desenders

[imagineero]

most climbers are using whatever belay device they have as a descender also, most commonly a sticht plate or some variation on the theme. very few people are using figure 8's, and for good reason! If you are stuck without a device, it's good to know some variations. I've descended on the original body belay (not that great) as well as using hitches for friction. A little known but excellent descender can be made with 2, 3, or 4 karabiners to make a poor mans rack. I've often made this descender up on long descents if my only other choice was a figure 8 or a sticht plate, especially if it's a free hanging descent.

Racks an whales tales are pretty awesome descenders and hard to beat for extreme variable load descending like canyoning, descending with a load etc... I'd be really interested in trying out a unicender. The price tag seems insane (for what it is), but if it worked well and lasted a long time i would probably buy one.

Shaun

 

[ssurveyor]

most climbers are using whatever belay device they have as a descender also, most commonly a sticht plate or some variation on the theme. very few people are using figure 8's, and for good reason! If you are stuck without a device, it's good to know some variations. I've descended on the original body belay (not that great) as well as using hitches for friction. A little known but excellent descender can be made with 2, 3, or 4 karabiners to make a poor mans rack. I've often made this descender up on long descents if my only other choice was a figure 8 or a sticht plate, especially if it's a free hanging descent.

Racks an whales tales are pretty awesome descenders and hard to beat for extreme variable load descending like canyoning, descending with a load etc... I'd be really interested in trying out a unicender. The price tag seems insane (for what it is), but if it worked well and lasted a long time i would probably buy one.

Shaun

That is the beauty of my OAR device, it is a rack built into the aluminum swing arms. The friction is through high grade steel and rollers. It grips tenaciously on the ascent, and releases with fingertip control on the release handle for the descent. No need to change devices.