Version A	Version B

Overview

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Version A
(#1286)

Front View	Rear View	Side View

Technical Details

I acquired my Sterling ATS from the Sterling Ropes Company in 2011.

My Sterling ATS is 129 mm. tall, 73 mm. wide, 20 mm. thick, and weighs 102 g.

The ATS is a roughly rectangular device milled from 10 mm. aluminum alloy plate, bent to shape, and anodized. The upper pentagonal hole is 30 mm. tall and 45 mm. wide. The curved slots are 38 mm. tall and 14 mm. wide. The eye is 13.7 mm. in diameter, but the inner surface is grooved to hold a "rubber" o-ring with an 11.5 mm. diameter.

The convex side is printed with "Pat. Pending," "STERLING ROPE," "ALPINE TRAINING SERVICES," "ATS," "10364V0075," "usa" and a book-with-an-"i" icon.

Comments

The ATS can be used as a sticht belay plate, a figure eight, or a carabiner brake plate, among other possibilities.

The eye is small and there are many normal carabiners and maillons that will not fit through it. This is a fatal flaw, in my opinion. A tiny eye restricts versatility, and eliminates the option of using two carabiners for redundancy.

The eye has an annoying o-ring insert. In my mind, this is just a bad idea that won't go away.

• The o-ring keeps the ATS from moving freely on the carabiner.
• It makes attaching and removing the ATS more difficult.
• It catches in the notch in some of the carabiners that will fit.

Plan on dedicating a special carabiner if you want to use your ATS.

Canyoneering descender designers and users may love o-ring eyes, but I hate them. O-ring eyes increase cost without providing a corresponding benefit. I see too many disadvantages to the small o-ring eye design and no advantages.

• Reducing the chance of dropping the device in one unlikely scenario by adding another item to drop doesn't count as an advantage, proper technique solves the dropping problem.
• I'm told that the tight o-ring guards against cross-loading and rollouts, but proper harness design and proper technique completely eliminate this concern.
• An o-ring eye may keep the orientation of the rappel device more stable when unloaded, which might help speed the process of coming off rope. The one place that I see this being relevant is if you're floating/treading in water over your head, but proper flotation is a much better and safer choice to address this concern.

You may disagree with me about o-ring eyes, I don't mind, but the o-ring eye alone is sufficient for me to eliminate the ATS from serious consideration.

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Version B
(#1286)

Front View	Rear View	Side View

Technical Details

I acquired my Sterling ATS, Version B from CampSaver.com in 2020.

Version B is 131 mm. tall, 74 mm. wide, 19 mm. thick, and weighs 292 g.

The ATS is a roughly rectangular device milled from 10 mm. stainless steel plate that is then bent to shape. The upper pentagonal hole is 30 mm. tall and 45 mm. wide. The curved slots are 38 mm. tall and 14 mm. wide. The eye is 13.5 mm. in diameter, but the inner surface is grooved to hold a "rubber" o-ring with an 10.6 mm. diameter.

The convex side is printed with "STAINLESS STEEL," "LOT# ATS-SS-012," the Sterling logo, "STERLING*|ATS," a book-with-an-"i" icon, "Ø," 7.5 mm- 11.2 mm," "REG. PATENT," "U.S.A.," and "MBS:45kN."

Comments

Dimensionally, the stainless steel and aluminum versions are equivalent. The stainless version will resist wear much better, but is three times the weight. Its strength is absurd, which should please the "bigger is better" crowd, but it is only designed for normal-size climbing and caving ropes, not battleship mooring hawsers.

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