Just a question out of interest as I can't find anything on it elsewhere.

Petzl Superavanti and Fractio harnesses, are they still sold in purple or did that stop a while ago?

The reason I ask is that I own three purple Superavanti's, one "New" i.e. never used and the two others I've used quite frequently.

Recently I've found reports (such as this: http://www.wcms.org.uk/cgi-bin/wcmsarchive.pl?archid=check_your_leg_loops_feb2001) indicating that the "purple ones" might have had issues and was interested to know if anyone had heard of any design changes occurring after the colour switch?

It also doesn't help that the one that scared the f**k out of me when it tore apart in Utah's Main Drain was a purple Fractio.

Thanks
Josh

I believe the harnesses have benn red for quite a few years now. The issue you refer to was due to the maerial the harnesses were made from - I don't think Petzl made any changes to the design. If you want to have a definite answer, try contacting Lyon (www.lyon.co.uk) who are the UK distributors for Petzl.

A harness is only "new" after it has been manufactured whether used or not and like ropes, the clock for their safe life starts from that point not from first use, I'm afraid.

Thanks,

Yeah I understand it's not "new" in the conventional sense but in the sense it has zero wear and has been stored well. It's interesting to hear the material has changed though? I'll contact Lyon.

Josh

I've found a reference to the issue http://www.wcms.org.uk/cgi-bin/wcmsarchive.pl?archid=check_your_leg_loops_feb2001 from Les Sykes.

Not the year in question was 2001 so it may be the purple harnesses in question may be as much as 11 years old already, if not older....

Assuming the harness looks "as new", it should be easy to tell how old it is from the label.
Current Petzl numbering NNNNN - first two numbers are the year next three are the day of the year. (eg 12032 - 32nd day of 2012 i.e. 1st Feb)
Older Petzl numbering had, I believe, the days first and the year after. (eg 03294 - 32nd day of 1994).

You can tell the age from this.

I have a friend who tore the stitching on an old Petzl harness as he was putting it on.

The purple climbing harnesses were certainly phased out about 10 years ago.

Mike

Hmm.

Thank you everyone. It makes me slightly nervous now, I did a few 400ft free-hangs in a Purple Superavanti, will check age when I next can.

The thing that raised this issue with me was a Purple Fractio I used on a smaller 100 or so ft pitch about 900ft down. It tore on the webbing on the upper side of the right leg loop connection and the lower side of the connection on the left leg. It was much more well used than my Superavanti though and it was a dolostone cave with a lot of sharp contact when not on rope.

Might be an idea to start retiring these three harnesses.

Josh