charlet moser shock absorbers

hi everybody,

recently i became aware of so-called 'shock absorbers' manufactured by charlet-moser. they are supposed to limit the shockload of a fall on pro to some 5kN, the rest being absorbed by the tear of the stiches of the device. sounds like a good idea to use them in situations where the available anchors are not totally reliable, i.e. - old pitons - micro nuts, - ice screws in brittle or wet ice - ...

questions: - do these devices really work well? what are your experiences 'in the field'? - would you recommend using them instead of ordinary slings/biners? - are there any measurement reports available?

TIA,

I'll let someone else answer your other questions, but if you can find Yates Screamers http://www.yatesgear.com/climbing/screamer/index.htm they're considerably cheaper than the Charlet Mosers.

Just be sure and let your partner know when you've got the ice screamers on your rack. They have a REALLY low rip threshhold. Low enough that I managed to make one rip with just a few kicks on my aiders (I know it was stupid, I was out of drwars and used the screamer to make a LONG reach, then was testing the placement with a little kick....ooopss....)

BUT I really hate the sound of ripping when I'm aiding, much worse than biner shift....which I also hate. I just got rid of my harness with Velcro. Maybe I should wear earplugs when I aid climb.

that would be draws.....

I need to type better. Or find a ng reader with spell checker.....

Haven't used the Charlets (soooo expensive) but have used others (mostly OnSight's, made in Squamish BC) on ice, mainly, and to back up old 1960's-era Fred Beckey original quarter inch buttonheads and so on. They really do work - climbing wet ice at Whistler one day my buddy suddenly had all 4 points (Tools & picks) dinnerplate at once, he took about a 3m fall on double ropes onto a 17cm screw with a screamer on it, with both ropes clipped through the lower biner. The screamer ripped the first 3 bartacks - he stopped - the screw held (it later came out with about 1 turn from the sloppy ice). The catch was so light that I hardly knew i was holding a fall...

With all shock-absorbing runners it is a good idea to use wiregates (or locking carabiners, I guess) because the vibration of the bar tacks ripping out can flutter open a regular carabiner gate. Not much good limiting force to 6KN if that's the gate-open strength of your biner.

Before you buy.

This was the reason load-limiters with bar tacks were discontinued many years ago. Screamers do not use them for absorbing shock (linear stitching). Yates is the only company I know of that has thoroughly tested their product (not saying the others don't but I haven't seen