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I obtained my G.P. from Inner Mountain Outfitters at OTR-88. My pair consisted of two left-handed ascenders, although a left and a right were supposed to be packaged together. Each ascender is is 96 mm. high, 76 mm. wide, 26 mm. thick, and weighs 176 grams. The shell is milled from a custom aluminum extrusion which appears to be a direct copy of CMI's extrusion. The shell body is 6.5 mm. thick and painted yellow. The rope groove is 14.2 mm. in diameter and U shaped. The cam mounting groove is rectangular. Two cam pivot holes are provided; one for the left and one for the right-handed configuration. The attachment points are 15.5 mm. beveled circular holes, one located below the cam and one above. Attachment is made using a carabiner as in the Clog designs discussed above. The inside of the shell is stamped "SRT", "AUSTRALIA", and "EQUIP.".
The cam is a plated skeletonized, reinforced stainless steel casting with a (4.5)3(4.3)3 conical tooth count. The teeth axes are perpendicular to the cam face. The cam radius, measured from the pivot, increases from 41 to 58 mm. over an angle of 42 degrees. The cam, cam spring, and a cam housing are mounted on a 6.4 mm. roll rivet. The cam pivot is centered 55 mm. from the inside of the rope groove. A single spring serves as cam spring and safety spring. The cam housing is a piece of thin sheet metal bent to cover the top of the cam channel and serve as a spacer along the sides of the cam. The top of the housing is indented; this limits cam closing so that the teeth do not hit the inside of the rope channel. There is no cam safety.
The SRT is a compact, well made ascender. The carabiner attachment eliminates the need for a cam safety in the same manner as that on the Clog. The extrusion is so similar to CMI's that the CMI Optional Safety Kit can be installed on the SRT, although it will allow the cam to open too far to prevent rope escape. The attachment points are located too far from the main rope channel, so ascender canting occurs, losing efficiency. The cam is very well made, reminiscent of Jumar's. I'm not thrilled with roll rivets for cam pivots, but at least the SRT's are not cracked. The cam housing is lightweight and crude, and on one of my ascenders had been trimmed with pliers. The resulting sharp edges were not smoothed.
I was rather surprised when I discovered that SRT had packaged two left-handed ascenders together. The orientation of the stampings on the ascender shells showed that one of the pair was assembled upside down, making a perfectly functional left-handed ascender out of a right. If SRT had used a pivot pin like CMI's, the cam could have been easily reversed. Fortunately I had a set of extra CMI pivots, so took the reversed ascender and drilled out the rolled rivet, then reassembled the ascender as a right-handed model using the CMI pin. This incident is quite atypical of of SRT's normally excellent quality control, and I'm sure that I could have simply gotten an exchange if I had chosen.
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The A3 Explorer is made out of the same extrusion as the G.P., but is larger and heavier. The extra size allows adding a cam safety and extra holes, but I doubt that this is the best use of the space. The A3 Explorer is smaller than the SRT Climber, yet it weighs more. I would prefer that more of the frame had been milled away, perhaps eliminating one each of the top and bottom holes. Although this is a very solid ascender and it is quite well-made, it could have been made much lighter. Both of my A3 Explorers are right-hand models, but a left-hand model is also available.
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The A3 EXP 6 is a larger ascender made to work on 8 to 16 mm ropes (the "bigger is better" crowd will like this). As with the normal A3, it could have been made much lighter if more of the frame had been milled away.
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©2007, Gary D. Storrick