knee ascender

[htb]

2 minutes ago, carlos said:

i made one from tough webbing and elastic sewn together with strong fishing braid, it works a treat but took me a whole evenning of sewing on the sofa! so afterwards i wondered whether it was worth the effort or not?

Ditto

[Rob Thompson]

I made a saka type knee ascender. I like the saka type ascender, but i can't buy one ! I like making things, it was a rainy sunday afternoon, and the parts I needed had arrived in the post.

I bought a stein knee ascender when I got all my srt kit recently. Every time I got to the top of a rope walk, I'd be flustered and uncomfortable. The elastic going over my shoulder to my side D was really digging in.

For me this is a great help. I had thoughts on making something that straps to my leg, but that was before I'd even learned to use my kit. Since using the kit for a little while now, I've realised that actual rope walking is not happening so often during a climb. So it's no hardship to clip this on now and then.

This cost me £60. The ct simple ascender was £42. Not a big budget build at all, and for me, it is well worth it. I already had the XSRE biners and paracord. I had to buy the ascender, amsteel, blue pipe, and heatshrink. I have enough amsteel, and heat shrink left for many other projects. I like how it's all in one unit, with no bits of cords hanging around.

It's light, small as it can be, and flexible.

As you will see from the picture, it's a straight pull on a doubled over 4mm bungee. That's perfect for me and my gear. If I swap the lower XSRE for something a little thicker, like the non ppe biner that came with my stein one, then it can be configured to pull longer. With the bungee going in by the ascender, down the tube, around the biner acting as a redirect/pulley, and back up out to the top XSRE. Not as efficient as a pro job with an actual pulley, but it does work rather well. I prefer it how it is now though.

[ostosix]

Thats turned out like a pro job.

I tend to find you take more care with nice gear 

[Rob Thompson]

I've just replaced the bungee on this device, it is still going strong ! I built it with dyneema shock cord, that was showing signs of wear last week. So I replaced it with what I had laying around (standard shock cord). I've had to pull out that standard stuff and use new dyneema shock cord. It would appear that using high quality bungee shock cord is a must !

I keep this clipped to my foot loop, and the top stays attached to my lower D on the same side. It works fine there for short walks up. It is inline with my leg, and only has the lightest tension. It is never in the way. But if I need to go up a longer walk, I move the top xsre to my rope runner, and I is very efficient.

I'm very happy with it. I'm going to build a new one, but based on a petzl pantin, I'm going for lighter and smaller, just for fun !