Front View: Closed	Rear View: Closed
Front View: Open for Rigging	Rear View: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my Kailas Chest-Up from Kailas / Amazon, 2019.

The Kailas Chest-Up is 97 mm. tall, 65 mm. wide, 30 mm. thick, and weighs 107 g. The ascender shell milled from aluminum alloy and then gold anodized. The rope channel is 15 mm. wide. The main sling attachment point is located below the cam and behind the rope channel. A second attachment point is located above the cam, also behind the rope channel. The shell is offset backwards at both points to provide clearance between the attachment slings and the main rope. This accounts for the rather large thickness of this ascender. The lower attachment point measures 24.9 by 21.0 mm. and the upper 23.1 by 13.3 mm. The left side of the shell is milled with a cam channel. A hole drilled through both sides of the channel accepts a semi-tubular rivet. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The pivot is centered 45 mm. from the inside of the rope channel.

The cam is a stainless steel casting. The cam radius increases from 36 to 51 mm. over an angle of 37°, giving a 30° cam angle. The cam has number of small conical teeth, all of which have their axes parallel to the top of the cam. The tooth pattern is (3.4)(1S1.2S2)^2(2.2.3). A spring-loaded plastic manual safety bar is mounted on the bottom of the cam with a steel semi-tubular rivet. The normal action of the spring holds the safety against the cam. When the cam is opened, the shell interferes with the safety bar, thus preventing opening the cam. If the safety bar is moved away from the cam (opposing the spring), it will clear the shell and the cam will open. At full open the safety can be released and the spring will hold the safety against the back of the shell. This provides a means of locking the cam open.

The front of the Chest-Up is stamped with an up-pointing arrow and "ROPE 8≤Ø≤13." The rear is printed with "KAILAS" "CE1.15," "EN567:2013," a book-with-an-"i" icon, "J01 0818," "Ref:KE552002," 1X" beside a man icon, amd"MBS 5kN." "KAILAS" is cast into both sides of the cam.

Comments

The Kailas Chest-Up is interesting because of its milled shell. I'm not sure what prompted this choice, but it works rather well. The lower attachment opening bends 90° forward, ideal for attaching to a half-round maillon in a Frog system. The cam safety has depressions on each side, but the plastic is a bit slippery. Overall, this is a nice ascender.