How to Choose a Belay Device

If you're going to do any climbing beyond bouldering, you need to know how to belay. Belaying is one of the most critical of climbing skills because you have your partner's safety—and possibly even his or her life—in your hands.

In belaying, you control the rope's movement to protect the climber at the other end. You can do this without a belay device but having one definitely makes the job easier. A belay device acts as a brake on the climbing rope by applying friction to it. The device, plus the belayer's quick "braking hand" (which locks off the free end of the rope), stops the climber's fall.

Types of Belay/Rappel Devices

Assorted belay devices are available. Which one you choose depends on the kind of climbing you do.

Tubular


These models are the most widely used belay devices. Their shape is best described as an oversized thimble with twin holes in the bottom. The rope is folded and pushed through the device and clipped with a locking carabiner to the belayer or directly to the anchor. The bend in the rope and its contact with the device put friction on the rope to slow it down. These devices are suitable for any kind of climbing.

Advantages: Tubes or cones are compact, light and easy to use. They work with many rope diameters and can accommodate single or double ropes. They don't twist or kink ropes and they can be used for rappelling as well as belaying.

Disadvantage: Some people, especially lighter-weight climbers, find tubular belay devices to be slow for rappelling.

Example: The Black Diamond ATC (Air Traffic Controller) is probably the most popular tubular device on the market. All such devices have a plastic or aluminum loop on one end to keep the device attached to the carabiner when you insert or remove the rope.

Self-Braking

Self-braking belay devices have a camming mechanism that locks down on the rope when a sudden force is applied to it. They operate much like your car's seatbelts. The rope is threaded through the inside of the device, which is clipped to the anchor or the belayer. These devices are used mainly for sport climbing, either at gyms or climbing areas.

Advantages: These devices help the belayer to stop the climber's fall, though they still require a bit of tension from the braking hand to initiate the self-braking function. They feed rope smoothly and make it easy to lower the climber in a controlled manner.

Disadvantage: Self-braking devices can put high shock loads on climbing protection during a fall. As a result, they are not recommended for lead trad climbing and are best suited for use with extremely secure top-rope anchors. They should be used only with supple, 10 to 12mm single ropes. They are not recommended for use with wet or icy ropes.

Example: The Petzl Grigri is a very popular self-braking device used in many gyms and by sport climbers.

Figure 8

These are shaped like the number 8, as the name implies, with one larger and one smaller hole. A bight (bend) of rope is fed through the large hole and looped around the outside of the small hole till it rests on the "neck" of the figure 8. The small hole is clipped to the climber or anchor. Figure 8s are frequently used for search and rescue, caving and traditional climbing as rappel devices. As belay devices, they are limited to top-roped situations.

Advantages: Figure 8s are efficient and smooth for rappelling. They dissipate heat efficiently and can be used with just about any rope diameter.

Disadvantage: As belay devices, figure 8s offer inadequate braking for anything but top-roping (unless used like a belay plate with rope going only through the small hole). They also require more attention and more force from the belayer's hand than other devices, and they put a twist in the climbing rope, which can make rope handling difficult.

Example: The Black Diamond Super 8 can be used for belaying as well as rappelling.

Belaying Devices : Petzl Grigri

A Gri-gri is a belay device that automatically locks the rope in the event of a fall. Because of the self-locking mechanism, modified belay techniques are widely used. Gri-gri's reportedly give a harder catch than a regular belay device because they allow less rope slippage when catching a hard fall. They are a proprietary design by Petzl. The Gri-gri is a preferred device for belaying the follower directly off the anchor because lowering the follower is quite easy. Trango sells a similar self-locking belay device called the Cinch that is rated to work on ropes 9.4 to 11 mm (the Gri-Gri is rated from 10 to 11 mm).

Using a Gri-gri to bring up a second on a traditional anchor is however less favorable than other belay devices because the Gri-gri gives a more static catch with little to no rope slippage. This increases the amount of force exerted on the anchor which, in turn, increases the chance of anchor failure.

Mechanism of operation

The Grigri works by locking when sudden acceleration occurs to the rope (like in a fall), therefore making it an automatic belay device unlike traditional belay devices such as a Sticht plate or an ATC. The device acts like an automobile seat belt, if you move the rope slowly you can run the rope through the Grigri without it locking but a shock load locks the device so rope won't run. One of the criticisms of automatic belay devices is that they can lead to a false sense of security. The automatic functionality may result in the belayer being less attentive to the climber than with a more traditional belay device. However, like any tool, proper training is required for proper use.

Pros and cons of use

Some climbers feel that the Grigri is only suitable for top rope climbing and not lead climbing due to the auto-locking feature, though Petzl recommends the device for use in both applications. The claim against usage for lead climbing is that since the device auto-locks, the belayer is required to hold the device open while feeding rope to the leader. A common mistake while belaying a lead climber is to hold open the device the entire time, thus defeating the auto-locking mechanism. This practice does compromise the added margin of safety that the GriGri contributes to the belay over more traditional belay devices, though release of the device during a fall will still allow the device to lock normally. Users can and should learn how to feed rope without holding the device open, though learning to quickly and confidently disengage the braking mechanism is important for a safe belay, as accidental locking of the Grigri can cause problems for the leader that may lead to a fall. Petzl has released information on how rope should be fed through in a lead climb, including how to let slack out quickly so that the climber can clip a quickdraw on a sport route.

While designed as a belay device, big wall climbers have invented novel ways to use the Grigri that are not recommended by the manufacturer. For example some big wall soloists use the Grigri (sometime slightly modified but not necessarily) as a self-feeding hands-free self-belay device. In big wall situations, the Grigri allows for hands-free belaying on long aid pitches while the rest of the party does other things. It can also be used by the second to self-belay while jumaring the rope as one half of the ascender pair; the leader can belay the second hands-free allowing the leader to haul, take pictures, or do other chores; the second can use it to lower out while following a traverse.

The Grigri is heavier and more expensive than other belay devices. Many climbers aim to reduce weight on their harness (equipment attached to the harness is known as a "rack") as much as possible as it can drain energy. However, there are applications where only an automatic belay device will work. The Grigri has a lower limit for the rope size for which the clutch will engage. This makes it unusable with many of today's skinny ropes - like those used in many alpine applications.

Many novice climbers make the mistake of thinking that an auto locking device such as the Grigri, Cinch or Eddy can make up for a lack of belaying skill. This is not true, and does cause accidents. It is very important correct training is received before belaying with any device commences.