We have posted a response from Mark Melvin, CEO of Touchstone Climbing, on our website.

http://touchstoneclimbing.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=528#528

What makes you say that?

Dear Curt, dear dirtineye,
I am under the impression that you have been given the answer to your questons.

The Op said "many times"
Curt called him a retard,
Dirtineye called for evidence.

there has been 3 documented incidents which the german and austrian climber association investigated (out of a total of 9 ropes failures during the same period).
it does not investigatae incident elsewhere in the world)
Ther are probably simialr incidents reported in anam.
I am almost certain that cavers association have reported similar accidents.

"Many times" in my book (please remember that english is not my native language) may mean "more than once", if may mean in other context "relatively often".
(even if you were o take that stance, 3/9 is 1 out 3 of rope failure is due to a chemical/acid damage, that would be quite high a level, wouldn't it).

Although, dear Curt, dear dirtineye, I can't stop being impressed by the speed of your poncing on newbies, I believe that you would have been best inspired to be less aggressive in that particular instance.
I would even go as far as recommend to you that you wrote a small message with a subtle touch of apology (yes, I am sure that you could do this) or acknolewdging that Roy was indeed right in it happended "a few times" and that regular precaution such as avoiding leaving the rope near a car battery are good ideas

Part of the UIAA spec is that low-elongation ropes have a single spiral in the sheath and dynamic ropes have a double spiral.

Part of the UIAA spec is that low-elongation ropes have a single spiral in the sheath and dynamic ropes have a double spiral. Crappy photos so it was just speculation. Don't judge a rope by it's core (at least from those pics) since there are so many variations between brands and models. Rope companies test all their raw materials so the odds of weak nylon getting to production are nil. The main variable is the heat treatment after construction and again the odds of over-cooking to the point of weakening are essentially nill. As mentioned, under-cooking just yields a less stretchy than intended dynamic rope and that's unlikely to be confined to a single sample. Sterling may not include batch codes on the tape but some other companies do (perhaps not when that one was made) and all will within a few years.

One more time, when the expert speaks, can we not listen?

Can you provide any documentation of that?

Thanks!

GO

Don't say 'we'. DMT will start ranting again.

Can you provide any documentation of that?

2.2.1. Marking
Low stretch ropes shall be marked as follows:

(a) The sheath shall have one main colour, which shall be at least 80 % of the visible surface (any colour is possible).

(b) Contrasting spiral threads are allowed, spiralling in one direction only, having a maximum of two colours.

From UIAA Standard 107

Dynamic ropes can have any pattern other than the above. My bad on the tape, it's actually an RFID chip injected into Beal ropes I was thinking of. Climbers don't keep hangtags or record rope mileage so better batch marking is inevitable. One way or another, I'd bet few ropes won't have it within a decade, including Sterling.

Jim, note that I said "nil" about the raw nylon and "essentially nil" on the cooked rope. I think you'll agree that Beal isn't sloppy on quality control though I highly doubt you've seen their production facilities.

It is quite obvious that English is not your first language. Perhaps, if it was, you may have understood that the exposure of a rope to "a car battery" was nowhere to be found in the OP's post--and that was a fundamental point.

Curt

During the 17 years quoted above with only one rope breaking at a sharp rock edge (at Hörndlwand), there have been four (!) rope breakages in Germany and Austria proven to be due to the influence
of sulphuric acid (liquid from batteries?).
By now, also in Britain several such rope breakages became known,
and in the US and in Canada one each.
In all cases, other than Britain, it was due to sulphuric acid. In the British
cases, wherever the acid was known, it was also found to be sulphuric. However, in all cases except one nobody could find out how the sulphuric acid came into contact with the rope; in the one case, it can be assumed that it was battery acid, because the rope had been stored in a camper van of a German mountain rescue team for some years.
The damage by any acid has the problem that it cannot be recognized on the rope; there is no visible indication of its presence.

...Come on curt and dirtineye, can't you admit that you were a bit fast this time to call BS ???

going off on the acid tangent without proof of acid dipping of the rope IS STUPID.

It's still the most plausible scenario. You have yet to offer another.

Cut rope? Not. Beal's QC screwed up? Far less likely than the owner getting it near something bad. Any other? Well? Bueller? Bueller?

There is a primrose path made specially for you, and it leads to hell.

Ruling out a cut based on the info you have is JUST PLAIN MORONIC.

It's quite clear from the descriptions of several people who handled the rope that the rope's condition was superb. No chance whatsoever that it was cut during the fall, none (indoors, overhanging wall, no edges, smooth carabiner). So for your theory to hold true, the cut would have to pre-exist. This presupposes that a) rockfall took out the rope just 8 feet from the end (climbers tend to remember these things) b) it was premeditated. It also demands that neither the climber nor the belayer would notice the white core from the cut (perhaps for an Esprit but not this one).

Acid fumes.

Papounet's use of english is fine and he makes an excellent point.

Whether acid caused the breakage or not, I read this forum specifically to be informed and reminded of such hazards. Speculation and debate about the causes of accidents is useful and instructive. Semantic quibbling and childish insults are not.