Article: How to Keep Your Climbing Gear in Perfect Condition
How to Keep Your Climbing Gear in Perfect Condition
Climbing is a sport that, apart from being incredibly addictive, allowing us to enjoy nature, and keeping fit, also carries a risk factor. This risk is greatly minimized when we use appropriate safety equipment, but if this equipment is not properly maintained, it can fail and cause accidents. That's why we believe it's a good idea to create a short guide with tips for maintaining your equipment to extend its useful life.
by jeanstrack
Maintenance of Safety Equipment
STRINGS
Ropes are one of the most critical components of your climbing gear. Follow these tips to keep them in good condition:
Regular Review
Inspect your rope before and after each use. Look for signs of wear, cuts, dents, or frayed areas. One exercise we should perform is to go over the entire rope by bending it with both hands. If the curve forms a constant curvature, the core is in good condition. If the rope forms an angle at any point, it means the core is in poor condition.
Cleaning
Wash your rope with warm water and a mild soap. If it's dirty, you can do it in the washing machine, but use a delicate cycle. Never use harsh detergents. Let it dry in the shade, never in direct sunlight, as this could burn it.
Storage
Store the rope in a dry, dark place. Avoid exposing it to extreme temperatures and direct sunlight. It's also a good idea not to store it with knots tied, as this could cause it to warp.
Number of falls
The rope's technical specifications indicate the number of falls it can withstand. Once this number is exceeded, continued use is dangerous.
HARNESS
The harness is crucial for your safety, so you should:
Visual inspection
Check the seams, buckles, and straps for wear or damage. If any fibers break, replace the harness immediately.
Cleaning
Like the rope, it can be washed with mild soap and left to dry in the shade. However, it's not recommended to do this frequently.
Storage
Store your harness in a cool, dry place, away from chemicals and corrosive materials.
CARABINERS AND SAFETY DEVICES
These devices are vital for your safety:
Revision
Inspect carabiners and belay devices for cracks, deformations, or defective mechanisms. It's essential that if a carabiner or device falls from a considerable height, it must be replaced. Even if it appears undamaged on the outside, it could have internal micro-cracks that could cause it to break when tension is applied.
Cleaning
Clean them with warm water and a soft brush to remove dirt and dust. Dry thoroughly and lubricate the moving parts with a lubricant.
Climbing shoe care
Climbing shoes are essential for good climbing performance. Follow these tips to keep them in good condition:
Cleaning
Regularly clean the rubber soles with a brush and water to remove dust and dirt. This will improve their grip.
Drying
After each use, take them outside, but never in direct sunlight. Avoid storing them wet to prevent unpleasant odors and mold. You can also apply an anti-odor product to your shoes, as wearing them without socks can cause unpleasant odors.
Storage
Store them in a cool, dry place. Avoid leaving them in hot places like inside a car in the summer, as the heat can deform the rubber, making them more painful or even causing the sole to come loose.
Resoling
When climbing shoes lose their soles, it's not necessarily the case. Fortunately, the climbing world has a community that's quite concerned about the environment. So before throwing away your climbing shoes, consider taking them to a resoling company, who will fit them with new soles, so they'll look like the day you bought them, with the added benefit of having them broken in. This will also be good for your wallet, as it's much cheaper to resol climbing shoes (around €30) than to buy new ones.
Climbing Clothing Care
This is where we can help you the most. We've already made some videos explaining how to do it, posted posts on this blog, and on our website we give you tips on how to care for your clothes. Here's a quick summary:
Delay washing
We often wash our clothes when it's not really necessary. Most of the stains we get while climbing are dirt and chalk. A brush is enough to clean this dirt. With a few strokes of the brush, we'll see the chalk and chalk disappear. We're confident in this, as finding fabrics that are easy to brush and clean has been one of our biggest concerns since Jeanstrack was founded, along with finding a durable and stretchy fabric.
Washing and drying
There are times when washing is no longer an option, and then we absolutely have to do it. Ideally, we should wash them by hand, but realistically, with the pace of life we lead these days, who has time to hand-wash their clothes? That's why it's best to wash them in a washing machine, but with warm water, a neutral detergent, and avoid using fabric softeners, baking soda, and bleach, as these destroy the elastic fibers. Another thing to do is wash and dry them inside out, and out of direct sunlight, as this will only extend the life of the pants' color.
We recommend watching the following video on "How to Wash Your Jeans" to help you complete this step.
Maintaining our climbing gear properly is vital. By doing this, we're not only protecting our safety, but also helping our wallets. There's no more effective way to save money than making our gear last. And why not say it? If we manage to keep it in good condition, new, colorful pants will always look much better on us than deformed, faded ones.
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