New Attache Round Stock

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1gXEAQF93nU

Welp, there goes my retirement funds of hoarding old gold attache. 

This got covered in another thread a few months back. The old gold Attaches have a round stock spine which is really nice for belaying from above, and actually how you're supposed to set up a Gigi or Ovo belay plate. The new version still doesn't go back to that nice round profile. I for one, am not going to run out and buy a bunch of the new ones, and will continue hoarding my old gold full round-stock Attaches.

The Rocha is also out now. Which is just a lighter version of the last I-beam attaché it would appear.

I have a few of the Attaché and the Rocha on the way.

Grivel is making some nice lockers (and double wire-gates, see the Plume!) with round stock profiles in the basket though fewer with round stock in the spine. The Sym K9T and Mega K6N look interesting but heavy.

added in response to Steve's stament below: I too have used the Plume for belay duty as a blocking biner in Reverso mode. Works great if you keep the ropes in the round stock basket, as smooth as an old Attache.

I’ll wait to see if they fix the gates seizing up.  I retired my I beam attache when it completely welded itself shut during normal use (luckily on a non critical link). I normally love Petzl but im a bit angry they didn’t recall

I've belayed just fine with grivel double-wire gate lockers, on the munter end. 

:D

Pardon my ignorance, but how does the attache differ (in positive ways) from something like the (ubiquitous) BD PearLock or RockLock? What makes it so prized relative to those?

MattH wrote:

Pardon my ignorance, but how does the attache differ (in positive ways) from something like the (ubiquitous) BD PearLock or RockLock? What makes it so prized relative to those?

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/120983341/finding-the-best-alternative-to-the-original-attache-a-review-of-rope-bearing-ca

Mitch L wrote:

I’d wait to see if they fix the gates seizing up.  I retired my I beam attache when it completely welded itself shut during normal use (luckily on a non critical link). I normally love Petzl but im a bit angry they didn’t recall

I think this is more user error than a Petzl problem. I’ve experienced similar with Camp and BD screwgates. Easy error to make, but also easy error to prevent. If your carabiner is bearing a load when you lock it, it should be bearing a load when you unlock it. And, more importantly, only screw the barrel down until it just makes contact. No need to give it that little extra 1/8th of a turn to make it tight. 

Slim Pickens wrote:

I think this is more user error than a Petzl problem. I’ve experienced similar with Camp and BD screwgates. Easy error to make, but also easy error to prevent. If your carabiner is bearing a load when you lock it, it should be bearing a load when you unlock it. And, more importantly, only screw the barrel down until it just makes contact. No need to give it that little extra 1/8th of a turn to make it tight. 

There is a big thread on this. Basically, there are enough people out there who have had the problem (myself included) with only this model of locker that it *should* be considered a real issue.

I, personally, have had this happen 3x with the 2nd gen I-beam Attaches (dark orange). After having it happen once, I assumed it was user error. I was ultra cautious going forward, and it happened 2x more times on me. All at around 5000m+. The same usage at lower elevations were never an issue for me. My bet is that the manufacturing and fit tolerances are so tight that if there is a slight thing that goes wrong, due to the user or the environment, these things can seize up. 

Until that point, I’d used the 1st gen I-beam Attaches (lighter orange) as my primary lockers for years. It had never happened to me with those. Since then, I’ve switched to the DMM Phantom HMS and have never had it happen again. 

P B wrote:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/120983341/finding-the-best-alternative-to-the-original-attache-a-review-of-rope-bearing-ca

I read through the thread and I still don't get it. It weights more than a BD PearLock, it costs more, and according to one user it's no better for belaying (the OP did not include it in the test). Seems like a prime example of wanting what you can't have just because you can't have it.

MattH wrote:

I read through the thread and I still don't get it. It weights more than a BD PearLock, it costs more, and according to one user it's no better for belaying (the OP did not include it in the test). Seems like a prime example of wanting what you can't have just because you can't have it.

Never had the pleasure of using an old attaché is all I hear.
Sometimes things are just more than the sum of their parts.

Rock exotica pirate all the way!! Anyone else?

Y’all really simping over a locker??

I got the new Attaché and Rocha in the mail today. The new Attaché is very nice. The Rocha is very small, next to the SmD in the picture. Feels like a fringe product. 

Rocha looks purpose made for pulleys and other devices that want oval/hms. Even has multiple holes for tethers.

Slim Pickens wrote:

I think this is more user error than a Petzl problem. I’ve experienced similar with Camp and BD screwgates. Easy error to make, but also easy error to prevent. If your carabiner is bearing a load when you lock it, it should be bearing a load when you unlock it. And, more importantly, only screw the barrel down until it just makes contact. No need to give it that little extra 1/8th of a turn to make it tight. 

Loading was the problem for older carabiners, but it's not the problem with newer petzl carabiners. Not sure I've seen an explanation on MP or elsewhere, but I believe the cause to be the following:

If you pop off the lower retainer clip and expose the threads on modern carabiners from BD, CAMP, and others you'll often find another steel retainer clip. These don't tend to get stuck, and if they do get stuck like the loaner BD RLs at my local gym, its not too stuck I cant wrench it open with my hands to unstick the hapless first timer. DMM and others you'll find a machined surface which is perpendicular to the linear movement axis of the screw. I'm not sure if this simply stops the thread from going further or if it works as an actual shoulder, but these also don't tend to get stuck in my experience. 

Petzl on the other hand opted to use a machined shoulder surface similar to DMM, but made the surface conical. This conical contact surface has more surface area, and translates some of the force outwards in a way that spreads the nut as a hoop. My assumption is that the shape was chosen to provide a better flow path for stress concentrations, thus reducing the failure mode where the feature that engages the carabiner nose fractures. The net effect is kind of similar to the old wedge shaped nose driving into the screw nut, though obviously not nearly as extreme and not influenced by loading. I personally haven't gotten a petzl screw gate stuck anywhere where it mattered, but it does make me worry about couple SM'Ds mixed in amongst my and my partner's generally lesser used gear and has kept me from picking up more Petzl screw gate carabiners. Testing my SM'Ds at home a pretty solid hand tightening has resulted in needing to grab an implement to help unstick it, a far worse result than any other screw gate I own under similar conditions. YMMV. As noted, it can largely be avoided by not tightening the gate, but I'd hate to have a brush against rock or other gear result in a very stuck gate at an inopportune moment. 

Eli W wrote:

Rocha looks purpose made for pulleys and other devices that want oval/hms. Even has multiple holes for tethers.

Those are "speed holes" and not as good as the teather attachment on the SmD. On the SmD there is a small hole that you can thread 2 mm cord throuh and attach with an overhand on one side. The Rocha "speed holes" seem to big for that use and are irregular with a sharp edge.