For those interested in how strong those new shiny Dyneema sling you've just brought, or infact that new Dragon cam you've just taped up. You might find this video interesting :

Hot steamy XXX climbing gear video

It is long but quite informative.

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Level-headed member of Gadd-vey

so...let me get this right. the test results suggest that
1) by nylon slings
2) knot them (never dyneema)
3)a. load your belays (so cannot by dynamicly loaded in a fall)
b. use dynamic rope in belay?

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VP '08-'09

Dont think they could have made that any more depressing!

I wonder how much more durable dyneema actually is.

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where's that to? here tis!

It's not something you have to worry about really.

Falling onto a sling like that is really a bad idea, not because the sling breaks but because you'd probably snap! i wouldn't fancy having a 10+kn force yank on my harness! i'm pretty sure it'd break your back!

It's not wrong to use dyneema or tie knots in it, it's still plenty strong enough! It is however a good idea to make sure there's no slack in your belay set up that's the main message from that video.

I'd be way more worried about sharp edges and slings than tying knots in them.

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Girls like three things: Danger, Boners and R1oss' guns.

Stop summerising this video and instead make it 'STICKY' and make everybody watch it.

The video is misleading, making it sticky would just make everyone panic!

It's better just to say don't have slack in your belay set up!

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Girls like three things: Danger, Boners and R1oss' guns.

It's not miss leading it's a graphic demonstration of the importance of fall factor rather than distance fallen. The point is not about using slings in your belay setup it’s more about how you make yourself safe upon first reaching the top of the crag / stance. It also highlights how knotting slings weakens them, it doesn't say don't knot slings it just say's be aware of what happens when you do.

You're advocating 'ignorance is bliss'!

Surly the more people are educated about the mechanics of falling and the capabilities of the gear they are using, the safer everyone will be. It’s not scaremongering it’s just educational.


GREAT VIDEO . Thanks DMM

I can see what Tom is getting at, implying that nylon is "safer" is a bit silly when any of those forces would totally ruin a person. What seems to me to be the most important things from that video are to not have slack in the belay, and to include some dynamic rope as well. And don't do something like standing above your anchor...

It's a good demonstration of fall factor being important rather than distance fallen as well.

It definately is misleading judging by the response of those on here (and on the ukc thread equivalent).

In fact you made my point for me by being misled yourself. Fall factor has little effect because slings (particularly dyneema) are static. The Fall Factor is the ratio of the length of the fall to the length of material that can absorb the impact, As dyneema has practically no capacity to absorb the impact the fall factor is irrelevant, the length of the fall, the weight of the mass and whether or not it's knotted etc. do matter.

Ropes are different as they are designed to stretch to absorb the force, so having more rope to absorb the force for the same distance of fall (i.e. a lower fall factor) is a good thing. So with ropes fall factor is very important!

I certainly am not advocating ignorance as bliss (although I did shag harder when I thought RPs were bomber so maybe there is an argument for it...) it's just that this video confuses people. If you read the article that goes with it, it does give a more balanced view found here:
http://dmmclimbing.com/news.asp?nid=293&ngroup=1


As the saying goes a little knowledge is a Dangerous thing. This video only gives a little information and if you are unable to put it into context, all the video does is worry you and makes you want to (wrongly) bin all your slings, and stop knotting them (which in the right circumstances is a very important thing to do).

BTW if anyone does want to get rid of their nice dyneema slings i will happily take them off you hands at no cost.

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Girls like three things: Danger, Boners and R1oss' guns.

It maybe confusing but that’s very different to misleading, reading the article helps, I did that first so maybe that’s why I rate this video highly.

Granted with a `100%` static rope or sling the forces go up with distance fallen rather than fall factor, so fall factor becomes misleading, though Factor 0 = no fall, no injury no death. Shame they didn’t test the 60cm sling at a 120cm factor 2 fall, It’d give us a chance to compare distance fallen directly with fall factor on Dyneema.

I’d hope this video would give people some knowledge of the properties of different materials and prompt them to ask questions or do their own research, but maybe not!

I know much of this has been said already, I just cannot help to voice my opinion:
I do not believe there is any reason people should watch the video, there are no practically useful information there! I sincerely hope that climbers know that they should not use slings in such settings and if they do, then still the sling breaking is the least of their concerns - most likely the anchor or their back breaks much earlier than the sling.

Also, the human body would most likely not generate such force in a first place - there is a lot of squishy and flexible stuff in our bodies, so the energy would be absorbed elsewhere before it would be transferred onto the sling...

What people should know when they are using slings for climbing:
- never use it in a dynamic setting - no exceptions

That's it. No need to worry about knots or anything else.