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Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L)
Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M)
Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S)
Midi, Version A
Midi, Version B
Mini
Version A
Version B
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| Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) |
Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) |
Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) |
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| Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini |
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| Version A | Version B |
[ Top | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version A | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired my Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) from TrekkInn in 2012.
The G2 F8L is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 145 mm. tall, 72 mm. wide, and 18 mm. thick. The rope hole is 51 mm. high and 50 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm, and the top is bent backward 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 39 mm. and 30 mm., respectively. The eye measures 28 mm. by 19 mm. My eight weighs 113 g.
The front of this eight is printed with "Salewa," "F8L," "batch 01-07," and "prEN 15151." The rear has "KN 30" in raised letters.
The Salewa G2 F8L is another example of a "Flat Top" aluminum eight. The slight bend at the top allows the eight to be used in two different friction configurations, but the difference is marginal.
The eye is too narrow to accept two full size locking carabiners, but it is tall enough to use as a belay slot.
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[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version A | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired my Salewa G2, Medium from TrekkInn in 2012.
The Salewa G2, Medium is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 136 mm. tall, 72 mm. wide, and 13 mm. thick. The rope hole is 49 mm. high and 50 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 30 mm. and 27 mm., respectively. The eye measures 29 mm. by 20 mm. My eight weighs 102 g.
The front of this eight is printed with "Salewa," "F8M," "batch 01-11," and "prEN 15151." The rear has "KN 30" in raised letters.s.
The Salewa G2 F8M is another example of a "Flat Top" aluminum eight.
The eye is too narrow to accept two full size locking carabiners, but it is tall enough to use as a belay slot.
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[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version A | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired my Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) from TrekkInn in 2012.
The Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 121 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, and 13 mm. thick. The rope hole is 45 mm. high and 45 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 9 mm. The shaft length and width are 26 mm. and 28 mm., respectively. The eye measures 25 mm. by 17 mm. My eight weighs 80 g.
The front of this eight is printed with "Salewa," "F8S," "batch 01-10," and "prEN 15151." The rear has "KN 30" in raised letters.
The Salewa G2 F8S is another example of a "Flat Top" aluminum eight.
The eye is too narrow to accept two full size locking carabiners, but it is tall enough to use as a belay slot.
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[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version A | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired this eight from Barrabés.com in Spain in 2003.
The Salewa Midi, Version A is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 121 mm. tall, 75 mm. wide, and 13 mm thick. The rope hole is 48 mm. high and 48 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 24 mm., respectively. The eye measures 18 mm. by 26 mm. My eight weighs 107 g.
The front of this eight is etched with "kN 30," and the rear is stamped "0101" (month of manufacture?) near the top. There are no markings to indicate that this is a Salewa eight.
The Salewa Midi is a "midi" size, forged, aluminum eight sharing one of the most common designs of this type. The following eights are quite similar, except for their markings:
Some of these eights are made in Europe, and some in Asia. Some are rebranded eights made by one manufacturer for outside customers and labeled accordingly.
Each of these eights is 131±1 mm. tall and 74±1 mm. wide. Their weights fall in the 105±4 g. range. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
The AustriAlpin and C.A.M.P. 928.00/01 appear to have harder anodizing than the others, and may wear better. My experience with the high-quality hard anodizing on CMI eights is that hard anodizing provides considerable protection on clean ropes, but the protection provided against cave mud is limited. In bad conditions the anodizing soon breaks through, and the protection is lost. For this reason, I don't place a lot of value on hard over soft anodizing for caving use, but I prefer hard anodizing for climbing applications.
The rope hole is shorter than normal, so it may provide too much friction on stiff or muddy ropes. Cavers should consider this possibility.
Some caver friends refuse to use figure eights because they twist the rope. I think that concern is absurd for short drops, and eights are short drop devices.
Many climbers think that eights are outdated, and prefer to rappel on belay tubes. I prefer belay tubes for belaying, but belay tubes get very hot when used for rappelling. Eights run much cooler. On any given day, I make my choice about carrying a separate rappel device by considering several factors, and it is not unusual for me to carry an eight if I expect to be rappelling more than a very short distance.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their oval eyes are not really designed for that purpose. They can be used for "Sticht" belaying on 9 mm. rope, but the eye is a bit short for optimum use on 11 mm. rope. Some people will belay with an eight rigged for rappelling, but I don't like that practice since it does not provide the automatic lock and the friction that a sticht does.
Most of these eights have strength markings of 25 or 30 kN. To put this in perspective, the value required by EN 15151-2:2012 is only 7 kn. The excess provides margin for wear.
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[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Mini | Version A | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired my Salewa Midi, Version B on eBay from Donna Paxton in 2009.
Version B is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 131 mm. tall, 74 mm. wide, and 13 mm. thick. The rope hole is 48 mm. high and 48 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 43 mm. and 24 mm., respectively. The eye measures 19 mm. by 25 mm. My eight weighs 106 g.
One side of the shaft is stamped with "SALEWA" inside an oval, and the other side with "2500 daN." The top front is stamped with "01 95."
Except for the markings, this eight is essentially identical to Version A.
The Salewa Midi is a "midi" size, forged, aluminum eight sharing one of the most common designs of this type. The following eights are quite similar, except for their markings:
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Some of these eights are made in Europe, and some in Asia. Some are rebranded eights made by one manufacturer for outside customers and labeled accordingly.
Each of these eights is 131±1 mm. tall and 74±1 mm. wide. Their weights fall in the 105±4 g. range. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
The AustriAlpin and C.A.M.P. 928.00/01 appear to have harder anodizing than the others, and may wear better. My experience with the high-quality hard anodizing on CMI eights is that hard anodizing provides considerable protection on clean ropes, but the protection provided against cave mud is limited. In bad conditions the anodizing soon breaks through, and the protection is lost. For this reason, I don't place a lot of value on hard over soft anodizing for caving use, but I prefer hard anodizing for climbing applications.
The rope hole is shorter than normal, so it may provide too much friction on stiff or muddy ropes. Cavers should consider this possibility.
Some caver friends refuse to use figure eights because they twist the rope. I think that concern is absurd for short drops, and eights are short drop devices.
Many climbers think that eights are outdated, and prefer to rappel on belay tubes. I prefer belay tubes for belaying, but belay tubes get very hot when used for rappelling. Eights run much cooler. On any given day, I make my choice about carrying a separate rappel device by considering several factors, and it is not unusual for me to carry an eight if I expect to be rappelling more than a very short distance.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their oval eyes are not really designed for that purpose. They can be used for "Sticht" belaying on 9 mm. rope, but the eye is a bit short for optimum use on 11 mm. rope. Some people will belay with an eight rigged for rappelling, but I don't like that practice since it does not provide the automatic lock and the friction that a sticht does.
Most of these eights have strength markings of 25 or 30 kN. To put this in perspective, the value required by EN 15151-2:2012 is only 7 kn. The excess provides margin for wear.
[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Version A | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired this eight from Barrabés.com in Spain in 2003.
The Salewa Mini is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 114 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, and 15 mm thick. The rope hole is 40 mm. high and 45 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 34 mm. and 21 mm., respectively. The eye measures 18 mm. by 23 mm. My eight weighs 101 g.
The front of the shaft is etched with "SALEWA" and "25 kN." The top front of the upper loop is etched with "0300."
The Salewa Mini is one of several nearly identical "mini"-size forged aluminum eights. I have the following ones in my collection:
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Each of these eights is 114±1 mm. tall and 68 mm. wide. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. Except for the 86 g. SMK, Version C, their weights fall in the 99±3 g. range. Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
These eights are smaller and lighter than most eights. While the advantages are manifest, there are two practical disadvantages:
For these reasons, I rarely use "mini-size" eights.
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[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version B | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired this eight from Ragged Mountain Equipment in 1994.
Version A is forged from aluminum alloy and then soft anodized. Mine is 128 mm. tall, 78 mm. wide, and 14 mm. thick. The rope hole is 40 mm. high and 50 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 11 mm. The shaft length and width are 44 mm. and 24 mm., respectively. The eye measures 23 mm by 28 mm. My eight weighs 94 g.
There is a small projection on one side of the upper loop with a 5 mm. diameter hole for attaching a keeper sling.
The front of the shaft is stamped "SALEWA ITALY." the rear of the shaft has "KG.2000" forged in raised letters
Version A is a typical example of a forged aluminum eight with a keeper cord hole. The keeper hole is not in a good place, since the keeper can easily get entangled with the main line, but where else could it be? If it were on the shank or eye, then the keeper would prevent rigging the eight while the keeper was attached to the user. Version A is essentially identical to the Kong "8" Light Plus 805.02. The C.A.M.P./Lowe Fungo and Stubai have similar keepers attached on the rope loop as well.
Version A is lighter than most figure eights, and even weighs less than the smaller Salewa Mini and Midi. The compact design causes the rope to make sharper bends, providing more friction on stiff ropes than a full-size eight. The eye could probably be used for belaying.
[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version A | Return to Figure Eights ]
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I acquired this eight used on eBay in 2009.
Version B is forged from aluminum alloy. Mine is 144 mm. tall, 75 mm. wide, and 16 mm. thick. The rope hole is 50 mm. high and 50 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 46 mm. and 26 mm., respectively. The eye measures 25 mm by 25 mm. This eight weighs 136 g.
There is a small projection on one side of the upper loop with a 5 mm. diameter hole for attaching a keeper sling.
One side of the eight is marked "SALEWA" in raised letters. The other side is marked "KG3000," also in raised letters.
The Salewa is a member of a family of nearly identical full-sized, forged, aluminum eights with rounded shafts that includes the following eights:
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Each of these eights is 140±4 mm. tall and 75±1 mm. wide. Their weights fall in the 128±8 g. range. These are normal manufacturing variations that have no practical significance. They are about the same size and weight as Standard, Full Size, Forged Eights.
The shafts on these eights are rather fat and well-rounded, with an indentation on each side that usually raised markings. Although similar, these eights are not identical, and close inspection will reveal some minor differences in their shapes. None of these affect their performance to any noticeable degree.
The rope tends to run smoothly on these eights. They provide a good rope contact area for dissipating heat. Their soft finishes wear faster than a hard-anodized finish would, but the fat shafts have more than adequate margin for accommodating reasonable wear.
None of these eights have slots for sticht-type belaying, and their round eyes are not designed for that purpose.
[ Top | Salewa G2, Large (Model F8L) | Salewa G2, Medium (Model F8M) | Salewa G2, Small (Model F8S) | Midi, Version A | Midi, Version B | Mini | Version A | Version B ]
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