Concerns w/ de-icing salt and climbing gear

robinia

robinia

Participating member
Location
Ontario, Canada
Through the winter the first part of my work day is spent checking a snow route - mostly stairs, walkways, doors. As a result I am expossed to A LOT of de-icing salt. Just seeing what it does to my clothes, boots and gloves has given me concern for the effects on my climbing gear.
I've tried keeping different work clothes dedicated to one job or the other, and even tried using two different pairs or boots, one pair for climbing and a seperate pair for salt application -- the last thing I want to do is stand in a pile of rocksalt and then footlock up a rope!
Even working in trees can pose a problem due to the amount of salt lying around. Every time a turn around my rope is nearly sitting in a salty puddle!
Some co-workers consider this "making a mountain out of a molehill", but I could really care less, especially if they are not the ones hanging from a rope!
To me this is a valid concern. Anyone out there have thoughts or experiences on this one?
 
well my thoughts are i agree with keeping your climbing gear-boots, etc. seperate and do not let your equip. get salt on it. salt will literally eat away at your gear. i have no exp. with it, as far as climbing gear but my boots--- the soles are eaten up after long exposure.
 
Yes, personally that would concern me. Not sure how your ropes are ending up in puddles of the stuff (not much snow where I live) but I would probably invest in a waterproof rope bag. I keep my ropes in water resistant bags to keep them clean (especially when working in muddy conditions). I also climb on my Safety Blue in muddy or gritty, sandy conditions to spare my main PI climbing line. I also wash my ropes after I have used them in muddy, gritty conditions.
 
i agree wit TOM, i freak out when my climbing gear gets wet from rain /snow/whatever,,......SALT? ive seen what it can do to concrete,,, daily inspection of your gear is a must...
 
If you're concerned, just wash your ropes occasionally.

Take some google time to research, here's a cut/paste that might help:

In a report on dynamic climbing ropes Pitt Schubert, President of the UIAA safety commission found the following....

1. Ropes cannot break in the tie in knot, or at the running belay.

2. Use of twin ropes has cut down on breakage's.

3. There have been no known rope failures in sport climbing

4. Petrol, Diesel, WD40, Coke and sea water do not damage ropes.

5. Autan (insect repellent), although damaging to plastic, was not found to damage ropes...in fact strength was slightly increased.

6. UV radiation does not damage ropes. Nylon is UV stabilised and only the colour will be lost.

7. Standing on a rope loaded over a right-angled metal edge with three times body weight did not reduce a ropes strength.

8. Standing on a rope in the snow with crampons did no damage. Neither did standing on it on rock with a 75kg body weight. In a further test crampon points were forced right through the rope with no strength reduction/damage occurring!

9. The suggested life span of 10 years which has been given for ropes is to help the user determine life span . However, after contact with ICI it was found that although after 10 years there was a measurable degradation in nylon (not just in ropes, but all nylon textiles) ageing itself would not cause a rope to break, unless it was loaded over a sharp edge.

10. Top roping damaged ropes, but the damage was visible and could be felt. The same applied to damage from stonefall.

However, lest we become complacent...

1. Any rope can break when loaded over a sharp edge. It is not possible to produce a rope that is strong enough not to break when loaded over a sharp edge, however, the maximum chance for survival is with a new rope.

2. Car battery acid damages ropes and cannot be visibly detected.

3. Ropes soaked overnight in urine (!) had their strength reduced by 30%. However, this was only relevant when the rope was loadedover a sharp edge.

4. The strength of frozen and wet ropes was reduced but again, unless the rope is loaded over a sharp edge, it would not matter.
 
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3. Ropes soaked overnight in urine (!) had their strength reduced by 30%.

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LOL.
Who would have even thought of this!?!
 
[ QUOTE ]


4. Petrol, Diesel, WD40, Coke and sea water do not damage ropes.




However, lest we become complacent...

2. Car battery acid damages ropes and cannot be visibly detected.

3. Ropes soaked overnight in urine (!) had their strength reduced by 30%. However, this was only relevant when the rope was loaded over a sharp edge.



[/ QUOTE ]

I did a quick Google search on the different PH level of these liquids and found.

coke PH 2.38
Car battery 1
human urine 4.4-8

From these numbers i would think that coke would be worse than urine. Unless urine contains something else that weakens the rope.

anywho i try to keep my ropes liquid and piss free.
crazy.gif
 
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