UKC

Right; I'm in the market for a new pair of ascenders. Last time I looked was a while ago now, when there were just two models on the market (Clog Coggers and Jumars); it all seems to have got a bit more complicated!

I want them for crevasse self-rescue (so they must be light and work with icy ropes); for climbing sailing masts, so they must work on small diameter ropes, say 8mm; and also gardening/strimming on  steep banks,  and tree climbing.  Oh, and they must be cheap, obviously.

Ropeman 2 seems a contender; but Amazon have things called Fauge Rope Ascenders, which seem interesting, they look the same as Camp Rope Clamps but are £12 cheaper, though still CE .marked ... Anyone have any experience of these, or any other comments? 

Can't beat prussic loops for price and weight 😉

Sorry, I know that's not the answer you were looking for

I prussiked out of Big Overhang Zawn on knots once; I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience.

For crevasse self rescue (assuming you want an ascender rather than prussiks) I'd take a microtrax (or similar), partly cos it'll be more likely to be useful on your route for simul climbing purposes than an actual ascender and also cos if you end up pulling someone else out of a crevasse with a 3:1 it'll be much more useful than an actual ascender. Can easily set yourself up a little 3:1 ascending system with a microtrax as well if you have a prusik/other ascender and krab, which you can't do with two normal ascenders and might be helpful if you're wearing a heavy rucksack which makes normal prusiking style ascending annoying.

I think a microtrax would probably not be what you want for the other requirements though, so bit of a pointless recommendation. If you could make it work for the other things I definitely think it's superior for the crevasse rescue application.

Suppose one key question is whether you want to be able to down jumar easily? Which I'd have thought you would for strimming on a steep bank? I know that I'd constantly be getting my position a bit wrong and wanting to adjust it a bit without the faff of swapping to a descender.

I've not used a ropeman2 before, but it looks somewhat similar to kong duck, which I have used and down jumarring with a duck is a bit of a pain. Not as much of a pain as with a microtrax, but still a lot more of a pain than with an ascender with a cam you can thumb like a Petzl Ascension or a Petzl Basic (not actually used a basic, but the cam looks approx as easy to thumb as on an ascension). I wouldn't want to bother taking a basic or ascension on a glacier though, unless the route I was going to do was going to involve considerable jumaring. Tbh I reckon that a microtrax is better than a ropeman2 in 90% of scenarios, so if you thought a ropeman2 was appropriate then a microtrax will probably be better imo (apart from the extra £10-20 expense).

I think any attempt to recommend the perfect device for all of those applications would be largely pointless though, so you may as well recommend the best for each.

For the steep-ground gardening I don't think I'd want an ascender at all as such, better something that allows a sort of abseil down the slope.  A Grigri might do, but a Grillon would be better.  (Industrial 'work positioning' version of the Grigri, with no spring so it's ultra 'grabby'.)

Assuming it's for DIY (so no issues with certificates of conformity etc.), personally I'd probably buy a second-hand Grillon, ditch the lanyard and use it with whatever is the appropriate length of 10.5mm static rope instead.  (Eg: item number 373929356512 currently on fleabay.)

Yeah agreed, I think in particular the steep gardening one is incompatible with the others.

I'd use a grigri for the steep gardening (because I already have one), but as you say a grillon would be better, rig or id probably overkill for DIY, but would still work.

Another question is do you want an ascender that can be easily taken off and put back on the rope whilst remaining attached to you (e.g. Basic, Ascension), or do you want something that is attached to the rope and to you with the same krab (e.g. ropeman2, microtrax)?

It's much easier to pass knots/re-belays with something that comes on/off the rope easily (e.g. thumb open the cam on an ascension and move it past the knot) rather than e.g. having to open the krab attached to the ropeman2,  take it off the rope, worry you're going to drop it cos it's not attached to anything, put it back on the rope, clip the krab through again.

I wanted devices for solo top roping -- which when you include setting up the rig, and ascending out afterwards, is similar to all the uses you describe.

Started with a microtraxion, then added an ascender (petzl) for backup (instead of knotted ropes), then finally added a GriGri to make the down and up out easier.

So all three are useful.  And you could use your microtraxion for the crevasses (although I just use prussiks).

Have you ever tried to get someone out of a crevasse period, never mind on knots. Good luck with that. Mini traction and ropeman are what’s required and I take two, just to be sure. Even a lot of Chamonix guides use ropeman for crevasse rescue. Traction good for solos as well, with backup.

Those ‘Fauge’ rope ascenders aren’t correctly marked. As category 3 PPE they should have the notified body number (4 digits) after the CE mark.

I’d imagine this means that they’re self certified by the Chinese manufacturer, which is essentially meaningless. Personally I value my life higher than £12!

George.

Well yes, if something's to good to be true it probably is...

Interesting about the CE mark though, if somebody buys one and gets hurt who is liable?

I don’t really know. The seller is based in Hunan, but they’re available for delivery tomorrow, so they must have been imported into the UK. I don’t know what liability Amazon has if one was to fail on you?

There’s an excerpt from EN567 on Edelrid’s website here: https://www.edelrid.de/en/knowledge-base/norms/en567.php

The reference to the user manual which is also required is also missing. The CE mark is supposed to mean that the device is compliant with this standard. Seeming as the markings aren’t even correct, I suspect there’s other issues too!

That's really depressing. I've naively assumed that a CE mark was sacrosanct ... I'd better check those cheap krabs I purchased...