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Uola |
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Russian Version A |
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Uola (open) |
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Russian Version A |
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Open for Rigging: Uola |
[ Top | Altius, v. B | Russian Interalp | Russian v. A | Uola | Return to H.E.C. Ascenders ]
I acquired my Russian Interalp from an unidentified caver at the 1997 International Congress of Speleology. This was the same caver who sold me the Russian Interalp.
The Altius, Version A is 199 mm. tall, 92 mm. wide, 26 mm. thick, and weighs 207 g.
The shell is a tall irregular shaped stamping made from 3.8 mm. aluminum alloy sheet metal. A 15 mm. diameter rope channel is formed in the upper portion of one side and a smaller cam channel lies opposite. A hole drilled through both sides of the cam channel accepts a 7 mm. roll rivet. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The handle below the cam has a two-piece hard black plastic hand grip held in place with plastic rivets. The hand grip has four finger grooves. A 15.3 mm. sling attachment hole lies below the handle opening. A 22.8 mm. tall, 15.7 mm. wide hole passes through both sides of the rope channel, providing an attachment point just above the cam. A carabiner placed in this hole will probably drag on the rope. A 15.6 mm. hole beside this channel holes provides a second upper attachment point that does not have this problem. None of the attachment holes are beveled.
The cam is a plated skeletonized steel casting. The cam radius increases from 39 to 52 mm. over an angle of 33°, giving a 26° cam angle. The cam has number of small conical teeth, all of which have their axes sloping downward. The tooth pattern is (2)(3.4)^2(3.2)^2(1). Like most eccentric cam ascenders, the inner cam face radius reduces from top to bottom to accommodate various sized ropes. A spring-loaded manual safety bar is mounted on the bottom of the cam. The normal action of the spring holds the safety against the cam. When the cam is opened, the shell interferes with the safety bar, thus preventing opening the cam. If the safety bar is moved away from the cam (opposing the spring), it will clear the shell and the cam will open. At full open the safety can be released and the spring will hold the safety against the back of the shell. This provides a means of locking the cam open. A knob on the safety bar assists in operating the safety mechanism.
The ascender has "ALTIUS" molded into one side of the grip and "MADE IN USSR" and "MAX:500KGS" molded into the other.
This ascender is clearly related to the Russian Interalp. The frame is moderately well made, but the cam casting is the worst that I have ever seen: it is so full of voids hat it resembles Swiss cheese.
I was only able to get a right-hand ascender.
[ Top | Altius, v. A | Russian Interalp | Russian v. A | Uola | Return to H.E.C. Ascenders ]
I acquired two left-hand Altius, Version B ascenders on eBay from C. Burford in 2008.
The Altius, Version B is 198 mm. tall, 91 mm. wide, 26 mm. thick, and weighs 206 g.
The shell is a tall irregular shaped stamping made from 3.9 mm. aluminum alloy sheet metal. A 15 mm. diameter rope channel is formed in the upper portion of one side and a smaller cam channel lies opposite. A hole drilled through both sides of the cam channel accepts a 6 mm. roll rivet. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The handle below the cam has a hard black plastic hand grip molded in place. The hand grip has four finger grooves. A 15.3 mm. sling attachment hole lies below the handle opening. A 21.8 mm. tall, 15.9 mm. wide hole passes through both sides of the rope channel, providing an attachment point just above the cam. A carabiner placed in this hole will probably drag on the rope. A 15.5 mm. hole beside this channel holes provides a second upper attachment point that does not have this problem. None of the attachment holes are beveled.
The cam is a plated skeletonized steel casting. The cam radius increases from 39 to 52 mm. over an angle of 33°, giving a 26° cam angle. The cam has number of small conical teeth, all of which have their axes sloping downward. The tooth pattern is (2)(3.4)^2(3.2)^2(1). Like most eccentric cam ascenders, the inner cam face radius reduces from top to bottom to accommodate various sized ropes. A spring-loaded manual safety bar is mounted on the bottom of the cam. The normal action of the spring holds the safety against the cam. When the cam is opened, the shell interferes with the safety bar, thus preventing opening the cam. If the safety bar is moved away from the cam (opposing the spring), it will clear the shell and the cam will open. At full open the safety can be released and the spring will hold the safety against the back of the shell. This provides a means of locking the cam open. A knob on the safety bar assists in operating the safety mechanism.
The ascender has "ALTIUS" molded into one side of the grip and "MAX:500KGS" molded into the other.
Both of my Altius, Version B ascenders are left-hand ascenders. They are moderately well made; in particular, the cam casting is far superior to the dreadful one on my Version A.
[ Top | Altius, v. A | Altius, v. B | Russian v. A | Uola | Return to H.E.C. Ascenders ]
I acquired my Russian Interalp from an unidentified caver at the 1997 International Congress of Speleology. This was the same caver who sold me the Altius, Version A.
The Russian Interalp is 198 mm. tall, 91 mm. wide, 24 mm. thick, and weighs 207 g.
The shell is a tall irregular shaped stamping made from 3.8 mm. aluminum alloy sheet metal. A 15 mm. diameter rope channel is formed in the upper portion of one side and a smaller cam channel lies opposite. A hole drilled through both sides of the cam channel accepts a 6 mm. roll rivet. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The handle below the cam has a two-piece hard black plastic hand grip riveted into place. The hand grip has four finger grooves. A 15.1 mm. sling attachment hole lies below the handle opening. This hole is not beveled. A 22.7 mm. tall, 15.7 mm. wide hole passes through both sides of the rope channel, providing an attachment point just above the cam. This hole is not beveled either, and a carabiner placed in this hole will probably drag on the rope.
The cam is a plated skeletonized steel casting. The cam radius increases from 39 to 52 mm. over an angle of 33°, giving a 26° cam angle. The cam has number of small conical teeth, all of which have their axes sloping downward. The tooth pattern is (3.4)^3(3.2)^2(1). The top three teeth are almost ground away. Like most eccentric cam ascenders, the inner cam face radius reduces from top to bottom to accommodate various sized ropes. A spring-loaded manual safety bar is mounted on the bottom of the cam. The normal action of the spring holds the safety against the cam. When the cam is opened, the shell interferes with the safety bar, thus preventing opening the cam. If the safety bar is moved away from the cam (opposing the spring), it will clear the shell and the cam will open. At full open the safety can be released and the spring will hold the safety against the back of the shell. This provides a means of locking the cam open. A knob on the safety bar assists in operating the safety mechanism.
The ascender has "INTERALP" molded into one side of the grip and "Tested 5000 N" into the other.
This is a copy of the Petzl Ascension. I was only able to get a right-hand ascender. The frame and grips are moderately well made, but the cam casting is poorly done. Judging from the poor quality, I doubt that these ascenders were made under any arrangement with Interalp.
[ Top | Altius, v. A | Altius, v. B | Interalp | Uola | Return to H.E.C. Ascenders ]
I acquired my Russian, Version A from John E. Weinel, Inc. in 1996.
The Russian, Version A is 223 mm. tall, 102 mm. wide, 30 mm. thick, and weighs 234 g.
The shell is a tall irregular shaped stamping made from 3.9 mm. aluminum alloy sheet metal. A 16 mm. diameter rope channel is formed in the upper portion of one side and a smaller cam channel lies opposite. A hole drilled through both sides of the cam channel accepts a 6 mm. roll rivet. Both ends of the rivet are rolled; there is no head per se. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The handle below the cam has a hard plastic hand grip molded into place. The hand grip has four finger grooves. A 14.6 mm. sling attachment hole lies below the handle opening. A 13.9 mm. hole passes through both sides of the rope channel, providing an attachment point just above the cam. A carabiner placed in this hole will probably drag on the rope. All attachment holes are well rounded.
The cam is a plated skeletonized steel casting. The cam radius increases from 46 to 62 mm. over an angle of 37°, giving a 25° cam angle. The cam has number of small conical teeth, but these are not pointed - the teeth look like the side view of a cone. The tooth pattern is (2.3)^2(2). Like most eccentric cam ascenders, the inner cam face radius reduces from top to bottom to accommodate various sized ropes. The cam safety is a machined aluminum lever mounted on a 3 mm. roll pin in the same shell channel as the cam. A second spring mounted on this roll pin serves as a safety spring. Normally this spring holds the safety where it blocks the cam from opening. When the end of the safety lever is depressed, the opposite end pivots upwards so that the cam is no longer obstruct
There are no markings on this ascender.
This ascender features a thumb safety similar to that found on the Clog Expedition and the CMI Expedition ascenders, but the frame is more like the Kong-Bonaiti or Petzl Ascension . The cam teeth are not very effective and the ascender does not hold as well as I think it should.
[ Top | Altius, v. A | Altius, v. B | Interalp | Russian v. A | Return to H.E.C. Ascenders ]
I acquired my Russian Uola from John E. Weinel, Inc. in 1989.
The Russian Uola is 190 mm. tall, 87 mm. wide, 29 mm. thick, and weighs 176 g.
The shell is a tall irregular shaped stamping made from 3.8 mm. aluminum alloy sheet metal. A 16 mm. diameter rope channel is formed in the upper portion of one side and a smaller cam channel lies opposite. A hole drilled through both sides of the cam channel accepts a 6 mm. roll rivet. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The head of the rivet sits in front while the roll sits in depression on the back of the shell. The handle below the cam has a hard plastic hand grip molded into place. The hand grip has four finger grooves. A 14.6 mm. sling attachment hole lies below the handle opening. A 13.9 mm. hole passes through both sides of the rope channel, providing an attachment point just above the cam. A carabiner placed in this hole will probably drag on the rope. All attachment holes are well rounded.
The cam is a plated skeletonized steel casting. The cam radius increases from 36 to 51 mm. over an angle of 37°, giving a 28° cam angle. The cam has number of small conical teeth, all of which have their axes sloping downward. The tooth pattern is (4.3)^2(2)(2S2)^2(1S1)(2.3)^2(2), where "S" refers to a single slot. Like most eccentric cam ascenders, the inner cam face radius reduces from top to bottom to accommodate various sized ropes. A spring-loaded manual safety bar is mounted on the bottom of the cam. The normal action of the spring holds the safety against the cam. When the cam is opened, the shell interferes with the safety bar, thus preventing opening the cam. If the safety bar is moved away from the cam (opposing the spring), it will clear the shell and the cam will open. At full open the safety can be released and the spring will hold the safety against the back of the shell. This provides a means of locking the cam open. A knob on the safety bar assists in operating the safety mechanism.
The grip has the word "UOLA" molded into one side. The other side says "MAXI 400 KGS."
This is a right-hand ascender, John was not able to get me a left-handed version. The ascender is moderately well made, but roughly finished.
[ Top | Interalp | Version A | Uola ]
