Front View	Rear View	Side View

Technical Details

Artyom Babin (Артём Бабин) helped me acquire my Orion-Alp Sports Eight (Восьмерка Спортивная "Орион-Альп") from Orion-Alp in 2022.

This eight is 167 mm. tall, 114 mm. wide, 22 mm. thick, and weighs 188 g., excluding the carabiner.

This eight consists of a large main body made from 5 mm. steel plate, a 2 mm. stamped carabiner retaining plate, and four 16 mm. M5x0.8 round head hex socket machine screws with matching lock bolts. The eight is designed to be permanently mounted on a user-supplied carabiner.

The rope hole is 98 mm. in diameter. It is chamfered on each side. The carabiner opening is 12 mm. wide and 27 mm. high. There is a 13 mm. lightening hole near the base of the main body.

There are no markings on this eight.

Comments

The Russians invented "sports tourism" competitions that include, among other things, what amount to rope work obstacle courses. This eight is designed for those competitions, and so its focus is on speed. The large hole facilitates fast rigging. The eight provides minimal friction, allowing for rapid descents with free-fall acceleration. Lighter users might be able to stop without relying on the ground as backup. Don't try this while caving.

The eight is made of steel, but there is minimal margin for wear.

The Vertical Sport-Tourism Eight is a similar, but smaller device.

The carabiner that I chose for mounting my eight is Chinese, but matches the design shown in the Орион-Альп literature.