SpanSet welcome Safety Specialists from Vietnam
We were delighted to welcome Dai, Hieu and Dung from Oxalis Adventure, the leading adventure tour operator in, Vietnam to our manufacturing plant and head office last week. The Team was accompanied by Howard & Deb Limbert – British Cavers who work for Oxalis.
The Team at Oxalis guide adventurous tourists through some of the largest caves in the world – conditions are extreme with high humidity, grit and wear and tear, hard on equipment. Customer safety is of course a high priority for Oxalis - choosing the best equipment and training staff in it’s safe use is therefore essential.
What better way to learn about the equipment you use every day than to see it being manufactured? Pete Ward, MD at SpanSet and caver (including on expeditions to Vietnam), invited the Oxalis Team to tour the factory and bring various items of caving equipment to be tested. Pete personally gave the tour then handed over to Sam Wilkinson and Damian Flynn to conduct testing on various pieces of equipment.
Pham Hong Dai (known as Dai) named our new premium round sling the viper when he first saw one as it looks like a Vietnamese Green Viper. Dai was delighted to see viper slings being manufactured.
Fred Hall, Co-Founder and Technical Director at DMM joined us for an afternoon where he gave a fascinating presentation on karabiners. Fred was enthralled to hear Howard tell him lime juice squeezed over a karabiner gate locked shut due to calcite deposits will work again!
SpanSet are proud of our manufacturing heritage and are happy to arrange factory visits for customers.
"Leading adventure caving tours in Vietnam has many challenges, not least the huge amount of technical equipment required.
The cave conditions are harsh on equipment, and we need to do things differently to caving in the UK. So it's great to be able to work with SpanSet for bespoke equipment and advice.
The visit to SpanSet was fascinating and illuminating for all of us. The MD Pete Ward has so much knowledge and experience, having him personally guide us around was a real bonus.
Many thanks also to Sam and Daniel for sharing their knowledge about how to take care of our equipment, and assisting us with testing some used ropes. Thanks to all at SpanSet for such a warm welcome!" Deb Limbert - Oxalis Adventure
