The Beal ESCAPER detachable abseil system allows abseiling when only a single length of rope is available.
First launched at the OutDoor Show in 2017 and included in UKC's Top Ten products it'll be hitting the shops now.
Key Features
- Light and compact
- Quick set-up
- 100% textile construction
Examples of uses
- Where an abseil on a single length of rope is required
- Where one of your two abseil ropes has been damaged
- Where you find your line is limited during freeriding or ski mountaineering and need to get down a distance with an abseil rope
Uses
- Multipitch routes, escape, ridge hike, freeride, skimountaineering, canyoneering
Taken from part of the user instruction, the following diagram illustrates how to use the ESCAPER:
As with all climbing equipment, it's necessary to get familiar with its use in a controlled environment before using it for real.
Comments
Has anyone used one in the field yet? It looks like it would only work were the anchor allows the system to hang in free space? I didn't read the fine details so maybe this is the idea .
like if the anchor was a pair of steaks on the top of a cliff/stack and the rope system was going to be on the ground once your abbing it looks like it might be hard to get it free'd up with the 8 pulls as the friction on the ground / edge would stop the rope from pull/retracting correctly .
I was thinking about a possible rope recovery system today that involves a well trained mouse equipped with a mouse size knife and a mouse size base jumping rig . Once you make it to the bottom of the ab he climbs the rope and cuts away the end of the rope . He/she would then base jump to safety , repack the base rig and be ready for the next pitch .
This would mean losing a slight bit of rope but I couldn't come up with a conceivable way of training a mouse to undo an anchor system .
I keep looking at this and thinking "go forth and multiply" I'd rather carry another rope (or 7mm line) than risk using one of these.
If the anchor was a pair of steaks I think that would be your main issue, and the rope would come down quite fast with you, mocking your splattered remains by plonking some stray meat cuts on top.
There are some occasions when steaks make reasonable anchors but they are rare.
I have used one. It's specialist kit that I certainly wouldn't use all the time but is far less sketchy than it looks.