Front | Rear |
I acquired this CTRA Bat Descender from Chao-Chi Sha in 2024. It is from the first production run.
The CTRA Bat Descender is milled from aluminum alloy plate and then hard anodized Mine is 130 mm. tall, 100 mm. wide, and 11 mm. thick. The rope hole is 40 mm. high and 46 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 29 mm. and 16 mm., respectively. The eye measures 14 mm. by 14 mm. The ears are 17.7 and 24.6 mm. long. My CTRA Bat Descender weighs 120 g.
The front it printed with the CTRA logo, "CTRA," "BAT Descender," and "24D197."
The Bat Desvcender looks like an On Rope Canyoneering Hoodoo without the belay slot and lower horns. It falls into my miscellaneous figure eights with ears category. Like many canyoneering descenders,it can be rigged in numerous configurations to give various amounts of friction. If you follow the instructions, you should be able to convert between specific friction pairs while on rappel.
The eye is small and there are many normal carabiners and maillons that will not fit through it. This is a fatal flaw, in my opinion. A tiny eye restricts versatility, and eliminates the option of using two carabiners for redundancy.
The eye has an annoying o-ring insert. In my mind, this is just a bad idea that won't go away.
Plan on dedicating a special carabiner if you want to use your Snail.
Canyoneering descender designers and users may love o-ring eyes, but I hate them. O-ring eyes increase cost without providing a corresponding benefit. I see too many disadvantages to the small o-ring eye design and no advantages.
You may disagree with me about o-ring eyes, I don't mind, but the undersize o-ring eye alone is sufficient for me to eliminate the Snail from serious consideration.
The Bat Desvcender is similar in size and weight to standard figure eights, and would make a reasonable alternative if the eye were not so small.
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