Kolin Powick from Black Diamond posted another excellent gear testing article, this time on the different methods of extending slings on cam placements. He illustrates the three common methods he uses (same as mine) and then examines a sling-on-sling approach he thought was dicey.

The sling-on-sling method of extending a cam sling does save the use of a biner but in my opinion is cumbersome for both the leader and the second. It also appears to reduce the ultimate strength of the system, however, in most cases not so much as to be the weakest link in a real-world climbing situation.

The post Extending Cam Slings first appeared on All Climbing.

Omega Pacific recently released a notice instructing owners of their Link Cams to look for a potential defect:

In May 2008, we became aware of situations in which axle nuts were not properly and permanently fixed on the axle assemblies permitting the cams to potentially become disassembled. Upon receiving the units, our Quality Assurance department launched an exhaustive investigation to determine the cause and establish correction of the issue.

Our QA inspectors have determined that the returned units were allowed to progress from one assembly station to the next without this important step having been completed.

It was determined, based on identification by lot numbers, that the cams returned were manufactured prior to the implementation of upgraded quality assurance procedures and employee training sessions which were instituted in May 2007. At that point, new work instructions were written, additional quality inspection steps were introduced and employees were either reassigned or retrained to reduce the likelihood of such lapses in quality from occurring.

Full information, including how to determine if your Link Cam needs to be repaired, can be found at the Omega Pacific web site here.

The post Omega Pacific issues inspection notice for Link Cams first appeared on All Climbing.