hanging kit on the other hand is made from wires and three aluminium rods, which do not fit inside the pot.

Adaptor
Even as these stoves are designed with the particular scope of fast and light travel and cooking they may have an adaptor making them some kind of suitable for normal cooking.

Using my scoring system on the above data and assessments leads to the scores shown in the table below.

Scores

	Weight	Packed Volume	Internal Volume	Wind	Simmer Control	Hanging Kit	Adaptor	Score
ETA Lite	**	**	*	**	***	***	*	15
SOL-AL	**	**	*	*	***	*	*	12
Flash	*	**	**	*	***	*	*	11
Reactor	*	*	**	***	*	**	-	10

The Reactor scores one * less in the external volume department as the handle makes it a bit less unhandy when squeezing it down a backpack.

Fuel Consumption

Comparing fuel consumption based on manufacturer statements is impossible because of lack of detailed data. The burners and heat exchangers from Primus and Jetboil looks alike, so presumably they are in the same ballpark. The MSR proprietary heating system and heat exchanger differ from any other on the market. The system is said to be hugely wind resistant but at the same time something of a fuel hog. The other two are said to be of average to good wind resistance and more economical with regard to fuel.

Summing Up

When comparing the reviewed hanging stoves, the Primus ETA Lite fits my purpose best.

Later I will post a detailed review of the Primus ETA Lite and possibly the MSR Reactor 1.0 L.

Cheers!