Asling is an item ofclimbing equipment consisting of a tied or sewn loop ofwebbing. These can be wrapped around sections of rock,hitched to other pieces of equipment, or tied directly to a tensioned line using aPrusik style knot. They may be used asanchors, to extend an anchor to reducerope drag, in anchor equalization, or to climb a rope.[1]
In 1957Jan and Herb Conn wrote an article titled "the versatile runner" with a long list of uses, which is still quite accurate:
Other possible uses include:
Slings come both sewn to length and assembled from loose webbing knotted as desired. Common sewn lengths include 10 centimetres (3.9 in), 30 centimetres (12 in), 60 centimetres (24 in), 120 centimetres (47 in) and 240 centimetres (94 in). They are available in widths of 6–20 millimetres (0.24–0.79 in). Webbing for slings, also known astape, is sold off the reel, cut to length with a hot knife to prevent fraying, and tied.[citation needed] The most common knot used for nylon slings arewater knots anddouble fisherman's knots.Dyneema/Spectra slings are usually sewn not tied due to very high lubricity which leads to poor knot-holding ability and has led to the recommendation to use thetriple fisherman's knot rather than the traditional double fisherman[3]
Sewn slings have a rated breaking strength of at least 22 kilonewtons (4,900 lbf). Short sewn slings are a component ofquickdraws, sometimes known asdogbones. Traditionally, slings have been made ofnylon. Increasingly,ultra high molecular weight polyethylene sold under the brand names Dyneema, Dynex and Spectra is used. These have much lower melting points than nylon, making them a potentially poor choice where high rope friction may occur. However this specialty polyethylene is lighter, smaller, and absorbs less water than nylon, and therefore has become popular.
A gear sling is a loop of webbing used to organize or carry equipment. These can be custom items meant only to carry light gear, fully load-bearing manufactured gear racks capable of doubling for a sling, or simply a regular sling used to rack gear.
