Born out of the need for a small, simple device that could easily control heavy rescue loads, as well as excel at pick offs, twin rope systems and other general rescue techniques, the Conterra Scarab Descender Rescue Tool will forever change the way you perform Fire or backcountry rope rescues.
It has endured over five years of drop and slow pull testing as well as undergoing extensive heat and wear studies utilizing Conterra’s Capstan Test Bed. The frame and crossbar’s strength is greater than 40kN. In real world tests with Nylon rescue ropes, the ropes fail at the nose of the Scarab® at about their knotted strength (just like most other descent control devices). When pulling a 12.7mm rescue rope on a tied off Scarab®, the rope breaks at about 27kN, which easily exceeds the 22kN strength rating that NFPA calls out for to rate class “G” for descent control devices. In addition to a battery of slow pull and drop tests, the Scarab® has undergone extensive heat and wear studies. One device was tested by pulling over a mile of dirty rope through it under rescue sized tension, with temperature reading thermocouples being monitored at several locations during pulls. At 2kN of tension, and a lowering speed of 10M per minute, the Scarab® maintained a frame temperature at about 100 degrees C. To our knowledge, the Scarab® is the only descent control device to have been tested to this degree.
Features
- Light and incredibly strong
- Does not twist the rope
- Instantly adjustable friction (just wrap a horn)
- Lower 600 lb loads with two fingers
- Super easy lock off
- Easy to use, right or left handed
- Single and double rope capable
- Attach rope without unclipping from anchor
Specs
Scarab FR
- Machined from solid 303 Stainless Steel
- Compatible with 9 mm to 13 mm rope
- Weight: 385g (13.8 oz)
- Meets NFPA 1983 (12 ED) “G” (general use) for 12.5 mm rope
Scarab TI
- Machined from solid Titanium plate
- Compatible with 6 mm to 11 mm rope
- Weight: 185g (6.6 oz)
