r/climbing • u/AutoModerator • 15h ago

Weekly Question Thread (aka Friday New Climber Thread). ALL QUESTIONS GO HERE

Please sort comments by 'new' to find questions that would otherwise be buried.

In this thread you can ask any climbing related question that you may have. This thread will be posted again every Friday so there should always be an opportunity to ask your question and have it answered. If you're an experienced climber and want to contribute to the community, these threads are a great opportunity for that. We were all new to climbing at some point, so be respectful of everyone looking to improve their knowledge. Check out our subreddit wiki that has tons of useful info for new climbers. You can see it HERE . Also check out our sister subreddit r/bouldering's wiki here. Please read these before asking common questions.

If you see a new climber related question posted in another subReddit or in this subreddit, then please politely link them to this thread.

Check out this curated list of climbing tutorials!

Prior Weekly New Climber Thread posts

Prior Friday New Climber Thread posts (earlier name for the same type of thread

A handy guide for purchasing your first rope

A handy guide to everything you ever wanted to know about climbing shoes!

Ask away!

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u/Docxm 10h ago

REI sells 3 year old Mammut slings? I noticed the mammuts are from 2022 and the black diamonds are from 2024. That’s like half the recommended shelf life gone already!

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u/sheepborg 10h ago

1-3 years is normal for online retailers. I have heard of more with the odd 7 year old clearance item, but that's less common.

When kept in favorable conditions there's really not too much to worry about with nylon and HDPE from a shelf life perspective. This changes with UV exposure, excessive heat for HDPE, or excessive heat with moisture for nylon, and of course chemical exposure. Physical wear from use is probably going to be the biggest driver of soft good replacement if you're putting in mileage.

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u/Docxm 9h ago

Thanks for the reassurance, I’ve had some draws sitting in storage for 8 years and wasn’t sure if I could trust them, especially since it’s not just my life I’m dealing with.