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I acquired this eight from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994.
The Trango, Version A is forged from aluminum alloy. Mine is 146 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, and 16 mm. thick. The rope hole is 52 mm. high and 51 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 46 mm. and 26 mm, respectively. The eye measures 26 mm. by 26 mm. My eight weighs 128 g.
The front of the shaft is stamped "TRANGO ITALY," and the rear is stamped "3000 dan."
The Trango, Version A is a typical example of a full sized, forged, aluminum figure eight. Except for the finish, it is the same as Version B. It is also essentially the same as the Hugh Banner, Lucky Ecos and Mammut Version A.
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I acquired this eight from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994.
The Trango, Version B is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 146 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, and 16 mm. thick. The rope hole is 52 mm. high and 52 mm wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 46 mm. and 26 mm, respectively. The eye measures 26 mm. by 26 mm. My eight weighs 128 g.
The front of the shaft is stamped "TRANGO ITALY," and the rear is stamped "3000 dan."
The Trango, Version B is another typical example of a full sized, forged, aluminum figure eight. Except for the finish, it is the same as Version A. It is also essentially the same as the It is essentially identical to the Hugh Banner, Lucky Ecos and Mammut Version A.
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I acquired this eight from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994.
The Trango Belay 8, Version A is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 125 mm. tall, 71 mm wide, and 10 mm. thick. The rope hole is 68 mm. high and 50 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 10 mm. The shaft length and width are 27 mm. and 24 mm, respectively. The eye measures 11 mm. by 11 mm. My eight weighs 84 g.
The Trango Belay 8 has a plastic eye liner that limits the size of the eye, holding the attachment carabiner centered. The resulting eye opening measures 11 mm. by 11 mm.
The top front of the upper loop is stamped "TRANGO ITALY," and the rear is stamped "PATENT." The front and rear of the eye liner are stamped with an "S," another "S," an "E" and"PATENT ITALY."
This is essentially the same as Belay 8 Version B, except the carabiner keeper is made of hard plastic. This plastic keeper deteriorated and eventually disintegrated while I had the eight stored in my basement. Apparently it was not the right material for the job. Of course, if the liner can disintegrate in a box, it could also do so in the field, but even if it did, the eight should still functin safely.
The Advanced Base Camp Friction 8 is essentially identical except it does not have the eye liner.
The photograph shows the eight connected to a Russian titanium carabiner. I do not know enough about the metallurgy or the quality control on the Russian carabiner to recommend this.
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I acquired this eight from Exkursion in 1994.
The Trango Belay 8, Version B is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 125 mm. tall, 71 mm wide, and 10 mm. thick. The rope hole is 68 mm. high and 50 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 10 mm. The shaft length and width are 27 mm. and 24 mm, respectively. The eye measures 24 mm. by 27 mm. My eight weighs 91 g.
The Trango Belay 8 has a urethane eye liner that limits the size of the eye, holding the attachment carabiner centered. The resulting eye opening measures 11 mm. by 11 mm.
The top front of the upper loop is stamped "TRANGO ITALY," and the rear is stamped "PATENT." The front and rear of the eye liner are stamped with an "S," another "S," an "E" and"PATENT ITALY."
This eight is specially designed to be used for belaying with the rope rigged in the normal figure eight fashion. In my mind, most eights do not have enough friction to be used for belaying in this manner, which is why many eights have slots so they can be used as a slotted belay plate. The shape of the Trango Belay 8 allows the rope to wedge in the groove, generating extra friction. This works rather well, but the rope can bind at times, so releasing the belay is not always smooth. The keeper in the eye keeps the eight from shifting on the carabiner, but the opening is too small for most standard carabiners.
The Advanced Base Camp Friction 8 is essentially identical except it does not have the eye liner. The Advanced Base Camp Friction 8 (Notch) has an eye liner that matches the urethane one on the Trango Belay 8, Version B.
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I acquired this eight from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994.
The Trango Mini is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 113 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, and 16 mm thick. The rope hole is 40 mm. high and 46 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 34 mm. and 21 mm, respectively. The eye measures 19 mm. by 24 mm. My eight weighs 96 g.
The front of the shaft is stamped with "TRANGO," and the rear with "2500 dan."
The Trango Mini is a typical example of a "mini" size, forged, aluminum eight. It is essentially identical to the Camp, Mammut Version C, and Salewa Mini. The Trango Mini is lighter than most figure eights.The eye is too small for Sticht-type belaying.
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I acquired this eight from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994.
The Trango Penta is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 107 mm. tall, 79 mm. wide, and 20 mm thick. The Penta has a distinct bend that accounts for the increased thickness; if flat, it would be only 10.4 mm. thick. The rope hole is 36 mm. high and 59 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 27 mm. and 30 mm, respectively. The eye measures 25 mm. by 25 mm. My eight weighs 80 g.
The concave side is stamped "TRANGO," "ITALY," and kN 25."
The Trango Penta is an odd-shaped, bent figure eight. It is essentially identical to the Lucky Face, Mammut, Version E, and Singing Rock. The Face is lighter than most figure eights. The bend allows it to be rigged two ways with differing amounts of friction. The short overall length and sharp bends makes this eight rather "grabby" when using the high friction arrangement on sandy ropes.
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©2007, Gary D. Storrick