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Conterra Scarab Descender - Canyoneering, Caving

Conterra Scarab Descender

The Scarab FR Ultra versatile general rescue tool. Machined from solid 303 stainless plate. Works with 9mm to 13 mm rope. Weight: 385g (13.8 oz) meets NFPA 1983 (06 ED) “G” (general use) This device will absolutely change the way you perform rope rescue. The Scarab represents five years of research and testing by Rick Lipke and the design team at Conterra. It was 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 Scarab does all this and more. With two models available (Scarab TI not discussed here), the Scarab is the perfect choice for both Fire/Rescue and back country rescue environments. The Scarab 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