Information about via ferrata sets

Climbing sets are a life insurance in climbing sports. In an emergency they are the most important part of the equipment and catch the climber if he should fall. Accordingly, much importance should be attached to this part of the equipment. Many climbers make individual components of the equipment themselves. For example, this is not a problem with chalk bags and makes it possible to adapt it to one’s own needs and, if the processing is not quite successful, at most the equipment will be dirty. On Via Ferrata Set does not seem much more elaborate if you have a certain skill. However, it is strongly advised not to do this yourself since such parts can not reach the quality of industrially produced, standardized and, above all, extensively tested products.

What about one Via Ferrata Set arrives.

Since the quality of a via ferrata set in the worst case, a human life depends on strict manufacturing guidelines. As each Via Ferrata Set must meet certain standards that prove its quality beyond doubt, it does not matter which product you buy in principle. Each officially sold in Germany Via Ferrata Set meets statutory standards and is therefore considered qualitatively equivalent to other products of the same model. It is more important to pay more attention to the respective model, because via ferrata sets differ slightly in their structure and there are a few different types. The most used and also the best type of via ferrata set corresponds to the Y construction. One such Via Ferrata Set consists of a band loop, a fall damper and branching off from this Y-shaped two extensible legs, each of which has a snap hook at the end. It is important above all to create such a via ferrata set faultless, so that it can accomplish its task in full. The band loop is threaded through the one or, if present, both binding loops of the belt at chest level and the entire via ferrata set threaded through the resulting eyelet and carefully pulled the resulting loop. The Y-via ferrata set is so popular because on the one hand no special knot needs to be made for attachment and on the other hand two snap hooks secure the climber on the rope. When climbing, only one hook is always hung on the next anchor point, while the second initially still hangs in the current anchor point. Thus, the climber is secured at all times by at least one snap hook on the rope.

Via ferrata sets for children

In many cases, relatively young children already want to practice climbing. For this purpose, the market also offers a large selection of via ferrata sets for children – which are invariably completely unsuitable! Via ferrata sets must comply with a specific standard, namely the EN 958, which makes a statement about the force from which the fall arrester triggers. This force results from the sum of the weight of the climber and the force of the acceleration in free fall. For a shock absorber to trigger, the sum of both forces must reach a certain value. The tests to determine this standard and the quality control of all sets of stands are carried out with a weight of 80 kg. This results in a serious problem. The lighter a person is, the higher must be the force from the acceleration, so that the total force is sufficient to trigger the fall arrester. It follows that a child must fall much lower, so that the fall arrester triggers. A deeper case results in a much higher fall speed before the child is decelerated. In direct connection with the much higher speed is a higher force on the child’s body by the braking effect of the via ferrata set. At the same time, the braking distance is shortened, since all parts of the climbing equipment, apart from the impact absorber, are already under tension and can not contribute to the damping of the fall. This load results in particular a strong force on arms, legs, the back at the height of the attachment of the via ferrata set, and ultimately the neck. The resulting injury risks include over-stretched limbs overloading the spine, which can lead to cross-sectional paralysis, or a broken neck. Therefore be warned: A via ferrata set for children under 50-60 kg does not exist!