The Courant Kalimba recall has created considerable confusion within the arborist community. Much of the information circulating on social media has been incomplete, making it difficult for climbers to understand exactly what the issue is and whether their rope is affected.
The original Kalimba splice design relied on the whipping to maintain splice security. Courant has determined that this dependence presents an unacceptable long-term risk if the whipping becomes damaged or omitted during manufacture. Their revised splice has been designed to eliminate this concern.
Without the whipping, the security of the splice may be compromised. If the whipping was omitted during production, this represents a serious manufacturing issue.
Courant has also advised that the whipping may become damaged in service without the climber noticing. If this occurs, the security of the original splice could be reduced. For this reason, Courant has elected to recall all ropes with the original factory-certified Kalimba splice, regardless of who spliced them.
The Kalimba ropes spliced in New Zealand by Treetools and branded Whiptail are not factory-spliced by Courant. They are hand-spliced locally in accordance with Courant specifications and meet or exceed all Treetools in-house testing requirements.
As a result of the identified issues, Courant, in association with FTC/Hevea, has developed a revised FTC/Hevea Loop Splice for Kalimba. Treetools’ Whiptail splicers are currently learning this new method and will be certified by Courant to perform it over the coming months.
What does this mean for New Zealand climbers currently using Kalimba?
Although Treetools has not experienced any failures with Whiptail-spliced Kalimba ropes and our testing has consistently met our acceptance criteria, we are supporting Courant’s global recall as the official New Zealand distributor. Once Courant’s revised certified FTC/Hevea Loop Splice becomes available, affected ropes will be updated to the new approved design. If your rope was hand-spliced locally in New Zealand by Treetools, it is included in the Courant recall.
As the New Zealand representative for Courant, Treetools asks all current Kalimba users with ropes featuring the original factory-certified Kalimba splice to stop using the rope immediately, clearly mark and isolate it, and complete the recall form using this link. Please do not remove the splice or otherwise tamper with the rope.
Treetools will provide a prepaid courier ticket so you can return your rope to us at no cost. Once we have collated and identified the affected ropes, Courant will supply replacement Kalimba hanks spliced using the certified FTC/Hevea Loop Splice before returning them to you.
Your Kalimba rope is likely to be out of service for some time, so you may need to consider an alternative climbing line while we complete the recall process.
