Russian Aiders - A review

[fenderfour]

So I've had a couple sets of Russian aiders for a few months. I just got a chance to try them out in Tieton on Saturday as rain threatened us all day.

 

 

 

Russian aiders are a two-part system. The first part is a leg cuff that loops webbing under your foot to attach a hook to the inside of your knee. These never come off while climbing. You strap in at the bottom of the pitch and they stay on throughout. The second part is the aid tree which is a piece of webbing with a series of metal rings sewn on the sides. These replace your aiders. You clip an aid tree to your piece and hook a ring on the aid tree with one of the hooks at your knee. Up you go.

 

These are not the Russian aiders that Trango used to make. They are produced by Alvo Titanium, which is marketed under the Ushba name brand in the US. As far as I know, these are not available in the US. I have a friend in Moscow who sent them to me here in Seattle.

 

At first glance, these things look scary cheap. The webbing is just about the shittiest I've ever seen. The weave is thinner than what is used on backpack straps. It won't last very long. The "buckles" are two Ti rings cut from tubing that has been deformed to make elongated ovals. They do not hold the shitty webbing very well, so you have to tighten them down periodically. The only part of the aider cuffs that looks well made are the hooks. They are nicely welded titanium with webbing loops on the top and the bottom. There is a hole for a carabiner just above the hook.

 

I've been aiding for a year or two now. I'm certainly not an expert, but I have tried out a traditional 2-aider system as well as the Easy Aiders from Metolius. The Russian system was much faster and felt more secure. The advantage comes from the hooks at the knees. You are able to use opposing forces between your knee hook-in location and your toes to stay upright. Instead of relying on your daisy chain to maintain balance, you can push off with your toes. I lead the first pitch of easy A1 on slightly less than vertical terrain. I never once needed to adjust my daisy chains to maintain balance. Everything was handled by the knee/toe push.

 

This advantage also translates to cleaning the pitch. I girth hitched slings to the aid hooks and clipped them to my ascenders. I was once again able to maintain balance with the knee/toe push instead of relying on my daisy chains.

 

The hooks enable you to hook directly to a carabiner or the piece that you are on to get a couple more inches of height. Move to move, the Russian system will get you higher than the others, even if you don’t hook the carabiner or the piece. When you absolutely need every inch to get to the next placement, I believe that a top-step move on traditional big wall ladders will get you higher. The distance gained on every move of the Russian system should more than make up for this.

 

I haven't taken any pictures of the aiders yet. If you have any specific requests, let me know, I'd be happy to help out.

 

BTW - We climbed the aid route on Tieton Wall. The first 100 feet are fun easy A1, taking nuts and small cams. The last 70-80 feet are scary loose. If you are to climb it, go up to the fixed pins at 70 feet and rappel off instead of topping out.

[G-spotter]

Instead of relying on your daisy chain to maintain balance,

 

I'm guessing you don't use an adjustable fifi?

[fenderfour]

Instead of relying on your daisy chain to maintain balance,

 

I'm guessing you don't use an adjustable fifi?

 

I use Metolius adjustable daisies.

[G-spotter]

Try the fifi, I like it better than adjustable daisies.

[scheissami]

Noob question: how is the adjustable fifi setup? I have adjustable daisies; is the fifi on something similar?

 

Cheers.

[G-spotter]

You thread it on 6mm static cord.

[dbb]

the adjustable fifi's have two special holes in them that allow you to cinch it in. Kong makes them, I wish they would just make the hook part larger!

 

A friend who I did a lot of aid climbing with destroyed a pair of these (russian aiders) in our travels. I think they are a great idea, but usually poorly implemented. Clipping the slings to your leg w/ a carabiner is about the easiest jugging setup ever--no feet slipping out of the slings. What happens with time is: the hooks on the knees start to bend closed. The rings on the ladder bend and break. the hook part on the leg tends to work around it's padding and dig into your leg. The sewing on the leg strap starts to get really abraided, and if I recall, one of the buckles for the wrap around your leg broke. This all in about 20 or so pitches. If someone made them out of radical space aged materials like forged steel or milled aluminum, they would be great.

 

Fish products was working on their own redesign of these, but seem to now just producing the Trango version. you could probably make your own with a reference and some hot ideas.

 

good to see ya out there this w/e robert

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Nice Fenderfour, I've had a pair I brought back myself a couple years ago, I've been using them almost exclusivly since then. You're right, the hook is a thing of beauty and the straps are pretty poor. Russian climbing gear is an interesting beast (and I have a bunch). I still love mine though, haven't really done more than 20 or 30 pitches with mine, but haven't had the problems AlpineDave has, except for bending some of the aid tree rings by bounch testing on them (been doing more butt bounces lately). I did mangle a wiregate biner when jugging cause I clipped it to my cuff and it got caught in the hook somehow. Use solid gate or lockers (better) for that.

 

I'd like to see Fish start making them, but I heard he got stymied by the hook, couldn't find a source for one that was up to par. He just sells the aid trees now. FYI, the Russians don't use aid trees like that, they often swage up a pair from cable, or use a long chain of biners. I've also seen something that looked like an adjustable daisy with a metal ring on one end and a fifi hook on the other that supposedly can be used like an adjustable aider with these. Never seen one actually in use though.