The Importance of Keeping Your Gear Out of the Sun

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Dan, and I am here with Expert Village today to talk to you about the importance of taking care of your climbing gear. Many of these items, your rope and shoes, most especially often times are exposed to sand. Whenever possible, you want to not step on your climbing rope, as this will grind small sand particles into the rope, which after time will break down the core of your rope. You can see that this rope is called a kernmantle rope. It has an inside core and an outside mantle. Your shoes likewise, are typically made out of a soft rubber, so walking in the sand or dirt will wear them down very quickly. Also if you have sand on the bottom of your shoes and you begin to climb, it will act as miniature ball bearings, increasing the likelihood of slipping and falling. So whenever possible, you can step on your tarp of the rope bag if you have one. But again, be careful not to step on your rope. When storing any of these items, your helmet, your rope, any of your climbing gear, you want to make sure to put away clean and dry. You don’t want to dry or store in direct sunlight, as the UV rays can break down nylon. The helmet is an item that often times need to be replaced due to its constant exposure to UV rays. Your harness will often times have care instructions, which will typically involve washing with a very gentle soap in lukewarm water. You can hang it to dry, or if it came with a small mesh bag, put it right back into the bag and allow it to dry in your closet or another space out of the sunlight. Likewise if you were climbing and your rope got wet, you want to hang it up, try to coil it over something; a shower is recommended since it has a shower curtain pole. Allow to drip dry and air dry. Again, very important to keep it out of the sun. Once everything is dry to your liking, you can then package it up and store it for future use. So those are some of the basics that involve care of your gear, which will improve the life span of it and also keep you safer. "