The Alpinist Mountain Standards reviews apply Alpinist's tradition of excellence and authenticity to gear reviews by providing unbiased, candid feedback and anecdotal commentary to equipment tested (hard) in the field. Our panel is comprised of climbers who use the gear every day as part of their work and play. Only the gear they would actually buy themselves, at retail price, qualifies for the Alpinist Mountain Standards award. The five-star rating system is as follows: One Star = Piece of junk. Two Stars = Has one or more significant flaws, with some redeeming qualities. Three Stars = Average. This solid piece of gear is middle-of-the-road on the current market. Four Stars = Better than most comparable gear on the market. It has one or two drawbacks, but still 90% positive. Five Stars = Is there such thing as perfection? An Alpinist Mountain Standards award-winner. Review Panel Adam George Caroline George Larry Goldie Blake Herrington John Race Bert Severin Jed Workman The rest of the MS Team Also in This Style
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 Voluntary Wild Country Helium Carabiner RecallPosted on: December 13, 2012 
Wild Country issued a voluntary recall of the Helium carabiner on December 10, 2012. Find details in the following press release. — advertisement
Which carabiners are affected: For the safety of all of their customers Wild Country is issuing an immediate voluntary recall of certain batches of the Wild Country Helium carabiner delivered after July 15, 2012, and Helium quickdraws made from these carabiners. If you own a Wild Country Helium carabiner or Helium quickdraw that was purchased after July 15, 2012, please read this notice carefully and follow the link to the Wild Country website where you will be able to identify whether your product is from one of the affected batches. What to do with your affected carabiners: Jason Myers, Wild Country Sales Director, commented: "Recently, our testing procedures uncovered a problem in a very small percentage of Helium carabiners relating to the possibility that under load the carabiner gate may not hook up as effectively as it should. Obviously this is not acceptable, and we have taken the decision to recall all the batches that may be affected. So if you have Helium carabiners bought after July 15, 2012, stop using them immediately and follow the link below to our website for instructions on how to identify and return faulty carabiners. We apologize to any customers affected and assure everyone that any affected carabiners returned will be replaced ASAP with carabiners manufactured under revised procedures." Go to the Wild Country website to find out more: wildcountry.com
Rating: 
super10
I bought two 5-packs of Heliums in April 2012, both red anodized. All had "Made in China" tags. I ordered direct from Wild Country through a dealer in the U.S. WildCountry
Dear Super10 - your comments are misguided as the Helium karabiner is made in the UK and always has been. super10
I guess this is the risk we take, now that climbers consider it acceptable for gear manufacturers to fall over themselves following Black Diamond to China. Heliums started wearing "Made in China" tags just a year or two ago. |
When i comes to ^<a href="www.paulelwell.net"^>Mountain climbing, moutaineering or any adventure, I consider myself a conservative, calcualted risk taker. I have never seen a summit or a challenge that was worth my life. My adventures are always viewed in light of wanting to make it back home alive, first and formost.