New kit, Ropeman 3 recalled and another meeting.

Its the time of year when I seem to have AGMs, CPD and other meetings to go to on a regular basis and today was no exception. This morning I was at a well attended meeting of MTS Providers discussing issues of interest to those running NGB Courses. The meeting was at Glenmore Lodge where I picked up an order of kit including a shiny new pair of Nomics! :-)
I came home to find that Wild Country have made the difficult decision to recall the Ropeman 3. I've been using one of these over the summer and had observed that it didn't always operate effectively. During an MIA training another Instructor and I both observed Ropemen 3 fail to bite when students attempted to apply them to loaded ropes. On another occasion when running a problem solving day a student tried to use one as the 'travelling' prussik on a 3:1 hoist from within the system. The cam failed to engage and I videoed it sliding back up the rope. Importantly this was on an 8.9mm rope and the device was only approved for 9mm-11mm ropes.

Having seen Steve Long's videos for Wild Country on the Ropeman I contacted him and soon WC were involved in testing to try to replicate the problem. The upshot is the responsible actions they've taken today: http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/community/latest-news/2012/10/29/Voluntary_Recall_Notice_Ropeman_3/
I'll be returning mine and going back to the excellent Ropeman Mk 2.