Front View	Rear View	Side View

Front View: Open for Rigging	Rear View: Open for Rigging	Side View: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired this CMI CMIGT from CMI in 2023.

My CMI CMIGT is 298 mm. tall, 79 mm. wide, 25 mm. thick, and weighs 729 g. It is milled from aluminum alloy and then hard anodized. It has five slots forming six bars. Two milled aluminum safety gates attach by bolts fitted through the whaletail at the second and fifth bars. Each gate is secured by two washers and a custom-designed nut. There is a 27.9 mm. diameter eye at each end. Two shallow U-grooves are milled horizontally on the front of the whaletail, bisecting the eyes.

The front and rear are each printed with "CMI," an American flag with "Made in U.S.A." beneath, "MBS: 19,500 lbs.," "87 kN," and two instances of "ANCHOR) (one at the base of each eye). The ends of the two center bars are each printed with a skull-and-crossbones icon. The bolt heads have "F593C" and "THE" in raised letters.

Comments

The whaletail was invented in the USA (Gerald Wood, NSS News, v25, 12), but the original design didn't have any safety gate. There were some near accidents, and the device was abandoned. The Australians, particularly Neil Montgomery, read about the whaletail, saw that it obviously needed a safety gate, added one, and made it popular.

The CMIGT is identical to the Australian Single Rope Technique Equipment GTR5a Goldtail, which was discontinued by DBI-SALA, who had obtained the Single Rope Technique Equipment line when they acquired the Capital Safety Group. It seems clear that CMI has obtained the right to produce the design in the U.S.A. under their own name, starting in 2022..

The CMIGT is a rugged descenders, and it would take a great deal of caving to wear one out. The second eye allows one to spread the wear evenly between the two ends. The number of bars in use can be changed on rappel. The openings are wide enough for two 11 mm. ropes.