With all the talk about counterfeit product and unmarked rings, climbers a taking a closer look (than usual) at their equipment and the wear apparent on ringed cambium savers is causing some concern.
What climbers are not looking at is the condition of their rope!
Treetools has seen rope-damaged ringed cambium savers from multiple manufacturers over the last few weeks - and the problem is not limited to one particular brand of ring.
The Petzl Saver employs Petzl rings, the Timbersaws Saver, made in New Zealand by Aspiring Enterprises, uses CT rings and the Stein Safety Savers from the UK utilize ISC.
All these cambium saver brands show signs of wear, some after a relatively short period of use in the field.
The reality is: alloy anodizing will wear over time regardless of how much care you take. For example, wear associated with the DMM ring on the Treemotion bridge.
But you can expect accelerated wear on alloy rings if your rope (or bridge) is dirty, as witnessed on the cambium savers below. In most cases, this type of wear can be directly attributed to the condition of the rope (not the hardware).
