Should I take my weight into account when buying and retiring climbing equipment?
In this excellent answer to Ideal and Minimal Rope Diameter for Lead Climbing it is shown how the falling weight affects the drops a rope is expected to survive.
This led me to the following questions:
Should I take my weight into account when I buy climbing equipment, especially if I am heavier than 80kg?
Should I retire my equipment at a different point according to my weight?
Are these answers different for different part of equipment (e.g. rope, harness, belay device, biners, quickdraws, protection...)
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/21606. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1 answer
The standard fall test for single ropes is performed with 80 kilo and all the other equipment is designed around the loads appearing at the fall test (typically with a 100% reserve). So generally speaking there is no reason to take your body weight into a account when buying climbing equipment.
There are two exceptions however: Trad gear can have quite a big spread (I have seen big stoppers rated as low as 8KN) but even with a lighter body you might want to buy something with a good rating. Via Ferrata sets are known for being problematic at very low body weight, especially for small and thin women and children. For these it makes sense to ensure they are suited for one body weight
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/21607. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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