New toothed cam ascenders-less rope damage

[chris_girard]

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I think petzl are covering thier HSE with the teeth.

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No, this is not the case at all. Long before the HSE regulations came into effect over in Europe, Monsieur Petzl decided that he was going to build the optimal ascender for caving and mountaineering. The Petzl family of ascenders has grown out of this huge market.

Petzl had found that to work in the muddy and icy conditions of caving and mountaineering, the cam on ascenders needed to be self-engaging, pulling itself into the rope using the physics principle of the Fulcrum-Load-Rope lever class. The sophisticated teeth in the design, which angle into the rope are cleaned out with each upward cycle.

The Petzl ascenders are also designed to be easily put on and taken off a rope using heavily gloved hands. Like Tom said, you just need to unload it first and slide it up the rope a little to disengage the teeth. If it’s picking your rope, than you are doing it wrong.

 

[mark_sauls]

I've been using toothed ascenders since 1978, starting with Jumars. They have served me well.
This entire conversation seems crazy to me.
Do you all have an entire R&D lab in your garage? There are a lot of factors:
1) weight of climber
2) rope construction and material
3) how much rope in the system
4) TIP static vs dynamic?
After ascending miles of many different types of rope with toothed ascenders, I would say the Petzl ascenders do not need modified. How people use them needs modified. If you are damaging ropes with toothed ascenders you are doing something wrong. I would suggest you go back to humping your way into the tree, or use a ladder.

 

[Richard Mumford-yoyoman]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been using toothed ascenders since 1978, starting with Jumars. They have served me well.
This entire conversation seems crazy to me.
Do you all have an entire R&D lab in your garage? There are a lot of factors:
1) weight of climber
2) rope construction and material
3) how much rope in the system
4) TIP static vs dynamic?
After ascending miles of many different types of rope with toothed ascenders, I would say the Petzl ascenders do not need modified. How people use them needs modified. If you are damaging ropes with toothed ascenders you are doing something wrong. I would suggest you go back to humping your way into the tree, or use a ladder.

[/ QUOTE ]
For ME this really is not complicated.
They all work but one design is clearly more suited for tree climbing and when given a choice I'll take the one that works best for me.