Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my ISIS from Expé-Spelemat in 2008. According to the accompanying paperwork, mine was fabricated in February 2004, lot number 0204-00.

The ISIS is milled from 11.9 mm. aluminum plate. It is 192 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, 12 mm. thick, and weighs 201 g. The ISIS has an irregular elongated shape. The top portion consists of a 35 mm. high, 40 mm. wide arch-shaped hole. below this is a 19 mm. wide shaft with 20 mm. wide rope notches on each side, each notch enclosed by a 24 mm. ear. A 46 mm. tall, 19 mm. wide shaft connects the upper and lower portions of the device. The lower portion has two connected slots. The left-hand slot is 33.8 mm. long and 15.8 mm. wide, and has semicircular ends. The top of the right-hand slot is the same as the left, but the bottom is extended by a V-notch to make this slot 69 mm. long. The sides of the V-notch are chamfered with 45° bevels, while all other edges are rounded. The eye is a 17 mm. diameter circle. There are two 7.7 mm. construction holes in the ISIS that do not affect its use, although one might tie a keeper sling to the lower one.

One side of the ISIS is stamped with "SAUVTECH 00" and "50KN."

Comments

The top of the ISIS looks much like a figure eights with ears and functions the same way. This area is more compact than most figure eights with ears (or figure eights), so it will create more friction in use. This is fine for climbing ropes, but may create problems with stiff caving ropes. The lower portion resembles the Cassin Logic (and Edelweiss THE 9), and functions similarly. The result is a device that has considerable of holding power. The instructions do not specify a rope size range for the ISIS, but it seems to work better on 9 mm. than 11 mm., the friction being higher on the latter.

Rigging the ISIS is simple but one needs to be careful that the main line exits on the same side as the longer slot.