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Kailas
Alopias
Kguard
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I acquired my Kailas from Lucky Outdoor in 2010.
The Kailas is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 56 mm. long, 47 mm. wide, 101 mm. high, and weighs 56 g. The slots are 35 mm. long and 16 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 14 mm. below the ends of the slots. The Kailas Max has a flexible, plastic-covered, cable keeper.
One side of my Kailas is marked "Kailas,"
while the other has two rigging icons, one showing the high friction
arrangement with "+," underneath, and one
one showing the low friction arrangement with "-," underneath.
The following closely-related belay tubes include the Kailas as an example:
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Each of these is 55±1 mm. long and 47±1 mm. wide, and has a weight in the 54±3 g. range. Their slots are all 35±1 mm. long and 16 mm. wide. The main differences are that most have cable keepers and U-shaped notches on both ends, but some have rod keepers and V-shaped notches on the high end.
These have several distinctive features, but overall, perform like most devices of this type. The rope slots are hour-glass shaped, but this does not appear to affect their performance. They are slightly asymmetrical with a high and a low end, giving two distinct riggings. One would expect a difference in friction for the two riggings, with more friction if the braking line runs over the shorter end; however, I do not notice much difference.
Most of these have shallow U-notches at both ends. The Clog Flyer, Ellis Brigham Climb and Unknown have V-notches at the high end, so I call these notched belay tubes. The V-notches are not as tall and acute as those on the Trango Jaws and its equivalents, so they do not provide as much braking. The U-notches on the others are are too shallow to noticeably amplify braking.
I prefer the ones with the rigid rod keeper. For the others, the plastic-coated cable keeper is moderately flexible, but stiff enough that it tends to stay out from under the rope.
[ Top | Version A | Version B | Return to Belay Tubes ]
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I acquired my Kailas Alopias from Kailas on Amazon.com in 2019.
The Kailas Alopias is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. The Alopias features two slots with ribbed v-grooves, a carabiner eye, a release hole, and a plastic-covered cable keeper. Mine is 91 mm. long, 42 mm. wide, 84 mm. high, and weighs 72 g. The slots are 34 mm. long and 13 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 22 mm. below the ends of the slots.
The top has "KAILAS" in lowered letters. One side is printed "KAILAS," "EN 15151-2:2012," and a rigging illustration. The other side is printed with a rigging illustration for belaying from above, a book-with-an-"I" icon, "C040315," and "Alopias."
The Alopias has V-slots that provide additional friction for belaying or rappelling, although not as much as I would like. On the other hand, the teeth on the Alopias provide a larger bearing area for the rope, which helps reduce localized heating.
I think this is one of the better-looking notched belay tubes, although the "stealth fighter" motif does not affect its belaying performance.
[ Top | Version A | Version B | Return to Belay Tubes ]
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I acquired my Kailas Kguard from Lucky Outdoor in 2010.
The Kailas Kguard is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 51 mm. long, 46 mm. wide, 108 mm. high, and weighs 94 g. The slots are 33 mm. long and 14 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 16 mm. below the ends of the slots. The plastic covered cable keeper is moderately stiff.
One side is printed with "KAILAS" and the other with "Kguard."
The Kailas Kguard is one of the following closely-related notched belay tubes:
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Each of these is 53±2 mm. long and 46±2 mm. wide. Their weighs range from 64 to 95 g., with variations in the lightening holes (or their absence) accounting for the differences. Their slots are all 32±2 mm. long and 14±1 mm. wide. They all have plastic-covered cable keepers, with the Black Diamond keepers being and stiffer than others.
The Black Diamond ATC-XP was the first of these to appear, by many years. Version A was an improved version of their ATC. From there, the basic design evolved and similar devices appeared from others.
Each of these has V-slots to give additional friction for belaying or rappelling. Each side of each groove has three V-shaped slots, giving the grooves "teeth" to grip the rope more effectively. These teeth act to guide the rope deeper into the slot, in much the same manner as the teeth on the Wild Country Hand ascender work. The teeth do not have the narrow angle found on the Trango Jaws or its equivalents, so they do not create the same wedging action. For this reason, I find these less effective than the Jaws family. On the other hand, the teeth on the ATC-XP provide a larger bearing area for the rope, which helps reduce localized heating. These are more massive than the ATC, but will still overheat on long rappels.
The ATC-XP and equivalents are rigged like the ATC, with the V-slots on the brake hand end of the rope. Alternately, they may be reversed to disable the V-slots.
Some of these have a hole or an opening in the sides and the central rib. When present, these reduce the device's weight, but also reduce the devices' surface area for rejecting heat.
My preference from this set is for the Black Diamond ATC-XP, Version C, which is the lightest of the group and has the stiffer keeper; however, it requires closer thermal monitoring on rappel.
The Kguard is essentially identical to the Black Diamond ATC-XP, Version C.
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I acquired my Kailas Spark from Kailas on Amazon.com in 2019.
The Kailas Spark is a notched belay tube. It is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. The Spark features two slots with ribbed v-grooves and a plastic-covered cable keeper. Mine is 61 mm. long, 41 mm. wide, 98 mm. high, and weighs 65 g. The slots are 35 mm. long and 14 mm. wide. The top of the Omega oval carabiner that I use for comparing belay tubes sits 24 mm. below the ends of the slots.
One side is printed with a climber icon, "KAILAS," a book-with-an-"I" icon, and a hand-holding-a-rope icon. The other side is printed with the Kailas logo and "KAILAS."
The V-Max is an improved belay tube that has V-slots that provide additional friction for belaying or rappelling. Each side of each groove has three V-shaped slots, giving the grooves "teeth" to grip the rope more effectively. These teeth act to guide the rope deeper into the slot, in much the same manner as the teeth on the Wild Country Hand ascender work. The teeth do not have the narrow angle found on the Trango Jaws or its equivalents, so they do not create quite the same wedging action, but they are much narrower and work better than those on the Kguard or those on the Yoke and its equivalents. The teeth on the V-Max also provide a larger bearing area for the rope, which helps reduce localized heating.
The Spark is essentially identical to the Climb X V-Max.
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