Choucas Harness – Manufacturer Press Release
- Friday 14th August 2015
Aug 14th; 2015
Blue Ice, the company that manufacture the Choucas Harness, have issued the following press release regarding the Choucas Harness.
A customer recently contacted us after running into a problem with the safety buckle of the Choucas II Harness.
We contacted both the APAVE (the certifying body that verifies our quality system for harnesses and certification of harnesses to conform to the norm 12277 for mountaineering harnesses) and the ENSA (Ecole Nationale de Ski et d’Alpinisme) an independent laboratory that tests at least one harness of every batch we manufacture. No one sounded alarmed and they both agreed that the harness fully responds to the norm.
We spent two days running a series of tests with an independent expert from the ENSA laboratory in Chamonix. We concluded that the webbing can slide in the buckle only if the following conditions are met simultaneously:
1. The harness is oversized and the buckle is placed under the belay loop or the rope
2. The webbing is loose in the buckle and there is no tension in the belt
3. The user must pull gently on the belay loop or the rope perpendicularly to the buckle and purposely keep pulling sidewise.
Following this observation, we ran a series dynamic fall tests not required by the norm. For these tests, we choose the most unfavorable scenarios:
1. A possible falls sidewise
2. With the tying in point positioned (and secured) on the safety buckle.
In both scenarios, the webbing never slid in the buckle proving that an accidental slippage of the webbing cannot happen during a fall even when the most unfavorable conditions are met.
Finally we tested both the strength of the webbing tale and a fall with the harness opened to its maximum. We observed that:
1. The webbing tale does not come out of the buckle and that the system withstands the force required by the Certification norm
2. Even with the harness fully opened and the test dummy turning upside down during the fall, the test dummy never escaped from the harness.
We invite all of our customers to check the fit their Choucas II harness, in a safe environment, to double check its size, fit and the correct geometry of the belt when fitted. (Please note that in some cases, even the smallest size might not fit you.)
If a Customer needs any assistance with this, please refer to the retailer from which the harness was purchased, where advice and, if necessary, smaller harnesses can be tried on to verify correct size.
For further info – as well as guidance on correct sizing see the graphic below and/or click through here to see a video.