These Ascender Gadgets Let You Walk Up a Vertical Rope

This peculiar-looking object……is a Quick Step Foot Ascender that you wear around your feet. The contraption contains a movable, ratcheting jaw that bites onto rope. Paired with a Chest Ascender… …worn against your sternum, it allows you to essentially walk up a vertical rope:While your legs do the work, the chest ascender is what keeps the rope against your body, and you vertical.These are used by arborists, wind turbine technicians, high-rise cleaners, bridge inspectors, recreational climbers and search-and-rescue personnel.