Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my VauDe on eBay from Darrick Gregory in 2012.

The VauDe is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 114 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, and 15 mm. thick. The rope hole is 40 mm. high and 45 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 12 mm. The shaft length and width are 34 mm. and 21 mm., respectively. The eye measures 19 mm. by 24 mm. My eight weighs 100 g.

The front of the shaft is stamped with "vauDe" and a logo. The rear is stamped "2500 dan."

Comments

The VauDe is one of several nearly identical "mini"-size forged aluminum eights. I have the following ones in my collection:

Image Eight C.A.M.P., Version A C.A.M.P., Version B	Image Eight Mammut, Version E Salewa Mini SMK, Version C	Image Eight Trango Mini VauDe

Each of these eights is 114±1 mm. tall and 68 mm. wide. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. Except for the 86 g. SMK, Version C, their weights fall in the 99±3 g. range. 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.

These eights are smaller and lighter than most eights. While the advantages are manifest, there are two practical disadvantages:

1. These eights give too much friction on stiff, muddy rope. This will not affect climbers using clean, limp climbing ropes, but for cavers using stiff ropes such as PMI pit rope, this is a concern. I've found times that I could not descend without hand-forcing the rope through my eight, and I'm nearly 90 kg. (198 lb.), not exactly light (even for being 1.93 m. tall).
2. Their small size does not not work well with doubled rope. While climbers may be able to work around this, especiallly if they are using thinner ropes, cavers using stiff pit rope will find it difficult to rig a double-rope rappel. If they succeed, descent may be impossible.

For these reasons, I rarely use "mini-size" eights.