Front	Rear	Left Side	Right Side

Front: Open for Rigging	Rear: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my C.A.M.P. Giant from Rock N Rescue in 2019.

My C.A.M.P. Giant is 187 mm. tall, 92 mm. wide, 42 mm. thick, and weighs 546 g.

This descender consists of a fixed body in the rear and a pivoting plate in the front with two bollards, an autostop assembly consisting of a cam inside connected to a handle in the rear, a spring-loaded plastic cam lock, a stainless steel casting at the bottom of the cam that acts both as a wear pin and to limit cam rotation, and a stainless steel casting that serves as the upper bollard. The body and cover are forged from aluminum alloy. There is a spring-loaded stainless steel latch on the outside of the front plate.

The friction from the passage of the main rope causes the lower bollard to rotate, rotating the handle at the same time. As it turns, camming surfaces on the bollard squeeze the rope against the shell at the 8 o’clock and against the upper bollard at the 2 o’clock position. The handle can be held to prevent this rotation. Depressing the cam stop can prevent this rotation, but this does not appear to be particularly effective. A ratchet mechanism with seven stops holds the handle in one of seven braking positions, each providing a different amount of friction.

The front plate is printed with "UP," a shepherd’s crook representing the standing line, "CAM-LOCK," a single barb arrow pointing toward the cam lock, "GIANT," "Ref. 0997," "Patent Pending," "CE0123," a magnifying glass icon, "12M," a book-with-an-"i" icon, "EAC," "TP TC," "019/2011," "EN 12841C:2006 - Descender," "Max 210kg.•10<ø<11.5mm," another book-with-an-"i" icon, a horizontal line, "EN 12841B:2006 - Ascender," "Max 210kg.•10<ø<11.5mm," yet another book-with-an-"i" icon, another horizontal line, "EN 12841A:2006 - Fall arrester," "Max 120kg.•10<ø<11.5mm," a fourth book-with-an-"i" icon,a vertical line, "EN 341:2011 - Rescue," "40-200kg. •ø<10.5mm," a fifth book-with-an-"i" icon, "Max 200m, Temp. -30/+60°C," another horizontal line, "EN 15151-1:2012 - Belay," "? 9.9≤ø≤11mm," a sixth book-with-an-"i" icon, another horizontal line, "ANSI Z359.4-2013 - Rescue," "60-141kg•11mm," a "!"-inside-a-triangle icon, a seventh book-with-an-"i" icon, "Max 200m-Multiple use," and "Avoid chemical, electrical and thermal hazards. The cover latch and the cam each have the C.A.M.P. Safety logo cast in raised relief. The Cam also has a "!"-inside-a-triangle icon, a right-pointing triangle and "|" cast in raised relief; this indicates a wear limit. The cam lock has a down-pointing arrow molded into it. The rear of the body is printed with the C.A.M.P. Safety logo, "08 18," a filled rectangle, "1888," "CAMP S.p.a.," "Via Roma 23, 23834’" "Premona (LC), Italy," "www.camp.it," and "Made in Italy." There is an impressed up-pointing triangle below the handle serving as an index mark. The handle is printed with "FULL LOCK" under a line, a down-pointing arrow, 3 marks and a bar labeled "BRAKE" under a counter-clockwise-pointing curved arrow, a vertical divider, an arc labeled "DESCENT" under a clockwise-pointing curved arrow, a down-pointing arrow, and "ASCENT BELAY LOCK" under a horizontal line.

Comments

At first I thought this might be another Lever Box Descender, but when I opened it, I saw the traditional bobbin rope path, complete with rotating lower bollard, and so I place it with the Stop Bobbins.

As a stop bobbin, the Giant is too large and heavy for normal caving use. Like I originally said for the Petzl I’D, I'm not a fan of control handles The light plastic handle does not inspire confidence. When the handle is in the normal rappelling position one can descend by pushing the handle down, but pushing it too far results in an annoying lock-off. To me, this is an unacceptable substitute for learning to control one’s descent properly. Locking off normally involves moving the handle to one of the seven braking positions, but if you need your hands free I recommend either tying off or clipping an ascender on as a backup.

The following comments are not directed at the Giant per se, but rather at the fantasy world created by the lawyers of the world. C.A.M.P. isn't guilty, they’re just another victim.

The markings on the front illustrate the sad state that equipment certification is in. Anyone who thinks that certification makes a device "good" ought to read the front of the Giant and see if they keep the same opinion. If so, they should obtain these standards and read them as well, and see if that doesn't change their mind. I have. As an engineer I see value in standards, but in the rope access arena, I think the system has failed. Do you really think that the Giant is a better ascender than a Jumar (e.g.), just because it passed an EN 12841B test program and the Jumar was never tested that way? If so, take some Giants and climb out of Golondrinas with them.

The Giant is good for some applications but certification for everything does not make it good for everything. I can understand using the Giant as a very heavy descender. I prefer other devices as fall arrestors and as belayers, and I won't comment on rescue since I don't interfere with natural selection.