Slings, cord and anchors: what the standards cover.

The sling standard: EN 566 and UIAA 104

The European sling standard is EN 566:2017, "Mountaineering equipment - Slings - Safety requirements and test methods", which superseded EN 566:2006 (Estonian and BSI listings). The UIAA's matching standard is UIAA 104 Slings, at version 3 (2018); the UIAA also lists a separate standard for tape, UIAA 103. The European Commission's PPE guidelines (5th edition, October 2025) list slings among Category III equipment against falls from a height.

The 2017 text was not available for our research, so the details below come from Edelrid's summary of the 2006 edition. What the 2017 edition changed was not found.

• Definition. A sling is tape, accessory cord or rope joined by stitching or another method. The standard does not set a type or length.
• Stitching. Stitching that carries load must contrast in colour or texture with the tape.
• Strength. A sling must pass a 22 kN static strength test. That is a laboratory requirement for a new sample. Whether the 2017 edition kept the same figure is unconfirmed.
• Markings. The maker's name, the breaking strength, EN 566, the year of manufacture and the CE mark with the four-digit notified body number.

Accessory cord: EN 564 and UIAA 102

Cord sits under its own standard. The UIAA's comparison table of October 2025 describes UIAA 102 and EN 564:2023 accessory cord as 4 to 8 mm cord meant to withstand forces but not to absorb energy, with minimum strengths rising from 3.2 kN at 4 mm to 12.8 kN at 8 mm. The UIAA Safety Commission says such low-elongation cord is not designed for any dynamic use and does not limit impact forces. The ropes page explains how this differs from dynamic and static rope.

Other UIAA standards in this family

The UIAA's standards page (read 21 October 2026) also lists UIAA 109 Belay lanyards (version 8, 2021) and UIAA 130 Load sharing devices (version 2, 2025). Their texts were not part of our research.

Why energy absorption matters to the standards

The BMC text that the UIAA distributes with UIAA 121 (2001) explains that when a person is attached to an anchor only by karabiners and slings, nothing in that system absorbs energy. It says forces over 25 kN are possible in that situation, enough to break a karabiner with its gate closed, whereas in normal falls held by a dynamic rope the force on the top runner is very unlikely to exceed 10 kN. It points to energy-absorbing lanyards made for via ferrata cables, which are covered on the via ferrata sets page. These figures describe the forces the BMC text reports; they are not guidance on how to rig anything.

What accident reports record about anchors

The American Alpine Club's monthly series The Prescription, a companion to Accidents in North American Climbing, has reported:

• Six accidents involving failed rappel anchors in the 2020 edition, three of them fatal (January 2021 issue).
• Two fatal accidents in 2022 attributed to a broken rappel-anchor sling (June 2025 issue).
• Fourteen published rappel accidents in 2023, eight fatal (June 2025 issue).
• That lowering has replaced rappelling as the leading cause of roped climbing accidents in its data (August 2026 issue).

Eliot Caroom's 30-year analysis, published in Rock and Ice in September 2020 and republished by Climbing in February 2022, found anchor failures ranked first among factors in top-rope accidents. His method tags several factors per incident and is not directly comparable with the AAC's tables. The roped climbing incidents page covers this data in more detail.

Lifespan and condition: maker statements

DMM, a maker, states in its undated slings and lanyards instructions a maximum lifespan of 10 years from the date of manufacture for textile and plastic products, adding that a product can become obsolete before then. It lists the conditions its products are checked against, including a fall arrest, general wear, chemical contamination, heat, cut stitching, frayed or degraded tape, long exposure to ultraviolet light and a marking that is no longer legible. These are DMM's statements for its own products, listed here as signs only. The maker's instructions and a competent person decide when a particular sling is retired. Other makers' figures, and where each starts its clock, are on the gear lifespan page; DMM's washing and storage guidance is on the gear care page.

Recalls

When Black Diamond announced its 2016 recall of camming devices, the BMC reported on 20 April 2016 that earlier Black Diamond recalls of karabiners and nylon slings were still under way. Our research did not record the details of that sling recall or find the original notice. The recalls page lists the notices that were found.