Hard Goods, Ascenders & Stoppers: Maintaining Rock Climbing Equipment

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Paul from Eastern Mountain Sports on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this clip, I want to properly show how to maintain and stow essential hard goods used for climbing. First we have the stopper. Stoppers should not have any hairline cracks or fractures in the actual stopper part of this gear. Verify that it is true on all sizes. The cable should not be frayed, cracked or torn at all. This is essential in the safety aspect because you may cut your finger on it or it may cut or degrade other gear that you stow it with. Moving on to the air traffic controller it too should not have any cracks or hairline fractures. Make sure that the plastic coating on its cable is complete. The cable should be secured at both sides of the air traffic controller. The ascender too should not be cracked or have any hairline fractures. The rubber grip should be secure and there should not be an excessive amount of teeth missing off this. It is spring loaded and the spring should be forceful when pushing against your rope. Just take a few minutes to verify that. When stowing this gear, make sure that it is in a cool dry place and make sure it is away from any other harnesses or webbing that it may tear or degrade. "