Wild Country Forged Friend

From South Africa. I was belaying a partner who placed a 1.5 that was about 15 years old (replaced sling) into a horizontal crack. He clipped foolishly into the protruding stem sling, and not the gunk style tie off. 4 meters further up off he goes. The cam's stem bent at 70% but did not shear. The cam itself did not budge in the crack. If it wasn't for the well engineered WC friend, he would either be dead or very seriously injured.

Since then, have never worried about all the blab about rigid stems. And considering that was on the "old" stem design, the new I beam design provides even more peace of mind.

Apart from this testimony, the forged friends last forever! I'm still using 20-year-old forged friends regularly. Bomber stuff.