It was an injury and it involved a climber who decked in a gym from rope failure. The climber placed the rope on the ground in the parking lot. When the rope was on the ground it came into contact with sulfuric acid on the ground. "Car battery fumes" is mostly just evaporating water and hydrogen. The liquid in automotive batteries is typically a mixture of 30% sulfuric acid and 70% distilled water. Overtime the water in the battery can evaporate, but sulfuric acid does not really evaporate. That is the reason why automotive batteries that are low in electrolytic fluid should be refilled with water, not battery acid. When voltage and current is applied to the battery from the alternator, small hydrogen bubbles are produced in the electrolytic fluid mixture causing a buildup of hydrogen gas in the battery's cells. The hydrogen gas is vented into the atmosphere or filtered through a hydrogen filter. But the hydrogen is not really the problem, it is the sulfuric acid. That is what will weaken a rope and that is what caused the rope failure in the example above. It is for that reason that you should never set your get on anything in the engine bay or on the ground in a parking lot.

I took three half day lessons with an instructor (who was incredible!) and I absolutely believe that I have a lifetime of learning ahead of me. Isn't there always more to learn?

Thanks for the advice to hire professional help (but when is that not good advice?).

I was anxious to get my own gear, walked into a bizarre situation on Craigslist, and am now trying to make heads or tails of my hasty decision. So far I think I've received some sound advice and I'm very appreciative of it.

I understand that feeling:-) Sounds like your head is right then. What I've seen in my 40 years of doing this is that most of the danger of starting this sport is that people do not know what they don't know. They know enough to get themselves hurt or killed. The advice you received upthread is good and I'd trust all the biners, nuts and cams. If you sell the 4 axes you'll probably make your money back, put them on Mountain Project in the classifieds.

Let me add more. I would never lead on your ropes, but I would immediately wash them and all the soft goods inc. rope bags (cold water with woolite on delicate, hang out to dry) and use them for anchors for top roping. Having seen a rope break on a kid rappelling, I don't take my ropes for granted any more.

Next, see if there are any classes at a local college or climbing club for climbing, it will be much cheaper than paying for an instructor or guide. Then look for the most experienced dude you can find and hang on him like a ramora on a shark, invite him out, invite yourself in, buy the beer, buy the gas, carry the weight (or at least offer).

Good luck!

I asked my husband about this and he suggested I write the following

Do you have a link for this?
The concentration of sulfuric acid normally found in car batteries is 40% SA to 60% water. in these concentrations sulfuric acid is usually stored in plastic containers, note batteries are made of plastic. However, not all plastics are the same.
Strong concentrations of SA will decompose some grades of plastics, particularly those with high organic or volatile component.
All of this said, there is probably a better chemist in the house than he is. He did though, suggest the decomposition of the rope in the above scenario would more likely to of been caused by a combination of heat (from the engine?) and the sulfur dioxide emitted from the battery whilst being charged. In extreme circumstances this would be far more corrosive than the sulfuric acid.

I suggested we chop up bits of rope and experiment. He said 'no'

Not sure what exactly your chemistry question is, but the story about the rope breaking was reported first-hand either here or on Supertopo. Analysis of the rope showed traces of acid, but it could not be determined how it happened.

Batteries should not emit significant quantities of either sulfuric acid or sulfur dioxide in normal use, else we would all have a corroded hole on our car hood (when liquid level is low, you add only water, not acid), but it can easily be spilled during removal etc, especially in older style batteries.

The chemistry term, "strong acid" does not refer to concentration, it describes the ability of an acid to dissociate, even dilute sulfuric acid will damage nylon.

What is so scary about this is that if exposed to sulfuric acid, nylon ropes or slings may have no visible damage.

TE

I asked my husband about this and he suggested I write the following

Do you have a link for this?
The concentration of sulfuric acid normally found in car batteries is 40% SA to 60% water. in these concentrations sulfuric acid is usually stored in plastic containers, note batteries are made of plastic. However, not all plastics are the same.
Strong concentrations of SA will decompose some grades of plastics, particularly those with high organic or volatile component.
All of this said, there is probably a better chemist in the house than he is. He did though, suggest the decomposition of the rope in the above scenario would more likely to of been caused by a combination of heat (from the engine?) and the sulfur dioxide emitted from the battery whilst being charged. In extreme circumstances this would be far more corrosive than the sulfuric acid.

I suggested we chop up bits of rope and experiment. He said 'no'

Out of curiosity, I once poured full-strength acid from an old leaky battery onto a light colored nylon sling, just so I could clearly see what acid damage would look like. All it did was give the nylon a very slight brown tinge. Comparable to a dirty spot on it. Spooky, for sure.

GO

Did you pull test it?

Nah, it would've been cool to see the difference, but A - I don't have a strain gauge so I'd have had to jury rig something, and B - I didn't want it potentially touching any of my gear.

GO

Anyway the incident was at Pipeworks Climbing Gym
in Sacramento, California. You can download a PDF about it here:
www.caves.org/section/vertical/nh/52/RopeBreakagefinal.pdf

Hi David, thanks for the email, this harness was produced in early 2003, and would be past our recommended life-span of 5-8 years, so we would recommend retirement at this point.

You don't need to worry about the biners at all. BD once pull tested a bunch of biners found at the base of El Cap (meaning that they had been dropped from 100s to 1000s of feet) and every single biner that was not obviously deformed from the fall broke at above it's rated strength. If the biners look fine (minor scratches are not a problem) and the gates function correctly, you're good to go.

REI sells the petzl express runners http://www.rei.com/...petzl-express-runner Backcountry.com sells the black diamond dynex runners which are my favorite http://www.backcountry.com/...amond-dynex-dogbones Trango sells draws http://www.trango.com/...bing/Express%20Sling Fish has some http://www.fishproducts.com/...g/productlinefs.html or you could always get some mammut runners and make trad draws.

Just a thought - climbing gym employees are frequently not experienced at all. They're high school kids who make minimum wage belaying birthday kids at parties.

Similarly, even head route setters at gyms, particularly in a place like Florida with no "real" climbing to speak of, may in fact just be very strong gym rats with no experience to judge the quality/safety of gear.

Just food for thought.

Just a thought - climbing gym employees are frequently not experienced at all. They're high school kids who make minimum wage belaying birthday kids at parties.

Similarly, even head route setters at gyms, particularly in a place like Florida with no "real" climbing to speak of, may in fact just be very strong gym rats with no experience to judge the quality/safety of gear.

Just food for thought.

I could write a book listing the experiences I have had with gym employees validating the above quote. Even in world class gyms, the employees often dont know what they are doing (such as Momentum in Salt Lake).