Anyone used the ABC ascenders

[David Grimes]

I was looking into buying a new ABC chest ascender and hand ascender with the lever that allows you to descend the rope without removing the ascender. Just wondering if anyone has used these and if they are really so much better than the petzl croll and hand ascenders.

[fuzzy-hair-man]

Have a look here:
http://forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?t=5280&highlight=abc

[David Grimes]

thanks for the link I thought I had seen something on here about it but for some reason I could not find the post

[NZcaver]

What is the "hand ascender with the lever that allows you to descend the rope without removing the ascender" that you refer to? Is it also something made by ABC, or are you thinking of a Petzl GriGri or I'D type descender?

I would suggest just getting a pair of ascenders and a decender, and learning to do changeovers like most every other vertical caver. Try searching through the On Rope forum threads for more information.

[David Grimes]

What is the "hand ascender with the lever that allows you to descend the rope without removing the ascender" that you refer to? Is it also something made by ABC, or are you thinking of a Petzl GriGri or I'D type descender?

I would suggest just getting a pair of ascenders and a decender, and learning to do changeovers like most every other vertical caver. Try searching through the On Rope forum threads for more information.

The ABC hand ascender has the same lever as the chest ascender I was more curious to see what people thought of them and the patented lever is their defining characteristic in the item description other than that its identical to the petzl I was not really looking to keep them on the rope while descending.

[NZcaver]

Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. Your description made me think of something discussed recently in another thread.

You're talking about if you occasionally need to downclimb with your ascenders, right? If that's the case, you should really "thumb" the top of the cam but NOT use the safety catch (which you're calling a lever). The safety catch is for opening the device and removing it (and yourself) from the rope. More info can be found in this thread here.

[Rick Brinkman]

On Rope 1 has a good description and pictures.

ABC Ascenders - On Rope1

Not sure what the lever actually does....

Here's Gary Storrick's Review