Helix Operations – Tactical

With the phasing out of the Edelrid Aramid 6mm cord and the Edelrid Hard Line becoming the replacement, we needed to update our testing to ensure the product offered was suitable as an alternative selection to Sterling Power Cord.

Edelrid state a MBS of 23KN for Hard Line. For the test we wanted to look at how the Hard Line would compare when used in a standard focal point anchor as is when using Sterling Power cord and the previous 6mm Aramid Cord. This would be comparable to previous anchor system testing using a stable forward tensioned focal point with x3 anchor legs tied off with x3 strands per leg.

The typical method for building a system utilising these cords involves each anchor leg being built from three strands which form a tensioning system, the tension is taken in equally on all the anchor legs and they are tied off individually.

With this test we wanted to look at leg strand strength to reinforce the reasoning behind a three strand tie off as well as look at Hard Lines overall capability in this type of anchor setup.

Samples were pulled to destruction with peak force recorded in kN. Using samples of 30cm single strand, 30cm double strand, and 30cm triple strand.
*NOTE: 3x single strand samples were made for single strand testing. Two of which measured 30cm in length eye to eye pre-tensioning. The final sample was short by 10cm.

Testing was carried out at DMM Engineering, Textile Manufacturing Building using a Testometric M500-100CT 100kN.

Results

Conclusion

The results show great consistency across all three tests. It is important to note that a high tensile tie off wasn’t done so the results shown shouldn’t be used to compare just against the stated MBS from Edelrid.

When building a focal point type of anchor set up, we are always looking for 3 anchor legs with each leg achieving a minimum of 20kN. The Hard Line data we have from the test shows that a 3 strand tie would be needed on each leg for us to be able to achieve our 20kN target per leg. As such we can safely say from the test that a 3 leg, 3 strand tied off focal point / beachhead anchor would very likely give us a highly redundant super strong anchor point which would far exceed a x2 person rescue load and litter.

View the full report here.

Edelrid Hard Line 6mm Anchor Cord Testing

Results

Conclusion