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I bought my first ATC from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994, and have acquired several others over the years.
The Black Diamond Air Traffic Controller is drop forged from 7075-T6 aluminum and then hard anodized. Mine is 57 mm. long, 48 mm. wide, 99 mm. high, and weighs 55 g. The slots are 31 mm. long and 14 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 13 mm. below the ends of the slots. The ATC has a plastic- covered cable keeper.
One side of the ATC is stamped with the Black Diamond logo and a rigging icon.
The
Black Diamond Air Traffic Controller, or ATC, is a lightweight,
popular belaying device among climbers. Like all similar devices,
it can overheat on long rappels, but for belaying with 11 mm
rope, it works fine. Rigging is simple: insert a bight of rope
and clip it with a suitably anchored carabiner, making sure that
the rope is not running over the keeper. Two-rope rigging is similar.
On thinner ropes, adding another carabiner helps. My biggest complaint,
common to most of these devices, is that it doesn't give me enough
friction when rappelling with a heavy load on fast 9 mm.
rope.
The ATC has a cable keeper. This is a compromise between a
cord that stows easily but tends to get tangled in use, and a
rigid rod that stands up to the rope running over it (by accident,
of course), but makes the device harder to pack.
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I acquired my Black Diamond ATC-Guide from Mountain Gear in 2006.
The Black Diamond ATC-Guide is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 94 mm. long, 42 mm. wide, 102 mm. high, and weighs 98 g. The slots are 36 mm. long and 14 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 12 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The ATC Guide has two slots with ribbed V-grooves at one end, a release hole underneath, and a carabiner eye at the end opposite the slots. It also has a stiff, plastic-covered cable keeper.
Each side of the ATC guide has a climber figure and a hand-holding-a-rope figure. The end of mine is stamped "6038."
The
ATC-Guide extends the ATC-XP by adding a carabiner hole at the
one side and a cord hole beneath the jaws. When belaying a second
from above, a guide can clip the ATC-Guide to an anchor sling
with a carabiner passed through the carabiner hole, belaying in
an autostop mode, much like one might with a Kong
Gi-gi. One can release a jammed ATC-Guide by passing a cord
through the cord eye and pulling on the cord - possibly by looping
it through a carabiner and applying body weight - but don't let
go of the braking end of the rope! All in all, I like the ATC-guide.
I acquired my Black Diamond ATC-Sport from Mountain Gear in 2008.
The Black Diamond ATC-Sport is a notched belay tube. It is drop forged from 7075-T6 aluminum. Mine is 57 mm. long, 26 mm. wide, 57 mm. high, and weighs 59 g. The slots are 31 mm. long and 15 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 17 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The ATC-Sport has one slot with a ribbed V-groove at one end. It also has a stiff, plastic-covered cable keeper.
one side of the ATC-Sport is marked with a logo, and the other has "7353A" and a rigging diagram.
The ATC-Sport
is designed for single ropes only, a rarity in belay tubes. Although
this saves a tiny amount of weight, it does not compensate for
losing the ability to do double-rope rappels. Weight is not normally
a factor when belaying "sport climbs," and the Wild
Country VC Pro (for example) has two slots while only adding
6 g.
The ATC-sport has thick walls and considerable depth, which helps it stay cooler than it would have been if designed for minimum weight. It has V-slots that provide additional friction for belaying or rappelling. Each side of each groove has three V-shaped slots, giving the grooves "teeth" to grip the rope more effectively. The teeth do not have the narrow angle found on the Salewa Tubus, Singing Rock, or Trango Jaws, so they do not create the same wedging action. For this reason, I find the ATC-Sport to be less effective.
The ATC-Sport is rigged like the ATC, with the V-slots on the brake hand end of the rope. Alternately, the ATC-Sport may be reversed to disable the V-slots.
Although there is nothing "wrong" with the ATC-Sport,
it is far too specialized for my taste. I would rather carry afew
more grams and have the capability to do double-rope rappels,
and I prefer the additionl grip provided by the Trango
Jaws abd its equivalents.
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I acquired my Black Diamond ATC-XP from GearExpress.com in 2003.
The Black Diamond ATC-XP is a notched belay tube. It is drop forged from 7075-T6 aluminum. Mine is 54 mm. long, 45 mm. wide, 109 mm. high, and weighs 87 g. The slots are 31 mm. long and 14 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 14 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The ATC-XP has two slots with ribbed V-grooves at one end. It also has a stiff, plastic-covered cable keeper.
Both sides of the ATC-XP have plastic inserts marked with a logo, "BLACK DIAMOND" and "ATC-XP."
The
ATC-XP is and improved version of the ATC. Most important,
the ATC-XP has V-slots that provide additional friction for belaying
or rappelling. Each side of each groove has three V-shaped slots,
giving the grooves "teeth" to grip the rope more effectively.
These teeth act to guide the rope deeper into the slot, in much
the same manner as the teeth on the Wild
Country Hand ascender work. The teeth do not have the narrow
angle found on the Salewa Tubus,
Singing Rock, or Trango
Jaws, so they do not create the same wedging action. For this
reason, I find the ATC-XP to be less effective. On the other hand,
the teeth on the ATC-XP provide a larger bearing area for the
rope, which helps reduce localized heating.
The ATC-XP is rigged like the ATC, with the V-slots on the brake hand end of the rope. Alternately, the ATC-XP may be reversed to disable the V-slots. The ATC-XP is more massive than the ATC, but it will still overheat on long rappels.
The logo on the side appears to be a thick plastic sticker.
It does nothing, and may be removed. Some people tell me that
this is there to keep from burning your fingers on a hot ATC -
you can easily guess my opinion about that. The ATC-XP has a stiff
cable keeper that is heavier than the one on the ATC (4 mm.
vs. 3 mm).
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©2008, Gary D. Storrick