Front View: Closed	Rear View: Closed
Front View: Open for Rigging	Rear View: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my De-Jump from Barrabes.com in 2005.

My Kong De-Jump is 140 mm. tall, 105 mm. wide, 23 mm. thick, and weighs 326 g.

The De-Jump has an egg-shaped anodized aluminum frame with three major holes. The top two holes are trapezoidal rope holes, and the bottom is a semicircular eye. The cross piece between the two bottom holes supports a spring-loaded, trapezoidal tab that rotates on an 8 mm. steel axle inserted in a hole drilled lengthwise through the cross piece. Two small roll pins hold the bar in place. The user can rotate the tab upward where the top end will enter a pocket milled in the base of the upper cross piece. A 13 mm. steel bar fits in a hole drilled lengthwise in this cross piece, and an 11 mm. diameter portion of the bar sticks out one end. The center of this bar is milled halfway through. When the bar rotates, it can capture the upper end of the tab against the back of the frame pocket. The end of the bar has a control lever pinned to it. There is a slot milled in the upper outside of the frame that the lever can fold into, and a spring-loaded plunger in the top of the frame extends to where it can hold the lever in the slot.

The front of my De-Jump is stamped with the Kong logo, and printed with "DE_JUMP," "050849 05," two arrows pointing at the tab base, and "NIT 271-1 271-2." The tab has a forged throw it in the lake icon.

Comments

The instant I saw a web site icon of this descender, I understood the cleverness of the idea and though it was great, but oh, the weight! This is too heavy for even a complex figure eight. The De-Jump is well-made, though, and functions rather well.

Because of its complexity and unique design, I recommend spending some time with the instructions. There are two eight-like means to rig the De-Jump. In one way, the rope forces the tab closed, which means that the rope cannot be released under load. This is the safer configuration, and the one that I recommend for normal use. In the other configuration, the throw it in the lake icon remains visible. This allows one to operate the lever and release the tab, even under load. One hopes that there is a lake to land in in that case (this explains the icon).

The De-Jump also has a brake-bar-like rigging that may be useful with thick, stiff, and/or doubled rope. In this configuration, one inserts a bight in the middle hole and closes the tab. The top hole serves no function in this method. Once again, one can choose to have the rope force the tab closed or allow for releasing under load, with the subsequent plunge.

The release lever takes some getting used to. Considering the trouble I have getting the lever out of the slot (it is almost a two-handed affair), I don't expect that accidental opening will be a problem. If one avoids the lake-plunge riggings, inadvertent opening shouldn't be a problem even if it were to occur.

The De-Jump was made for canyoneering, which has more lake-plunge opportunities than caving or climbing have. If it wasn't so heavy, I would love it.