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Version A
8 L
8 M
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I acquired this new Singing Rock eight from Susan Pattison on eBay in 2007. It originally came from the Outdoor Encounter Mountain Sports Shop in the U.K.
The Singing Rock is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 107 mm. tall, 79 mm. wide, and 19 mm. thick. The rope hole is 36 mm. high and 59 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 27 mm. and 30 mm., respectively. The eye measures 25 mm. by 25 mm. My eight weighs 80 g.
The concave side of the shaft is marked with a boxed arrow pointing upward, "singing rock," "MADE IN EEC," "kN 25," and "2006."
The Singing Rock, Version A is one several odd-shaped, bent figure eights. Here are the ones that I have collected:
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The first of these was the KWO, and it was not intended to be a figure eight! Carsten Strietzel sent me a note on April 19, 2009 describing its origin. Here is what he wrote:
Hello Gary,
Thank you for your very interesting website.
Probably I can give some additional information according to the KWO eight.
This eight had its origin in East Germany, and was popular for climbers in the Elbsandstein.
KWO stands for "Kabelwerk Oberspree," and to my knowledge the initial intention of this device was a part of a industrial safety harness and not a abseil device. I think to remember the device was mounted at a belt for climbing poles, thru the large hole was the strap sewed on the belt and the small hole was the attachment point for the carabiner.
…the non intentional use of things was very popular for us East German climbers…. :-)
I might be wrong, but to my recognition the western versions of this shape appeared later.
best regards
Carsten
I asked if he remembered when the KWO eight appeared, and he replied as follows:
I would say the KWO "eight" appeared 1984/85, but definitely before 1987.
The idea worked well enough as an eight, and others copied the design.
Each of these is 107±1 mm. tall and 79±1 mm. wide. Their weights fall in the 80±1 g. range. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance.
These eights are smaller and much lighter than most eights. While the advantages are manifest, there are two practical disadvantages:
The bend allows rigging these eights in two ways with differing amounts of friction. The short overall length and sharp bends makes this eight rather "grabby" when using the high friction arrangement on sandy ropes.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not designed for that purpose.
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Ondřej Belica of Climbing CZ sro sent me this eight new in 2022.
The Singing Rock 8 L is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 145 mm. tall, 76 mm. wide, and 16 mm. thick. The rope hole is 53 mm. high and 53 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 26 mm., respectively. The eye measures 27 mm. by 27 mm. My 8 L weighs 125 g.
The front is printed with "0122" (perhaps the manufacture date) "30kN," "singing rock," "EN 51515-2:2012," "Ø8,5 - 13," and a book-with-an-"i" icon.
The Singing Rock 8 L is a typical example of a full-sized, forged, aluminum figure eight. These are by far the most common figure eights. Everybody, their sisters, and their brothers seem to make one, and half the world's population and businesses have issued a custom version with their own name on it. I certainly have not acquired and tested every version madel, but I show the following eights as examples:
Some of these eights are made in Europe, and some in Asia. Some are obviously rebranded eights, a good example being the Trillium Health + Fitness eight.
The S.E.Peak is larger than the others, an outlier. Each of the remaining eights is 145±2 mm. tall and 76±2 mm. wide, and has a weight in the 126±12 g. range. These variations have no practical significance.
Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. For example, the Fusion Tiny 8, Version A and Lucky Ecos are noticeably wider for their height than the others. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
The AMP Tiny 8, C.A.M.P. 548.00/01 (Otto Large), Fusion Tiny 8, Version A, Hugh Banner, Version D and SUT appear to have harder anodizing than the others, and may wear better. My experience with the high-quality hard anodizing on the similar CMI eights is that hard anodizing provides considerable protection on clean ropes, but the protection provided against cave mud is limited. In bad conditions the anodizing soon breaks through, and the protection is lost. For this reason, I don't place a lot of value on hard over soft anodizing for caving use, but I prefer hard anodizing for climbing applications.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not really designed for that purpose. Some people will belay with an eight rigged for rappelling, but I don't like that practice since it does not provide the automatic locking assist and additional friction that a sticht plate or belay tube does.
Some caver friends refuse to use figure eights because they twist the rope. Eights are short drop devices, and rope twist concerns are absurd for short drops.
Many climbers think that eights are outdated, and prefer to rappel on belay tubes. I prefer belay tubes for belaying, but belay tubes get very hot when used for rappelling. Eights run much cooler. I would rather use an eight, but that may require carrying an extra device. On any given day, I make my choice about carrying a separate rappel device by considering several factors, and it is not unusual for me to carry an eight if I expect to be rappelling more than a very short distance.
[ Top | Version A | 8 L | 8 M | Return to Figure Eights ]
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Ondřej Belica of Climbing CZ sro sent me this eight new in 2022.
The Singing Rock 8 M is orged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. . Mine is 131 mm. tall, 74 mm. wide, and 13 mm. thick. The rope hole is 48 mm. high and 49 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 17 mm. The shaft length and width are 43 mm. and 27 mm., respectively. The eye measures 17 mm. by 26 mm. My eight weighs 104 g.
The front is printed with "0722" (perhaps the manufacture date) "25kN," "singing rock," "EN 51515-2:2012," "Ø7,5 - 13," and a book-with-an-"i" icon.
The Singing Rock 8 M is a "midi" size, forged, aluminum eight sharing one of the most common designs of this type. The following eights are quite similar, except for their markings:
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Some of these eights are made in Europe, and some in Asia. Some are rebranded eights made by one manufacturer for outside customers and labeled accordingly.
Each of these eights is 131±1 mm. tall and 74±1 mm. wide. Their weights fall in the 105±4 g. range. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
The AustriAlpin and C.A.M.P. 928.00/01 appear to have harder anodizing than the others, and may wear better. My experience with the high-quality hard anodizing on CMI eights is that hard anodizing provides considerable protection on clean ropes, but the protection provided against cave mud is limited. In bad conditions the anodizing soon breaks through, and the protection is lost. For this reason, I don't place a lot of value on hard over soft anodizing for caving use, but I prefer hard anodizing for climbing applications.
The rope hole is shorter than normal, so it may provide too much friction on stiff or muddy ropes. Cavers should consider this possibility.
Some caver friends refuse to use figure eights because they twist the rope. I think that concern is absurd for short drops, and eights are short drop devices.
Many climbers think that eights are outdated, and prefer to rappel on belay tubes. I prefer belay tubes for belaying, but belay tubes get very hot when used for rappelling. Eights run much cooler. On any given day, I make my choice about carrying a separate rappel device by considering several factors, and it is not unusual for me to carry an eight if I expect to be rappelling more than a very short distance.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their oval eyes are not really designed for that purpose. They can be used for "Sticht" belaying on 9 mm. rope, but the eye is a bit short for optimum use on 11 mm. rope. Some people will belay with an eight rigged for rappelling, but I don't like that practice since it does not provide the automatic lock and the friction that a sticht does.
Most of these eights have strength markings of 25 or 30 kN. To put this in perspective, the value required by EN 15151-2:2012 is only 7 kn. The excess provides margin for wear.
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