Front	Rear

Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my Sala from Tom Furey in 2012.

My Sala is 66 mm. long, 85 mm. wide, 59 mm. high, and weighs 369 g. The Sala looks and functions like a Type 1 Lever Cam Ascender, but it is marketed as a rope grab. The frame is milled from aluminum (much like the Rock Exotica ascenders). The U-shaped rope channel is 14.2 mm. wide. The inside of the shell has a milled depression that the cam forces the rope into. This spreads the load on the rope, and may increase the holding power of the device. It is claimed to help reduce rope damage under shock loading, but I can't confirm this.

The cam has 8 rounded teeth, and is held by a cable keeper that doubles as a weak spring that adds a tiny closing force to the cam. The cam rides on a standard quick-release pin that is held by cable keeper. The top of the rope channel is rounded off so that the rope does not bend over any sharp corners. An aluminum bushing fits into the cam eye, and an Allen Set screw passes through the lower portion of the cam and a slot in the bushing, limiting the bushing rotation to about 70°. A milled block is permanently pinned to the bushing. The other end of the block has a slot where a 140 mm. length of 32 mm. webbing is sewn. The other end of the webbing is sewn to an ISC hook.

There is a sticker on the frame that is printed with "ROPE GRAB SYSTEM," "EN 353-2," "CE0086," a book-with-an-"i" icon, an up-pointing arrow, "UP,’ "HAUT," "AUF," "SALA" inside a rectangle, and a number of SALA addresses and phone numbers.

Comments

My Sala was obviously assembled incorrectly: the two cables are reversed. As they are, it is impossible to assemble the cam in the frame right-side-up. The milled depression does not align with the reversed cam, and the up arrow must point down. While it would be simple to remove the top cable to the QR pin (it is held in the frame with an Allen set screw), the lower cable to the cam is epoxied in place.