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Moof
Trad climber
A cube at my soul sucking job in Oregon
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Back in 2003 I was climbing at Jtree and Red Rocks with a guy named Sean who worked at a lodge up near Mammut. Part of his crew from the lodge joined up a bit into it. One was a former CCH employee. His description of the owner was pretty sketch. He had a good opinion of the end product, as the owner was purported to hand inspect every alien personally before it went out the door.
My favorite story as about the meth head. He was the best assembler they had, he'd crank out 50 cams a day, compared to only about 20 a piece for most of the crew. The meth head got laid off because he kept passing out at work.
There were other stories too, but that one sticks in my head the most.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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I stand by my analysis of the photos. I would be stunned if this cable broke in tension and there is a remnant "end" of the cable embedded in the head socket. That would imply a defect in the SS cable material itself - hardly CCH's problem if it were true or one they would be very hard pressed to detect. I don't buy it for a moment.
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paganmonkeyboy
Trad climber
the blighted lands of hatu
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what years did the meth head work there ? i'd like to think all my old aliens were made by some meth-addled dude...
foo. this sucks. i have four old aliens and wanted to get some more...now i don't know what to think...
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Moof
Trad climber
A cube at my soul sucking job in Oregon
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The dude I was chatting with would have worked there no later than 2002, so probably somewhere in the 2000-2002 era.
According to this guy, the meth head, while sketch, actually did excellent work.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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I've gotta say, that I tend to be on the side of the fence saying that this is no cable break. Get real people. That cable was obviously not seated well, AT ALL, and pulled out of the braze. If that cable snapped, there would be damage to another piece of the cam, not to mention TONS of frayed wire everywhere. Especially with where the "break" is. How can you explain a break there without damage to the rest of the cam? Mainly though, cable doesn't break clean like that. It's difficult to even cut it clean like that without frayed ends.
Common sense shows this was a pull, rahter than a break.
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Hi gang,
Here are the photos of the braze failure that Micah Dash witnessed. This happened at the Reservoir Wall (IC) on 4/29. The climber wasn't hurt because he had another cam in about 2 feet down. There was about 50' of rope out when he fell. We may not hear from the owner of the cam. He was, according to Micah, "some 'euro dude".
Be safe out there...
Mal
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Mal...Thanks! Micah said it was about "six months old"...was that based on the date stamp or when the person bought it? I'm curious if this one was supposed to be pull tested and was dimple free or was a recalled item that didn't get recalled.
...sorry if this was explained elsewhere and I missed it.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Interesting that the cable end in Mal's pictures is capped, while the one shown previously is not...
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Kris: that "cap" is probably just the solder that formed from the neck of the insert area. Maybe knott, and only the CCH hairdresser knows for sure.
as for the "no wires showing" on the other break.... once the cable is heated and soldered, the wires are basically gone as the cable has now become a solid non-stranded unit. So the break may look like the cable was not inserted all the way, but it may just be a break at the union also. Suppose you could drill into the neck to find strands etc...
Scary to say the least.... I'd love to really find out what happened in these cases.... speculation is fun and all, but it's nothing like getting the pure dope on stuff like this.
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Murf
climber
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Without pushing the "conspiracy" buttons too hard...
I seem to remember when the recall notice when online, it took 4-5 days because the webmaster was on vacation or some such.
Turns out they've improved dramatically! Check out
http://www.aliencamsbycch.com/alien_news.html
On top of the news of the unverified cable break is a heartening story of the trigger bar on an alien saving the day! Doesn't quite push the cable break "below the fold" but it comes close.
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feelio Babar
Trad climber
Sneaking up behind you...
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"On top of the news of the unverified cable break is a heartening story of the trigger bar on an alien saving the day!"
Kind of like admiring the chandeliers on the Titanic...no?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Wild. I saw exactly the same thing happen last year in Josh. A guy fell leading and his top piece, a small alien, pulled. Then, some distance further down it caught him, as it's trigger bar became wedged in the crack. Unfortunatley the climber suffered a badly compounded leg.
I cleaned the route after, and when I got to the guys high piece there it was: a small alien with the business end sticking out in the air, the trigger bar wedged tightly in the crack...!
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Murf
climber
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An interesting post on rc.com:
Most of the newer aliens I have are already stamped 'tested', except for two. I phoned up CCH about this and Dave called my attention to the letter L stamped on the stems. This apparently indicates that he brazed these units personally, and that they had been tested.
I also have a red alien which was dimpled, and sent back for recall. They returned it with a tag which said 'tested to 1800lbs'.
So you have a dimpled returned alien, and not all tested cams are marked tensile tested.
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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So you have a dimpled returned alien
It is no longer dimpled - they repaired it.
not all tested cams are marked tensile tested.
This appears to be the case. Perhaps I should have insisted on sending them back for the stamp ? It was mainly an item of curiosity, since I'd already bounce-tested these guys myself.
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Murf
climber
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So the dimpled alien came back repaired in what way? Is the head still dimpled?
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rhyang
Ice climber
SJC
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No, the head is not dimpled anymore. The complete text of the tag is "New main cable tested to 1800 lbs".
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