SRT Kit

So the purpose of this isn’t to describe and list the pros and cons of every type of SRT equipment. That has been done eloquently elsewhere, and takes up whole chapters of books.. Instead, I want to lay out what equipment NUCC has on it’s SRT sets, and (briefly) why. We have 12 (mostly) standardised club SRT sets, and the general approach is that what will work on one set will work on another. Of course, some members have their own kit, and that is usually slightly different to what the club kit is.

Descender:

Ascenders:

Sit Harness: Mostly the Petzl Fractio, with one MTDE Amazonia I and one Petzl Superavanti floating around. Fractios are expensive (especially at Australian prices), but are exceptionally hard-wearing and low profile, even if they’re not the most comfortable of harness. They also have metal attachment points to the central D-ring, which make them very easy to use. I’m still not sold that the yellow (black on newer models) secondary belt actually does anything to improve comfort.

Cowstails: Standard caving double cowstails, with locking carabiners. Always use 9-10.5mm dynamic rope for your cowstails, and make sure it is not a half rope or something like that. Our current (bluey-purple) cowstails are about 10mm, the new ones are 9.8mm.

Connectors:

Chest Harness:

Foot Loop: