UKH

Has anyone tried the (newish) Petzl Ascension jumar/ascenders? And if you found that the little projection (where your trigger/index finger positions) is slightly in the wrong place, did you try a different brand/model? If so, what did you swap to?

I found that the little projection was a little too far away from where the rest of your fingers go, which I imagine would have led to too much load being on the trigger/index finger. 

From reviews, the Grivel A&D looks interesting - has anyone used this? What do you think? 

Initially I'll use the ascender(s) for roped solo climbing.

I used one at work and I didn't really notice the difference to be fair, I'm just glad they moved away from that useless small croll

I have just decided to do away to with the ascension (old version) and swapped to the unhandled version. This let's me gain a few extra inches of height and I can't believe how much easier that makes transitioning off the rope at the top of a caving pitch

Interestingly my other half exclusively uses the non handed model in his irata setup.

Thanks Chris.

BTW - what's a croll?

Thanks for that Jenny. I'll check out the unhandled version, assuming it's still available.

I advise against using a toothed hand jammer of any brand for rope soloing, if you must do that (at your own risk!) clip a krab through the tope hole and rope, so it can't twist off. Be aware that devices with teeth especially if on a lanyard when at the top of a climb and you slip climbing over the top, or fall near the top can cause high fall factor onto teeth.

This can in some circumstances strip the sheath off the rope, and in this scenario it's the rope-sheath that's holding you up! so down you'll go.  Also imperfect for many reasons but a far lesser-evil is to buy a shunt.

Please have a think about how you plan to protect the roped solos. It's a common question and there are many different opinions on which options is best in which circumstance (and many of these, including Shunt self belay, may not always be manufacturer endorsed usages!) Dave MacLeod has a youtube video on self belay with shunt  youtube.com/watch?v=kd13IaWS8gQ&

Hope this helps

Edit apologies if I have misunderstood your post and this reply is completely wrong

I don't know any cavers who use a handled ascender anymore, I only use at work because that is what they provide and I'm not really supposed to use my own stuff, 

Terryofbucks: A croll is a toothed device similar to a basic ascender,  that goes roughly chest height

Mine was liberated off his irata harness, as were my crol and stop - starting out with caving I did very well at begging and borrowing kit

I think the time spent ascending is only a tiny fraction of the time spent walking/crawling/carrying the ascender. Handles make them a lot bigger and danglier, and it's not worth it.

Last trip (end of last summer ) I lent my handled Petzl jammer to a friend and used my basic one out of the bottom of a rescue bag - so much better!! Unless I specifically know I have a lot of ascending to do I think the handled one isn't going to be taken anywhere again

Even when ascending 300 ft mine shafts I prefer a basic over a handled. Much more efficient cupping the top of a basic when standing up  than using a handle which is slightly offset from the rope if that makes sense

Sorry for the slow reply Tom, but thanks a lot for the input. When I first started to think about rope-soloing I did a lot of research, and then tried to put together a setup that seemed safe and efficient. I've since lost the diagram and procedure, but it was based on two ropes (one static, one dynamic) and two different devices (Wild Country rope man 2 and Petzl micro traxion). But then I came across the Dave Macleod video you mentioned and there were many features that I liked about that setup, although quite different to my previous idea.

I'm planning a trip to do a test run as soon as the lockdown allows me to travel, later this month, so I have a little time to finalise the setup, buy any extra gear I need, then do a dry run at home.

I particularly value your comment about not damaging the sheath, I hadn't considered that. 

When I've finalised the setup I'll update here and would be interested to see what you think.