ATK	ATKD

Overview

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ATK
(#2580)

Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my ATK from CanyonZone.com - Gertjan van Pelt in 2020.

My ATK is 152 mm. tall, 82 mm. wide, 10 mm. thick, and weighs 126 g.

The ATK is milled from aluminum alloy plate. The upper hole is a round-cornered quadrilateral measuring 49 mm. wide at the top, 39 mm. at the bottom, and 26 & 35 mm. high at the sides. The corresponding dimensions for the middle hole are 25 mm, 26 mm, 35 mm and 35 mm. The eye is 13.6 mm. in diameter with an o-ring insert.

Each side is engraved and printed with "ATK."

Comments

The ATK was designed by Jean-Claude Schiavinato for canyoneering. Like many canyoneering descenders, it is a plate that can be rigged in numerous configurations to give various amounts of friction, although it is not always possible to convert between friction pairs on rappel. CanyonZone.com provided a link to a 24-page power-point slide show that explains some of the options.

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.

• The o-ring keeps the ATK from moving freely on the carabiner.
• It makes attaching and removing the ATK more difficult.
• It catches in the notch in some of the carabiners that will fit.

Plan on dedicating a special carabiner if you want to use your ATK.

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.

• Reducing the chance of dropping the device in one unlikely scenario by adding another item to drop doesn't count as an advantage, proper technique solves the dropping problem.
• I'm told that the tight o-ring guards against cross-loading and rollouts, but proper harness design and proper technique completely eliminate this concern.
• An o-ring eye may keep the orientation of the rappel device more stable when unloaded, which might help speed the process of coming off rope. The one place that I see this being relevant is if you're floating/treading in water over your head, but proper flotation is a much better and safer choice to address this concern.

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 ATK from serious consideration.

The ATK 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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ATKD
(#3063)

Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my ATKD from CanyonZone.com - Gertjan van Pelt in 2021.

My ATK is 152 mm. tall, 82 mm. wide, 10 mm. thick, and weighs 125 g.

The ATK is milled from aluminum alloy plate. The upper hole is a round-cornered quadrilateral measuring 49 mm. wide at the top, 39 mm. at the bottom, and 26 & 35 mm. high at the sides. The corresponding dimensions for the middle hole are 25 mm, 26 mm, 35 mm and 35 mm. The eye is 12.3 mm. wide and 13.6 mm. tall with an o-ring insert.

Each side is printed with "ATKD."

Comments

The ATKD is similar to the ATK in its braking functions, but the ATKD has been optimized to be positioned at the belay as a belay device. The eye has been changed to a shape that prevents rotation of the carabiner and thus makes use as a belay device possible. The function is critically dependent on the carabiner being used - many carabiners will not fit through the eye or will not function properly with the ATKD. In my opinion, the sensitivity to the carabiner’s shape is a fatal flaw in the basic design concept.

CanyonZone.com provided a link to an 11-page power-point slide show that explains some of the AKTD’s new features. This show refers to the ADK power-point slide show for the shared features.

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.

• The o-ring keeps the ATKD from moving freely on the carabiner.
• It makes attaching and removing the ATKD more difficult.
• It catches in the notch in some of the carabiners that will fit.

Plan on dedicating a special carabiner if you want to use your ATKD.

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.

• Reducing the chance of dropping the device in one unlikely scenario by adding another item to drop doesn't count as an advantage, proper technique solves the dropping problem.
• I'm told that the tight o-ring guards against cross-loading and rollouts, but proper harness design and proper technique completely eliminate this concern.
• An o-ring eye may keep the orientation of the rappel device more stable when unloaded, which might help speed the process of coming off rope. The one place that I see this being relevant is if you're floating/treading in water over your head, but proper flotation is a much better and safer choice to address this concern.

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 ATKD from serious consideration.

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