Which Ascenders would you recommend

i am wanting to get a pair of ascenders, and i keep hearing different things from different people.

I am trying to decide between petzl and Black Diamond.

Any suggestions??

Pros and cons

Thanks

I have three sets of ascenders:

1. Old jumars - grey
2. Newer jumars - Yellow
3. Petzl Ascensions (gold and blue)

The Petzl's Ascensions are the main ones I use since they're the most comfortable and in the best shape.

I have tried the Black Diamond Nforce clamps and I didn't take to them. They're heavy and have lots of moving parts. However, they're very well made and I'm sure they're not going to break on you. Supposedly they work better than any other clamp on icy or muddy ropes but I haven't tested this.

There is a good review of them over on rc.com by Kate who has a lot of wall experience that might help.

rockclimbing.com/gear/Detai…

The reason why I didn't buy them was the action to enable and disable the clamp. I found this to be awkward and I had to keep moving my hand up the handle each time so that I was able to reach the release. If you have large hand or were wearing gloves this wouldn't be a issue and these clamps might fit you well. With my Petzl's I can do it in my sleep.

Some other good things about them is that the bottom biner hole is large enough to rotate the biner all the way through. You can't do this on Petzl's.

Hope this helps some.

Thank you for the lengthy and helpful reply.

I was thinking about the weight thing as well, there seems to be quite a difference and i am always a little worried about lots of moving parts.

I will have to do a little more thinking, but think i might just go with the petzl.

Thanks again.

if they're good enough for Kate, they're good enough for me.

I don't think the moving parts are a concern. Its not like they're made in a garage in Wyoming!

Just try to test or borrow some before you buy them as they're likely be part of your kit for quite some time. A good shop should let you test them on a rope hanging from a ceiling, just like testing harnesses, etc...

The Petzls are awesome. I dont use anything else.

petzl. tried and true.

i messed with the BD ones when they first came out. didnt buy em, though.... be careful with those. they have a pinch point, where if you are not careful, can cut your finger off. especially on skinny ropes. i have demonstrated with a carrot. if you weight the ascender and "happen" to get your finger in the trigger, ( the one to disengage the cam) then it can get pinched. guess i should have been more careful. but i figure, if it can happen, it will. especially after jugging thousands of feet when you are tired and complacent. imagine if you were cleaning a pitch quickly, and moving your top ascender passed a piece. the moment you put the ascender back on, their is a split second that you are both weighting it and have your finger in there. yikes.

ALSO,
i have noticed that when you do pul back on the trigger, then the cam teeth rub the rest of your hand/glove. again, not a big deal, but can be annoying or break skin after a while. the Petzls dont do these things.

therefore, if you must use these, just disengage the cam with your thumb like normal operations. bit too complicated, but good idea with the mechanical advantage...
they are probably bad ass for icy lines, but i tend to stay away from such.

hope i made sense.

I have a pair of KONGs and they are great best cam release I have seen. Very easy to use one handed with or with out heavy mitts.

If I remember correctly, the petzls can hold a factor 1 fall on an 11mm rope. Thats impressive.
I have had ice and leaves jam my ascenders... I have never felt like adding to the cam factor, as the new BD's do, was what I needed. It just crushes your rope more.
Petzl may not have perfected the tool, but no one has been able to improve on their design.

Remember the Gri Gri,
Sam

Another review of the BD Ascenders

alpinist.com/doc/web07f/ms-…

Does anyone know how the new BD index ascender? How about the Edelrid hand cruiser or the Grivel? How do they compare to Petzl?

I’ll report back on these in a week 

The Camps feel a little heavier than the Petzls , but that roller is a Gucci little thing! I haven’t used them on a wall, just rope access situations. They were smooth on diagonals. Let us know what you think, Quinn!

On any ascender taking a fall, keep in mind where the weak point of the system is. In the neighborhood of 4 KN, the cam teeth will shred the sheath of the  rope. that’s with ANY toothed cam! I remember the old Gibbs sliding before they would bite and shred the mantle. Nobody would try to use those these days though. If I’m doing something stupid and think there is a risk of falling onto an ascender, I try to put a Camp Goblin in the system where it will grab before the ascender, or preferably re-rig to avoid it altogether. 

The Muddyboots wrote:

The Camps feel a little heavier than the Petzls , but that roller is a Gucci little thing! I haven’t used them on a wall, just rope access situations. They were smooth on diagonals. Let us know what you think, Quinn!

On any ascender taking a fall, keep in mind where the weak point of the system is. In the neighborhood of 4 KN, the cam teeth will shred the sheath of the  rope. that’s with ANY toothed cam! I remember the old Gibbs sliding before they would bite and shred the mantle. Nobody would try to use those these days though. If I’m doing something stupid and think there is a risk of falling onto an ascender, I try to put a Camp Goblin in the system where it will grab before the ascender, or preferably re-rig to avoid it altogether. 

I have fallen on ascenders dozens of times in impromptu TRS situations, and on other toothed ascenders many hundreds of times more. I do usually use a Camp Lift as my primary, but that is because it is easier to hold upright and not because it is a non toothed ascender-- it will cut the rope at the same force rating an ascender or microtrax will. Keep in mind this fall was on a microtrax. It is hard to generate 4kn in a top rope environment on a dynamic rope. It would genuinely be hard to do and require some pretty extreme levels of incompetence and or shenanigans. Falling on jumars is totally fine. 

To the question, I like the Petzl ascenders because they have one fatty hole on them which you can fit two biners through. I have a spare set of BDs and I have to put quicklinks through the tiny hole so that it's possible to fit a biner through the big hole as well as a biner through the quicklink on the tiny hole. Pain in the ass. Either make both holes big enough to fit biners through or make one big hole like Petzl does that can fit both. The tiny useless hole makes me sad and not want to use any of the numerous jumars that have that "feature."

"extreme levels of incompetence and or shenanigans. " I think that’s a good route name…

Ricky, thanks for adding context! There really IS a whole lot of room to do things under that 4KN point. Where I’ve seen the shred happen, it absolutely WAS shenanigans. Extremely competent people doing things that are WAY outside of normal use case. aka, really smart people doing really dumb shit- with appropriate backup. My comment lacked usable context. Apologies.

I also agree with your comments on the Petzls. They are what I use for walls, rope access and entertainment rigging.