SAKA

dogwood

dogwood

New member
Location
Garner, NC
My new SAKA from Richard Mumford arrived last week, and I've gotta say this is one nicely made, well thought out piece of gear. The strap has some stiffness to it, so that with every stride it just glides nicely up the line. I made one of these last year along Richard's design, but this one functions better. The fact that the ascender easily glides all the way up means it quickly gets out of the way of the Pantin on my right foot, so I'm having much less of a problem with kickout. The fact that the bungee is doubled gives it plenty of pulling power. The length is adjustable, and it's easy to replace. The removeable footloop has an elastic strap and it stays nicely on my boot. My tendency would have been to go for all black, but I decided to go for red inside and black outside so that it would be recognizable as a Mumford original!

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I love that design, I made one months ago also. The only problem I had once and it was not Richards design problem it was me not thinking. I left it in the hot car all bunched up, and you can guess what happened. Now I make sure it is flat when I store it and I hsve never had any issues. Just a heads up, Rich did not make mine but most tubing will tske a shape if let heated up.
 
yoyoman said:
Yes, 110 + shipping.
P M me
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I think it is a bargain at $110. 00. I sewed one up by hand and by the time I had all the components and did all the labor I don't think I saved a penny, plus your versions are a lot prettier than mine. The only gripe I have is that it does not fold up into a little ball in my canopy bag like the single bungie system that I normally use..
 
ARLO said:
I think it is a bargain at $110. 00. I sewed one up by hand and by the time I had all the components and did all the labor I don't think I saved a penny, plus your versions are a lot prettier than mine. The only gripe I have is that it does not fold up into a little ball in my canopy bag like the single bungie system that I normally use..
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I understand.
The SAKA can be rolled into a circle but I have found that the resulting loop can snag and I don't like the curve that develops. It can also be put in a small throw line storage bag.
Personally I have found that hanging it from my saddle with the ascender side up to be the least intrusive.

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my saka keeps slipping and doesn't seem to want to grab on my rope. ive been using cougar blue and Aztec and I know my hitch hiker flattens the rope, which im sure contributes to this, but I don't have a problem with my haas doing this. could the fact that the ascender is turned around opposite of the haas have anything to do with it? I wear it on my left foot
 
joezilla11 said:
my saka keeps slipping and doesn't seem to want to grab on my rope. ive been using cougar blue and Aztec and I know my hitch hiker flattens the rope, which im sure contributes to this, but I don't have a problem with my haas doing this. could the fact that the ascender is turned around opposite of the haas have anything to do with it? I wear it on my left foot
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That concerns me, have not experienced that before, I did build one with a camp turbo foot ascender and on a safari line it slipped a lot but I have not had that problem with the CT. Does it happen when you put it on the other foot you can also attach it to either side of the climbing line on either foot.
 
Its definitely strange. I had this happen once before with an ascender but only because I filed down the top row of teeth and it didn't want to grab just like this one is doing. these teeth are sharp and once it grabs its not going anywhere but getting it to grab is the problem. ill be out tomorrow so ill try it on the other foot. I only have a right foot ascender so I was hoping to keep the saka on the left but ill try it out and see if it gives me the same problem.
 
Remember too you can keep it on the same foot and yet rotate it to the other side of the climbing line if that makes sense. Also make sure nothing is binding or catching on the cam.
one more thing that could happen, the CT is rated for climbing lines up to 13 millimeters, if the line is getting flattened and gets extremely wide perhaps that is creating a problem too.
 
joezilla11 said:
my saka keeps slipping and doesn't seem to want to grab on my rope. ive been using cougar blue and Aztec and I know my hitch hiker flattens the rope, which im sure contributes to this, but I don't have a problem with my haas doing this. could the fact that the ascender is turned around opposite of the haas have anything to do with it? I wear it on my left foot
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I climbed with it on my Samson Blue Streak line the other day, and I noticed the same thing. That's a 13 mm line, and I noticed that the cam is open fairly wide on that line. I've never had this problem on lines 12 mm and under. My Arrowfrog line (same as Poison Ivy) is 11.7 mm, and it works like a charm on that line.
 
Here is a couple of other things.
The cams are exactly the same on the CT chest ascender used on the HAAS and those used on the CT Ascender Simple, used on the SAKA, shape, teeth etc. The main difference is that the ascender I use is totally flat, has no curved shape.
I think what it comes down to is that the SAKA body and ascender are in perfect alignment and the ascender lays perfectly flat against the SAKA body.
What this implies is that it is designed to go straight up and down the rope, not at an angle and not in the motion some may have become accustomed to when using other ascenders, the backwards bicycle motion. I have discussed this before. Although the "backwards bicycle motion" was a good technique to keep the ascender from kicking out, it is also an inefficient motion.
When using the SAKA don't "peddle", walk straight up the rope keeping things in alignment, it is more efficient and I think will solve this mentioned problem that I am hearing about.
 
On second thought, after looking at the 13 mm line compared to the 11.7 mm line, I doubt that tiny difference amounts to much. We're talking about something on the order of 1/20th of an inch. It would be interesting to see close up video, one person climbing, the other shooting, to see if in fact it's something else, like rope angle.
 
dogwood said:
On second thought, after looking at the 13 mm line compared to the 11.7 mm line, I doubt that tiny difference amounts to much. We're talking about something on the order of 1/20th of an inch. It would be interesting to see close up video, one person climbing, the other shooting, to see if in fact it's something else, like rope angle.
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Yep, I will be interested to see. I feel pretty confident that if the foot is not peddled and is moved straight up, this will solve it.
The SAKA body is fairly rigid in one direction. If pressure is applied when the foot is angled away from the rope, the cam is wedged open and with a slightly larger rope, at the 13mm max of the ascender, I think the effect is compounded.
I do think that moving the ascender to the other side of the rope makes a difference as well.
 
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