Petzl Eject?

Anyone have experience with this device from Petzl?

Looks interesting...

No experience, but I do know this was briefly discussed here: http://canyoncollective.com/threads/new-petzl-device.26392/#post-119465

The point I tried bringing up in the other thread was largely what benefit does this add to canyoneering. We can achieve something very similar with a sling, a large carabiner, and a quicklink. Im not sure if there is a formal name for it, but you can set it up as a retrievable sling where the knot in the rope passes through the larger biner but catches in the quick link, releasing the sling allowing you to retrieve with the pull cord. I know arborists have something similar with a retriever ball and sling which acts identically to what I tried (and probably failed) to describe.

This device does introduce a few questions if we were to try to carry it over into the canyon world: How does it handle hundred foot drops onto rocks? How durable is the sling and is it easily replicable? Will that retrieval ball jam in every crack? How does the ingress of sand into the mechanicals of this device impair its functions?

The concept is interesting to me. You could configure the device to rappel double strand, and, position the ball a couple feet below the device.

I can imagine a ball that could be positioned on a rope anywhere, much like the bobber on a fishing line.

The unlock mechanism and the housing could be tweaked to be more durable and more resistant to sand.

Fun to think about.

I definitely think its cool. I love to see companies try innovate in the rope access space.

Regarding the ball being positioned anywhere on a rope, they way I understood it is that it has to be at the end. The rope has to be clear of the device, so the slider can drop into a releasable position. See around 3:23 in the video.

It could be interesting if you found a way to safely anchor your rappel line to the eject, and just have a pull cord set to release the eject. Less possibility for the bobber to get stuck if its already at the top. The eject could function as a bit of a toggle in that case. My only fear with that would be with how likely this device would be to release under load. I know that a stone knot with a fiddlestick with someone on rappel is practically unreleasable. Id be curious how easy that mechanism would release if the system is loaded.

You mean, like the FiddleStick.

(not a question)

Tom

Exactly. This problem has already been solved. This would be a step back.