I acquired my Wild Country VC Pro from M. Hallet in 2006.
The Wild Country VC Pro is a grooved belay tube. It is forged from 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and then polished. Mine is 56 mm. long, 45 mm. wide, 95 mm. high, and weighs 65 g. The slots are 34 mm. long and 15 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 design is similar to the Black Diamond ATC-XP, Black Diamond ATC-Guide and Mad Rock Paradox in that it has V-grooves on the side to 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 keeper is flexible cable covered by plastic. The keeper is stiff enough to keep it from catching on the rope and being sucked into the device, but flexible enough to fold over easily for tight packing.
One side of the VC Pro is etched with the Wild Country Logo and "WILD COUNTRY." The other side is etched with "VC Pro." The back is etched with the batch code "FWC," the "Reading is Dangerous" icon, and "8-11Ø."
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 VC Pro is rigged with
the V-slots on the brake hand end of the rope. Alternately, the
user may reverse the VC Pro to disable the V-slots. Wild
Country recommends the first arrangement for 9.2 mm. ropes
and smaller, while recommending the second for belaying or rappelling
on single 11 mm. or double 9 mm. ropes.
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 VC Pro
to be less effective. On the other hand, the teeth on the VC Pro
provide a larger bearing area for the rope, which helps reduce
localized heating.
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©2007, Gary D. Storrick