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Belay Loop Failure on El Cap

Tags: climbing
Mon, 10/30/06 • comments (5)

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Todd Skinner died Oct. 23 in Yosemite when his belay loop failed. He was rappelling when he suddenly fell, leaving his rappel device and locking carabiner attached to the rope.

He had noted that his harness was worn, and ordered several new ones, but they hadn't yet arrived in the mail.

Scary stuff. For those who don't know, and for those who did know and forgot: Check all your safety gear at least once a month. If any structural wear is found, replace the unit immediately. This applies to any piece of gear you hang your life on, which means anything except your shoes, chalkbag and sunglasses.

Everyone I know, including me, is pretty shaken up by this. There's a general feeling that climbing gear is made to such extreme standards of strength that even when a bit worn, it's is still more than strong enough to do the job. That is now manefestly not the case.

This tragedy is also covered in Rock and Ice and at RockClimbing.com.

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Readers' Comments

I was always taught that that loop is not a belay loop or any other piece of structural design on a harness. That loop is there to simply keep the leg harness connected to the belt. Period. When I lock in I pass the carabiener through the harness anchor points that that loop also uses; I make sure that loop won't get in the way, then I forget about it.

Is that loop really there as an anchor point? Do people receive instruction to use that loop as an anchor point?

Eller | 10/31/06 11:13AM
I've had instructors tell me all kinds of things: that it's not a structural element, or that it *is* a structural element, but it's better not to use it, or that it *is* best to use it. But the bottom line is that it depends on the harness. On my harnesses (both Singing Rock) and most of the others I've seen and used, that loop *is* meant to be used for belay and rappel. (I think this is true of Petzl and BD harnesses too.) I go with the manufacturer's advice, unless I have a good reason to use an alternate method.
raser | 10/31/06 2:25PM
Still seems scary. Using that loop means you have a single point of failure with no redundancy. Passing your 'biener through the leg-section loop and belt loop introduces a second point of failure and redundancy to your safety system. Maybe I'm jsut an old worry-wart, but I'm all about redundant safety when my ass is hanging over a cliff.
Eller | 11/02/06 7:06AM
I think the reason for using the belay loop was to reduce cross-loading, which I guess is way more common than harness breakage. But with something like this highlighting that this *does* introduce an(other) single point of failure, I wonder if this advice will chance, or harness design will. I'm hitting the climbing gym tonight, so I'll be giving my harness an inspection, and maybe investing in a new one. (And I think my partner has a birthday coming up...)
raser | 11/02/06 4:14PM
Never Trust what you've "heard". There are a lot of rumors flying around the ropeworld, and a lot of them are old wife's tales. There are some harnesses where the belay loop is life support, some not. If you are not sure, Lookup the manufacturer and read the instructions for use of your harness. Manufacturers do a lot of research on their products and know what's the safest. Also, if you are using a piece of gear as the manufacturer has instructed and it fails, they have to answer for it, if you aren't, all the blame is on you.
brandon | 05/02/08 4:45AM

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