Rock failed before this CCH Alien did...

A friend and I just finished some impromptu testing of CCH Aliens in actual rock placements. The cams ranged in size and age (both pre and post recall). We yanked on them using a car - and while we don't have a dynamometer (yet) I can tell you that the force was much greater than what you'd get in a typical climbing fall: the car was often yanked backward, the knots in the climbing rope were completely impossible to untie, and the 31-kN carabiner we were using was deformed.

Bottom line: the cams were bomber. There were no cable or brazing failures. In all cases where we pulled to failure, the ROCK failed before the cams did. (These were solid placements in good quality granite.) The cables were all twisted up, the lobes badly deformed (and inverted as the rock blew apart), and the loops pulled into wild shapes - but NO brazing failures, NO cable failure. Just lots of rock dust.

We'll post photos and links to videos as we have time, but you can look at some of the initial photos at at www.geir.com/aliens/ (more)

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• CCH
• Alien
• pull
• testing
• rock
• climbing
• cam

[TheAirForceNinja]

Proof that aliens are real.

[ilikesoup6550]

wow, what a kickass video.

[jj8512]

Were you too scared to actually whip on them? :)

[Thedynojumper]

@DjNefarious well said man people never see it that way my cams are all still in working order because i use them properly. and video is waste of time thank for that CCH shills or what ever

[syrstad]

Dear CCH shills - you owe me 24 seconds.

[DjNefarious]

@JayT017

What's to say the unit was defective and that you didn't place it incorrectly? It's not that hard to destroy a cam by falling on it if you place it wrong. So many people are ready to shoot down manufacturers yet never consider their own failures. Gear is rated for A1 perfect placements, if you place the cam incorrectly - oriented wrongly, incorrect contact points or where the wrong part of the cam will take the impact - there is a chance it will break.

[JayT017]

All companies put out defective units. I had a c3 camalot bust on a fall just a couple months ago. Of course, they're made in China which makes quality control more difficult.

[jkfyoung]

How much force exactly did you exert on this unit? How many units did you test? See what I'm saying here? This is kind of cool as a curiosity, but scientifically, it says very little, if anything at all.

[apelikemenace]

Did you send this in to CCH and request a new alien?

(and ask them not to outsource to a foreign country?)

[yamahaducks]

i really like aliens and c4's

those are the best

[Voltor07]

Depends on the car...or more likely, the Ford F-150.

[CatsAreLaffs]

rofl aliens... thats such a 90's thing...cmon ppl, plz learn for once. thats like saying i found some glitter in the forest, must have been pixies