Whaletails

Spelean Whaletail

The Whaletail™ has been designed as a relatively compact and aesthetically pleasing descender with a minimum of moving parts. The Whaletail™ has a greater heat capacity than commercially available racks. The massive aluminium backbone assures mechanical strength and rapidly distributes heat generated by rope friction. The greater heat capacity of The Whaletail™ ensures that it has a slower temperature rise than any other descender.

Key Features

• Superior in-line descender - doesn't twist your rope
• Great heat capacity - difficult to melt your rope
• Variable friction - adjustable to suit your load
• Minimum of moving parts - doesn't rattle and catch
• Safety gate - to prevent rope from jumping out
• Long working life - can be reversed to double life
• Tough and durable - not easily damaged
• Made from hard extruded Aluminium alloy
• Strong - Rated Strength 4000kg.

R110 Rescue Whaletail : 10-13mm The Rescue Whaletail has a second safety gate to ensure that the rope is contained at all times. This is recommended for rescue personnel as both a personal descent device and as a rescue lowering device. Weight 600 gm. Rated strength 4000 kg.

R111 Rescue Whaletail : 16mm model The strongest, most compact rescue lowering/ descent device available for the larger rope diameters. Heavy duty milled construction with double safety gate that can accept ropes 13 mm - 16 mm diameter. Weight 800 gm. Rated strength 4000 kg.

Rappel Racks

D020 Spelean Rappel Rack Heavy duty rappel rack with stainless steel leader bar and four aluminium alloy brake bars. Ideal for long descents and will accept ropes of up to 13mm diameter. This rappel rack is suitable for loads up to 150kg. Made in Australia.

D040 Petzl Rappel Rack Lightweight specialist rappel rack with five aluminium brake bars. Suitable for use on double 9 mm ropes or single 11mm rope (but fast). This is not suitable as a lowering device for rescue, but is an excellent personal descender.

D620 CMI FIGURE 8 The CMI figure-of-8 descender is a good quality, versatile rappel and belay device designed to be safely used with kernmantle and laid 9 mm-11 mm ropes either single or double. It is forged from a high tensile aircraft alloy aluminium and treated with a special hard-coat process to provide a tough wear resistant finish. The unique finish helps reduce friction and to dissipate heat and reduces the wear on the descender itself. Rated Strength 3600kg.

D610 CMI RESCUE 8 The Rescue 8 is a large figure-of-8 and features dual tie in holes. This enables the user to attach to the rope without removing the Rescue 8 from the harness. Extended horns on the upper portion of the large ring prevent the rope from sliding up and locking off accidentally. The construction is identical to the CMI figure-of-8 and it is treated with the same harcoat finish as the D620. Rated Strength 4500kg.

Users should be aware of the following when using figure-of-8 style descenders.

(i) Rope wear: Figure-of-8 style descenders cause rope to wear much more than in line descending devices. (ii) Rope spin: The use of a figure-of-8 style descender will gradually put a lay into the core of the rope on which it is used. This will cause the rope to spin when it is used for hauling and may also cause problems if you are trying to ascend the rope.

(iii) Poor heat dissipation: Figure-of-8 style descenders get very hot, very quickly during use. If used, they should be restricted to short drops (less than 30m) and descent should be made in a slow and controlled manner. (iv) Lack of variability: Figure of 8 style descenders usually only have one friction setting and as a result it is difficult to cater for very light or very heavy loads.

The belay device that, when used correctly, can serve as a backup to the belayer. It works somewhat like an automobile seat belt - When movements are slow, the rope runs freely through the device, when there is a shock load, the GRIGRI locks, jamming the rope with a cam.
A diagram on the side of the GRIGRI illustrates proper setup. When descending or lowering a climber with a GRIGRI, control is maintained by the brake hand on the rope, not by the handle.
The GRIGRI can help eliminate some potential belaying errors, but not all of them.

Our experience with it indicates that the problem with a product that tries to make climbing less risky, is that climbers may act as if there is no risk. Don't make that mistake! The GRIGRI is not a substitute for skilled, vigilant belaying! For UIAA/CE dynamic single ropes from 10 mm to 11 mm. Each GRIGRI is individually tested and CE certified.

see Belaying with a GRIGRI. see Rappelling with a GRIGRI
For proper use of the GRIGRI see the GRIGRI Technical Notice with diagrams and explanations.