Mark Straub wrote:I left my backpack to sit for 5 days, with sweaty gloves in there, and now it STINKS. That includes my harness and all the webbing, prusiks, PA, etc. on it. How can I wash my backpack, slings, and harness safely without reducing its strength?
If a person limits his hiking to high elevation, where it is below 50 or 60F all the time, this
may not be an issue, but anyone who hikes in a warm climate will need to occasionally (or often) wash a backpack to remove all the dehydrated sweat, so it doesn't stink. This is regardless of whether or not sweaty gloves were left inside.
Water and mild soap will
not at all hurt your backpack, harness, webbing, prusiks, PA,
ropes, etcetera.
I usually just wash mine in a half-full bathtub, often at the same time I am taking a shower. The backpack will fit in the tub really nice. Its foam pads will make it float, so flip it over and let both sides soak. I would never use a machine for any of that stuff, especially a rope.
When canyoneering, I have gone swimming in muck water many many times with my backpack, harness, webbing, rope, and everything. If the strength of that gear were jeopardized by water, that would be a pretty bad deal, wouldn't it? So don't worry; water won't hurt it a bit, and neither will mild soap.