Technical Details

Raúl Macía Sanchez sent me this right-hand Emilsa ascender in 2025. The Emilsa is 202 mm. tall, 87 mm. wide, 33 mm. thick, and weighs 219 g.

The Emilsa is 202 mm. tall, 87 mm. wide, 33 mm. thick, and weighs 219 g.

The shell is a tall irregular shaped stamping made from 4.0 mm. aluminum alloy sheet metal. A 14 mm. wide rope channel is formed in the upper portion of one side and a smaller cam channel lies opposite the first. A hole drilled through both sides of the cam channel accepts a rivet. The cam, cam spring and a spacing washer are mounted on this rivet. The cam axle is centered 50 mm. from the inside of the rope channel. The handle below the cam has a hard-plastic hand grip molded into place. An 11.8 mm. sling attachment hole is punched at the bottom of the front strap.. An 11.8 mm. hole ounched at the top of the frame provides an attachment point above the cam

The open cam is cast aluminum alloy. The cam radius, measured from the axle axis, increases from 43 to 52 mm. over an angle of 34°, giving a 18° cam angle. The tooth pattern is Z^13.

The rear of the frame is stamped "Emilsa." A previous owner stamped three "9s on the front of the front strap.

Comments

This ascender fits standard 9 to 11 mm. rope. Mine is a right-handed ascender, but there were left-handed versions as well. No sinistrophobia here.

The frame is rather ordinary. The upper attachment hole is well-clear of the cam. While this does not alow locking the ascender to a rope with a carabiner, that's not particularly important for my needs.

The molded plastic hand-grip is blocky. The hand opening is small, and I can barely get my XL/XXL hand inside. The finger grooves are too closely spaced for my hands. Small-handed cavers might prefer this but for me it is uncomfortable and gloves would only make it worse. This is a personal sizing issue, not a fatal flaw.

The safety mechanism is unusual. Operating the safety and opening the cam one-handed for attaching the ascender to the rope requires some manual contortions that are rather impractical for the right hand and much worse for the left. Removing the ascender from the rope one-handed is easy because here the cam does not need to be opened by the fingers – just lift and the rope can do that.

The outer end of the safety knob appears threaded at first glance but it is not. It has turned grooves to provide better grip for the thumb.

The safety has no cam hold-open feature. My Emilsa chest ascender has a hold-open hook so I don't know why one wasn't included here.

Most ascender cams are cast, and this one is no exception. It has 13 ridged (“Z”) teeth. Everyone who has read Thrun’s book understands why teeth are needed. Ridged teeth are easy to make but do not hold as well as conical teeth (particularly when worn). “Everyone” (Clog, Jumar, Petzl, …) who tried them and stayed in business long enough eventually abandoned ridged teeth for conical teeth.

This ascender was on my Ten Most Wanted List for two decades. Luc Bourguignon sent me an Emilsa chest ascender in 2025. I assumed there were other Emilsa ascenders, but it was not until 2009 that Luis Auroux sent me a photo of Emilsa handled ascenders. I couldn't obtain any at the time, and I had no further leads until Raúl contacted me a few years ago.

History

Emili Sabaté [1936-2006] was a prominent caver from Barcelona. He started making caving equipment in 1952, and initially sold his products directly to caving clubs. His products included helmets, carbide lamps, cable ladders, descenders, and ascenders. In 1961 he started selling some of his products in the Saber mountaineering equipment store in Barcelona.

Sabaté eventually formed EMILSA (derived from his name) to take control of his own sales and distribution. We do not know the exact date that he founded the company, but his trademark registration application was dated May 12, 1972. The application required some minor corrections, and it wasn't approved until March 17, 1977.

Ref.: José Manuel Sanchis. “Lámparas de Mina Españolas: Carbureros de Emili Sabaté, (EMILSA).” Uploaded to https://issuu.com/malacate/docs/emilsa by Jesus Alonzo, August 5, 2021.