QC LAB: VIA FERRATA

This month, KP and the crew discuss a via ferrata accident (NOT involving Black Diamond gear) that happened in Europe, along with the ins and outs and proper use of via ferrata equipment.

the life expectancy will likely be greatly diminished. Always inspect your gear, and when in doubt, it may be time to retire it.

Climb safe,

How it Works

The attachment loop is girth hitched to your harness
The EAS is usually right next to the attachment loop, and just kind of hangs there as you walk, ascend or climb the via ferrata. The lanyards extend from the EAS system to the two carabiners. The carabiners are connected to the via ferrata cables, which run alongside the chosen path ascending the rock.
There are anchors connecting the cables to the rock every 3, 5 or 10 meters or so, depending on the terrain and who installed the via ferrata.
Sometimes you're climbing the rock, sometimes you're climbing iron rungs that have been pounded into the rock, sometimes you're literally grabbing the cable and hauling yourself up (gloves are pretty much mandatory while climbing a via ferrata)
When you come to anchor and need to pass it, you unclip one carabiner, pass the anchor, and then unclip the other carabiner and lanyard, and pass the anchor. This way you are always clipped in to at least one carabiner and lanyard.

There are no two ways about it—falling on a via ferrata would be bad. The way the system is designed to work if you were to fall is when the carabiners hit the last anchor point, the lanyards extend, and as the load increases to a certain point the EAS starts to tear (in the case of BD's) or slip intentionally (in other designs) absorbing the energy of the fall. The EAS continues to extend, absorbing energy as the climber slows and eventually stop

Before any piece of Black Diamond gear makes it on to the shelves, it spends months, sometimes years getting put through the wringer by our Director of Quality, Kolin Powick, and his team of Quality Assurance engineers. Through extensive and meticulous testing, both in the lab and in the field, KP and his team help ensure that you can count on your BD gear to be as durable, reliable and as strong as possible every time you head into the mountains or out to the crags. Our QC Lab posts aim to answer some of climbing's most common gear-related questions.

In early August there was a fatal accident on a via ferrata in Austria where a climber fell and both lanyards on the energy absorbing system broke.

This accident did NOT involve Black Diamond Equipment products.

There was an investigation by the manufacturer as well as by the German Alpine Club, which discovered that the particular design, after excessive use, failed to meet the standard requirements. Subsequently, the manufacturer of the particular model of via ferrata set, as well as other manufacturers incorporating similar designs, issued recalls for many of their products.

NOTE: NO BLACK DIAMOND EQUIPMENT PRODUCTS ARE OF A SIMILAR DESIGN, NOR ARE THEY AFFECTED BY THESE RECALLS.

The German Alpine Club issued a warning to its members to inspect their equipment and ensure that it is not affected by the recalls. To read the warning, CLICK HERE.

There was an emergency meeting of the UIAA Safety Commission, which resulted in a press release to the same effect:

To a true rock climber, a via ferrata may not sound like much, but let me just tell you from first-hand, former-naysayer experience—don't knock it until you try it. They are surprisingly fun. You take minimal gear, there are no belays so you're constantly moving, and you are able to cover and see all kinds of great terrain. It's a total blast.

In normal climbing, the rope absorbs energy in the event of a fall. However, while climbing a via ferrata, you typically aren't using a rope, therefore, in order to be able to relatively safely ascend the route, a climber uses a via ferrata "set" to absorb energy in the unlikely event of a fall. Black Diamond Equipment currently manufactures and sells two different models: Iron Cruiser and Easy Rider.

Components of a Via Ferrata Set

Before talking about how and what a Via Ferrata Set does, first we'll talk about the components:

1. Carabiners

autolocking
easy-to-open because you typically open these gates hundreds of times per day in order to bypass anchors in the VF system
K-type carabiner — must comply to different certification standards than a "normal" climbing carabiner

2. Lanyard arms

typically made of structural webbing
often elasticized so that the arms can extend and retract, which makes it more convenient

3. EAS (energy absorbing system)

the heart of the VF system, this is the component that absorbs energy in a fall, so that the loads are reduced on all of the other components of the system, the via ferrata structure, and, of course, the climber.

4. Attachment loop