Ascender and Line Wear

[benz]

Hi John,

My favorite ascenders are the Petzl brand--the ones with aggressive teeth. Those teeth are very useful when the rope is wet or slippery, as they help the cam get it's initial grip. But the teeth don't bear the load--the cam does (I've seen petzls with the teeth worn entirely off by use work just fine on dry ropes) The petzls are also my favorite brand for climbing the mast--easy to use one-handed, and safe (it's hard to pop them off the rope accidentally. There are other sorts of ascenders on the market with ridges on the cam instead of teeth, but they have to be assenbled around the rope--no one-hand operation.
My running backstays (you'll remember mine) are held tight by a camcleat, and the line didn't show significant wear in the vicinity after all the use they had, so I'd guess that if you used an ascender on a tackle just long enough to heave the halyard tight it should be fine. No reason why you can't clap on futher up or down from time to time, just for variety.