Well I've read/written quite a bit about these, and I think it's only fair/right that I explain the circumstances under which I have become part of the "Ice clippers broke on me" club.
Today I was climbing at the Roaches, while rigging the belay I heard the depressed clink clink of gear falling. I looked down to see my trusty reverso3 had fallen down to a lower ledge of the climb I had been on (only about 2 metres). Confused I looked down at my Ice clipper (where I always rack my belay plate) only to see the gate had fallen completely off onto the floor. I looked around and eventually found the gate. I am confused as to how this happened, the route had been a techical slab climb, no trutching or scraping involved, so how did it come off?! Luckily in this case I didnt lose anything important, and nothing was damaged. Would I trust these with a full rack of £40+ ice screws....Probably not.
I fixed the ice clipper no problem, and then belayed with an italian hitch, however if I had been climbing something longer and dropped something more important this would have been an issue!
.......Disapointed and confused.....
