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

Technical Details

Artyom Babin (Артём Бабин) gave me this ascender in 2022.

This ascender is 223 mm. tall, 106 mm. wide, 33 mm. thick, and weighs 343 g. The rope channel is 15 mm. wide. The cam axle is centered 29 mm. from the inside of the rope channel. The cam radius increases from 20 to 47 mm. over an angle of 54°, giving a 33° cam angle. There are seven convex "Z" shaped teeth giving a (Z)^7 tooth pattern.

There are no markings on this ascender.

Comments

Like the Leningrad Experimental Shipyard ascenders, this is a Russian copy of the Kong-Bonaiti ascender. This one was made in 1979 and copies the earlier version of the Kong-Bonaiti. At the time, Sergei Orlov, a lathe operator, Candidate Master of Sports in mountaineering, and member of the Uzbekistan mountaineering team, produced a lot of different mountaineering equipment. This version was made for use on 12 mm. natural fiber ropes, nylon ropes not being generally available at the time. Артём also has a later model in his collection. Sergei made a small number of these for his friends in 1984 when 10 mm. nylon rope Czech ropes started to appear in the Soviet Union.

The workmanship is fair but inferior to the original Kong-Bonaiti. For some reason, the rubbery handgrip slid upward on the frame. This is clearly visible if you look at the base of the handgrip.

An interesting feature of the Tashkent is the use of tension ("pull") springs on the safety latches. Other similar handled lever-cam ascenders in my collection use compression ("push") springs.