You may recall a thread last year on the Camp Turbochest ascender

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/community/viewtopic.aspx?t=9721 

I've finally bitten the bullet and bought one. Mine came from Rock and Run and set me back £50.

http://www.rockrun.com/rock-climbing/hardware/ascenders 

There was a slight glitch with the website so I phoned up and dealt with a very helpful chap. I placed my order on the Friday and it was with me on the Monday.

Out of the packet the ascender looks and feels good. It's shiny and it's got little wheels; what's not to like?

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Compared with an old style Croll (my weapon of choice to date) it is really small. That said I had no problem opening the cam with my sausage like fingers. It does not feel too small, unlike the new Croll.

🔗102666[linkphoto]102666[/linkphoto][/link]

The spring on the cam is not as savage as the Croll's although it is stiffer than a Pantin's.

So what is it like in action? I didn't have to wait too long to find out. Last night (Tuesday) I tried it out on a 35m - 40m pitch in a large copper stope. The pitch was partly free hanging and partly on the underlie so the Turbochest was given a reasonable work out as part of my bog standard Frog rig.

The bottom of the pitch was just off vertical on the underlie. To my delight the rope ran smoothly through the jammer right from the start. With the Croll I usually spend the first part of any climb either feeding the rope through or forcing one of my mates to hold the rope. The smooth running comes down to two things: Firstly the weaker spring. Secondly with a Croll the rope would be rubbing on the cheek plate whereas with the Turbochest it was running on the rollers. The rest of the climb was a breeze, including a deviation at the top of the pitch.

First impressions are really positive. It appears to work well and it feeds rope much more smoothly than my old Croll. The rollers looked like they could have been a gimmick, however they do appear to fulfil a useful purpose. As things stand I think that the Croll may well be relegated to the bottom of the tackle sack. That said it is early days yet and I am very much in the honeymoon period with it. It will be interesting to see how it fares with some sustained abuse. I'll let you know how I get on with it; I may even try it in a ropewalker.

I'm glad you got to try it out. Mine "disappeared" from my kit bag before I got to test it out.

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I like the sound of that. How do you think the rollers will deal with mud?

Chris.

I like the sound of that. How do you think the rollers will deal with mud?

Chris.

Don't know as yet, however it will only be a matter of time. When I find out I'll post in this thread.

I do like the idea, but worry about the strength of the bolts holding the rollers in place?.

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I wouldn't have thought that the bolts would be an issue. I work with all sorts of alloys on a daily basis, and I didn't see anything that would worry me. The rollers only need to position the rope and let it run through, you're not hanging from them.

The only thing I didn't like was the silly tag on the arm. That got removed sharpish, just use the flat on the underside of it.

I have asked Santa for a new one though. This time it's going straight on the harness.

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I do like the idea, but worry about the strength of the bolts holding the rollers in place?.

Why not try one out - Hitch n Hike will loan you one for a trial:

http://www.hitchnhike.co.uk/acatalog/camp-turbo-chest-ascender.html 

Currently on Ebay if anyone fancies a punt:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/C-A-M-P-Turbo-Chest-Ascender/262095825124?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D33835%26meid%3Db638a2d994034c44a47eba96a4606861%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D391297323407 

I like the sound of that. How do you think the rollers will deal with mud?

Chris.

I ploughed it through some fairly unpleasant gunge last night; quick wipe down before I got on the rope, worked fine.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CAMP-USA-Turbo-Chest-Ascender/dp/B00S11XP7K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446733471&sr=8-1&keywords=camp+ascender 
£39.15 plus £6 postage

I'm going to give one a try.

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This has the whiff of a slightly desperate search for a perpetual motion machine. :)

If eating less pie, getting SRT fit & practising technique can give lets say a 50% benefit, what equivalent benefit would you estimate that these devices are likely to give, 1 or 2% at very best? There really isn't that much friction from a Croll with a basic SRT kit set up even vaguely correctly.

Allpeople have different techniques, idont really struggle to get my croll running freely, 4ome people do.

If it benefits some people its a good idea. Imactually tempted to try one, it does look verygood!

This has the whiff of a slightly desperate search for a perpetual motion machine. :)

If eating less pie, getting SRT fit & practising technique can give lets say a 50% benefit, what equivalent benefit would you estimate that these devices are likely to give, 1 or 2% at very best? There really isn't that much friction from a Croll with a basic SRT kit set up even vaguely correctly.

Good point well made. SRT fitness, technique and set up are the key. I've been doing a fair amount of vertical stuff recently and it is becoming noticeably easier.

The 1 or 2% you may gain from the Turbochest is, as you say, negligible. I think its real strength is that it allows the rope to flow much more freely particularly at the bottom of a pitch which for me has always been an issue with the Croll.

I wanted it to be a part of a ropewalking setup, as I didn't fancy those huge boxy chestrollers the yanks use ;):tongue:

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Ordered another one. And for good measure, the foot ascender that Camp do as well.

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It's a nice piece of kit. I haven't used mine yet, but it has a feel of quality about it, which the Petzl gear lacks. It's very well made.

It would also make a good knee ascender. I don't think a rollery foot ascender is necessary.

A while ago, I did some playing with chest pulleys. The whole crux of the matter is getting it to stay close to your chest. I mucked around with a MTDE garma chest bra and a pulley and it was a nightmare. You need the plate to stop the harness forming a ^. As soon as it gives enough movement (mine was an oval crab rotating 90 deg, you lose all efficiency when you lean back. The crux of any ropewalking rig is that it works without you helping with your hands.

I will get a PMI chest roller and harness and rig up a Garma style croll attachment for normal use.

This is not going to form a ropewalker, unless you weld a big bar to it and then combine that with a very carefully made bra harness.

Even back in the '70's, I concluded a rapide Delta was the answer, -- now in a museum somewhere --!

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It would also make a good knee ascender. I don't think a rollery foot ascender is necessary.

I needed a foot ascender anyway, so for the extra 3 or 4 quid it cost over the Pantin, why not?

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It's a nice piece of kit. I haven't used mine yet, but it has a feel of quality about it, which the Petzl gear lacks. It's very well made.

It would also make a good knee ascender. I don't think a rollery foot ascender is necessary.

A while ago, I did some playing with chest pulleys. The whole crux of the matter is getting it to stay close to your chest. I mucked around with a MTDE garma chest bra and a pulley and it was a nightmare. You need the plate to stop the harness forming a ^. As soon as it gives enough movement (mine was an oval crab rotating 90 deg, you lose all efficiency when you lean back. The crux of any ropewalking rig is that it works without you helping with your hands.

I will get a PMI chest roller and harness and rig up a Garma style croll attachment for normal use.

This is not going to form a ropewalker, unless you weld a big bar to it and then combine that with a very carefully made bra harness.

I notice you've posted a review of the Turbo Chest on UKC - could you do a similar review / write up in this thread please. :flowers:

Well, my new one arrived, and is now attached to the harness. An initial quick impressions is that it sits lower than the Croll. It should be an instant improvement for the standard frog style SRT ascent.

It's going to need some fiddling with to use it as I intend it, assuming such a thing is possible.

The foot ascender is nicely made too, Hopefully we get some non-rainy weather and I can get the rope out on a tree or other practice ground.

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