The Expoglider® system

The Expoglider® is a personal continuous belay system, that allows the user to pass from element to element, and even other participants, without having to unclick from the safety cable above.

In which kind of ropes courses can the Expoglider be used?
The Expoglider® is safer and easier in use than the classic Cow Tails system.
The Expoglider® can also be used as a Top Rope belay system, and thus your Ropes Course that was primarily conceived as an adventure course can be transformed into a educational course within seconds.

Some information about the technics of the Expoglider.
The development of the Expoglider ®system was made possible thanks to Stef Geens of Exponent, in cooperation with the WTCM
(Scientific Centre of the Metal Industry in Belgium), the GOM of the Province of Antwerp (Regional Development Bureau), RPL Engineering, KOMEC and the drawing bureau Technicad.
The Expoglider®system is a personal security system providing protection against falls from heights.
It was developed on the basis of the European norm EN 795, as a protective device suspended on a flexible anchor cable.
Tests were made according to EN 795 by Eng. Volker Kron of Product Service Tüv- Munich.

What material is the Expoglider®made of?
The shuttle or glider is made out of hardened and sandblasted stainless steel. The anchoring profiles are made out of stainless steel as well, whereas the anchor cable consists of 10mm steel.

What makes the Expoglider®different from other personal belay systems on a flexible anchor line?

* The concept
Almost all existing personal belay systems on flexible anchor lines, have been developed to protect persons in the exceptional situation of a fall. The Expoglider®system was developed from the concept that falling from height is a regular event in ropes courses, recreational or educational, and that it i soften part of the experience of a ropes course.

* The Expoglider®consists of several individual components
The Expoglider system was developed with the idea of producing a modular system that can be mounted in an easy and cheap way.
This has several advantages as compared to existing fall protection systems:

* The Expoglider®system can be used by several persons at the same time.
Most personal protection systems on flexible anchorline consist of a steel cable, that runs through several anchor points.
In these systems, the maximal weight admitted weight is 2-3 persons for the whole system.
The Expoglider®system consists of indepedent steel cable segments between anchor points, that allows one person per steel cable segment.
A recreational ropes course with ten elements equiped with a single Expoglider system, allows for ten persons to be on the course at the same time.
A recerational course with ten elements, equiped with the double expoglider system, allows even for 20 persons to be on the course at the same time.

* In the event of damage to the system, individual parts can be replaced easily
All vital parts of the system can be renewed individually, without having to change the whole system.
When, for example, the steel cable is damaged at one point, on most existing systems the whole steel cable needs replacement.

In the case of the Expoglider®system, only damaged steel cable between two anchor points (one segment) needs to be replaced. The other steel cable segments remain intact and functional.

* Durability and break-resistance
Most flexible safety lines for industrial use have been developed in such a way that, after a fall, certain parts of the system are permanently deformed. This concept enhances the safety of the user, because the „broken“ system cannot be used any more after deformation.

The disadvantages of this concept are the costs, that arise from having to change parts of, or even the whole system, and that the system cannot be used during this period of repair or replacement.

These disadvantages are not compatible with the requirements of use in recreational or educational ropes courses..

The very nature of ropes course programs as well as the number of participants making use of them, call for a robust safety system with sufficient reserve to remain intact after a strong fall impact. The Expoglider®system was developed with precisely this in mind.

Installation

• The Expoglider®system can be installed on different types of support structures:
  Wooden poles, steel constructions, trees or walls.
• The steel cable endings are pressed with special strong fittings.
• Mostly the distances between two anchor points is in between 4 or 12 meters.
  Shorter or longer distances are possible, taking into account the resulting slack in the cable.
• With our anchor profiles, two parallel lifelines can be installed

Use

• The personal safety gear of the participant is connected to the Expoglider® shuttle by means of a flexible shock absorber and carabiner.
• When a carabiner (safe-lock) is attached to the Expoglider®shuttle, the shuttle can no longer be detached from the cable without removing the carabiner first.
• The combination of Expoglider®, steel cable and anchor points allows the participant to pass through stations (poles, trees) without having to disconnect from the safety line.

Costs

For a new challenge course
The costs of the Expoglider®system is about 30% higher as a classic safety system.
The exact costing depends on the number of anchor profiles and the number of shuttles required.

Replacing an existing system with the Expoglider®system
When you send us a detailed plan of your ropes course with exact positioning of poles or trees, we can can calculate the installation costs of the Expoglider®system.

Please contact us, so that we can make you a personalized offer!