Oren wrote, on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 14:32:36 -0700:

Double check your work...

Speaking of doublechecking my work ... notice this pictu
https://c3.staticflickr.com/3/2946/1...0d135ae2_b.jpg

It's how I *finally* learned how to hook up the ascender so that when I
climb the precarious ladders, the ascender just slides *up* the rope,
with effortless ease, but, it *locks* into place instantly if/when I fall.

You won't notice, but, there are *two* mistakes that I didn't make in
*that* picture, but which I had made when I *first* hooked up:

The amber carabiner placement is critical:
1. It goes AROUND the rope (not outside the rope).
2. It goes on the TOP (not the bottom of the ascender).

I learned both those tidbits the hard but gentle way.

At first, I had hooked the carabiner on the bottom of the ascender,
thinking that the top hole was already *busy* with the rope, but, what
happened when I tried climbing up the ladder was that the ascender, which
is clipped to my waist by a locking carabiner, flipped upside down as I
went up the ladder.

Then, I tried hooking the amber carabiner to the top hole, which
prevented the flip, but which actually hindered the rope movement if it
was outside the rope.

So then I hooked the amber carabiner *around* the rope, and then
everything worked smoothly, as it should.

As I climb the ladder, the ascender just slips on the rope, causing no
problems whatsoever; but the moment I descend, it locks instantly in
place.

Trial and error ... but it works nicely now that I know how to set it up.