Austrialpin Eight Special

Technical details

I acquired this eight from Barrabés.com in 2003.

The Austrialpin Eight Special is milled from aluminum alloy plate and then hard anodized. Mine is 114 mm. tall, 95 mm. wide, and 10 mm. thick. The rope hole is 38 mm. high and 52 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 10 mm. The shaft length and width are 37 mm. and 25 mm, respectively. The eye measures 20 mm. by 25 mm. The ears are 13.5 mm. long. My Austrialpin Eight Special weighs 101 g.

The front of this eight is stamped "AUSTRIALPIN," "KN-22," "CE 0408," and "n0002."

Comments

The Austrialpin Eight Special is a typical example of a "mini" size figure eight with ears. It is identical to the Stubai. The Eight Special is small and the ears don't get in the way. It may be too small for use on some stiff, gritty caving ropes, but generally I like this eight. If an eight must have ears, this eight shows one way to design them to be unobtrusive.