Ellested Ascender

I heard several rumors of this ascender before I finally was able to get one from Mike Moser at OTR in 1993. I'm told that it was made by Eric Ellested of Cincinnati as part of a school project, and that only four were made. The idea was to cut down on the bulk of the Gibbs ascender, and this design certainly accomplishes that.

The shell is 1/8-in (3.5 mm) aluminum bent to form a U-shaped channel. The cam is milled from aluminum and has 7 shallow grooves forming 6 low-relief teeth. The eye is well-rounded, both inside and out. The axle is a steel Allen-head bolt trimmed to length and drilled to receive a hitch pin clip as a retainer. Everything is held together by a thin wire cable.

I acquired the ascender with a quick-release pin that can be used as an axle instead of the Allen bolt. The pin provided with the ascender is too long, though, and could be about 11-mm shorter. It can also ride in the top holes as shown in the photo, where it helps the ascender track.