my helmet disintergrated

[kay]

I bought an Ecrin Roc in the late 90s, and by then they were smooth, without the ridges.

 

[Pete K]

Perhaps someone should PM Mr Sparrow.

 

[damo8604]

I too had an Ecrin Roc in about 1997 and it was smooth with the wheel thingies either side, my old caving instructor Chip Rafferty had one of these which I lusted after on my cave leader training course (which is why I HAD to have it when I saw it a few weeks ago)

I said it was at least 2 years old as the seller stated "carbide worked last time I used it which was about 2 years ago"

I'm going down to the shed in about 20 mins after I've eaten my tea to examine the debris and (hopefully) be able to solve the mystery regarding model and age

 

[Ed W]

Damo,

I'm pretty sure that this is a Petzl Vertical model of helmet that was popular for a while in the late 80s and early 90s.  I seem to recall that the helmet could be purchased with the Laser Carbide/electric headset already fitted.  I am not sure but I think Petzl had stopped making these by about 1995, but I might be wrong.  I also seem to recall that this helmet came in for a fair bit of criticism in a series of impact tests carried out by Graham Proudlove (I think) that reported at lectures at the BCRA Conference (remember them?) in about 1990ish.

At the time the Vertical was marketed as a caving specific helmet and a cheaper alternative to the Ecrin which was aimed more at the climbing market.  I also seem to recall that it had some sort of lower tier of UIAA approval than most climbing helmets, but it was a long time ago.

 

[cap n chris]

20 years old then.

To paraphrase Platoon "Holy shit! You see that f**king helmet come apart, man? I never seen disintegration like that before, man".

That'll explain it.

 

[damo8604]

Well, there were no markings, date stamp or anything other than someone had written their name....... Cave troll or something similar? :tease:

Petzl vertical actually rings a bell and from what Ed has described it does sound like it (aceteo/laser combo)

Never mind....... I quite like the look of the Vertex

 

[Rhys]

Ed W is on the right track there, I think...

Rhys

 

[potholer]

I'm sure he's right - yesterday I had a vague idea of some 'other' Petzl helmet in times past, but couldn't be certain there had been one, never mind think of a name, and today when I was thinking about something else, 'vertical' just popped into my mind for no obvious reason, but rather too late.

 

[Rhys]

Here's a snippet from Descent referring to the helmet tests and BCRA conference in 1990 of which Ed talked. It mentions Vertical and says it was Dave Brook did the testing.

Coincidentally, the front cover of that issue (97) appears to show a caver in a Petzl Vertical helmet, as does issue 106.

http://www.wildplaces.co.uk/descent/descent087.html

http://www.wildplaces.co.uk/descent/descent106.html

 

[braveduck]

I suspect that helmet has become so brittle because it has been left for a year or two in direct sunlite,such as a garage window.Off cuts of 25ltr drums left in my garden to collect water for several years become as brittle as Ice.But usualy just the white ones ,so  a bit supprised abut the Red one.But it all depends on the type of polymer used.

 

[damo8604]

It's all academic now, I've bought myself a brand new vertex best with a pixa (to go in the BDH as a backup) my main will be the duo I received today, just need to buy a decent module for it now, going to keep it on the elastic though rather than mount it, just in case I ever need to switch to back up, it's just a case of whipping off the duo and clipping in the pixa. No more false economy for me..........

 

[Stu]

Just a suggestion...

I've mounted a Duo to the helmet with zip-ties. Means should I ever decide to actually just wear it as a head-torch, the elastic won't be manky... or stretched!

 

[mikem]

Transparent to UV light. Nylon is significantly degraded by sunlight but inhibitors are added during manufacture to reduce this problem.

http://www.beaverloc.com/nylon.php

I know that fibreglass climbing helmets have been tested after many years of use & still remained strong, whilst plastic helmets degrade massively in a few years outdoor use.

Mike

 

[markdavies571]

I just had a look at some old Petzl catalogues.  The 1995 one shows the VERTICAL as per the original posters' photo.  The 1996 catalogue has the "new" ECRIN ROC with DUO and ACETO and no mention of the original posters' helmet so it will be at least 18yrs old.

Mark

 

[Trotsky]

It is a Petzl but not an Ecrin. Its a budget model that Petzl produced in the mid 80's and the internal harness is much  more like a construction hat type rather than the more substantial Ecrin that had a decent internal cradle and leather headband. I still have one of these things kicking about in the back shed. Might try a destruction test to see if that shatters!!!

 

[Trotsky]

Oh and Rhys, the guy in the left hand photo from the BCRA conference is me pretending to examine something at Caving supplies stall. Dodgy hairdos seemed to be in at that time.