Gri-Gri Brake Hand

Other Crags, Aid Climbing, Bouldering, etc...

Do you feel it is safe to take your brake hand off the rope while belaying with a gri-gri?

YES
32
44%
NO
41
56%
 
Total votes: 73

TradMike
Posts: 1173
Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2002 2:57 am

Gri-Gri Brake Hand

Post by TradMike »

Just curious on peoples viewpoint of the gri-gri.
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krampus
Posts: 3933
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:31 am

Post by krampus »

its idiot proof

fucking idiots
How you compare may not be as important as to whom you are compared
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jordancolburn
Posts: 366
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:33 am

Post by jordancolburn »

I voted yes, I don't think the gri gri's chances of failing are very high. I'm not saying you should let your partner hang while you sit back and eat a sandwich, but I don't think that taking your hand off for a second spells instant death. That said, I wouldn't try that with an ATC, so you have to remember what you're working with.
Don McGlone
Posts: 567
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2002 11:16 pm

Post by Don McGlone »

What's a Gri-Gri?
Shedding off one more layer of skin
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within
ElectricDisciple
Posts: 297
Joined: Wed May 28, 2003 4:42 am

Post by ElectricDisciple »

whatever happened to the dogmatic: "Never take your brake hand of the brake side of the rope?" The habit of never letting your brake hand off the rope seems to transcend any and all idiosyncracies any belay device should lend you.
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pigsteak
Posts: 9684
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:49 pm

Post by pigsteak »

Don McGlone wrote:What's a Gri-Gri?

yeah....riiiiiight. I heard that your significant other was given a gri gri to belay your ass on bolting forays!!!!
:shock:
Positive vibes brah...positive vibes.
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bcombs
Posts: 2048
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:20 pm

Post by bcombs »

Tie an overhand knot in the rope on the brake side (disaster knot) then go hands free. Other than that use it just like an ATC with your brake hand always on and palm down.

I see too many people belaying a leader by squeezing the device with their left hand (to keep it open) and then yarding out slack whenever necessary with their right. Then, the right (brake) goes back to doing nothing until more slack is necessary.
Andrew
Posts: 3809
Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2002 9:40 pm

Post by Andrew »

The major problem I see and I see it a lot, is the people who belay the whole time with their brake hand squezzing the camming device feeding out slack. I have seen people dropped becuase they fell, the belayer instictively sqqueezed the camming part open and dropped them. Basically what bcombs said. But what do I know.
Living the dream
truello
Posts: 102
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:54 pm

Post by truello »

When I am belaying either a toproper or a leader from below I treat the GriGri like an ATC. However, I voted YES because I believe that if nothing is overlooked and the proper rope sizes are used, GriGri is in good condition, etc, it is safe.

The GriGri and other types of autoblocking devices are commonly used for top belays directly off of anchors so I don't see any problem with this.
Lander
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:26 pm

Post by Lander »

The answer is yes. All the same, the brake hand thing saved my ass one time.

This was years ago when the device was pretty new. My partner was used to the ATC and I showed him how to use the Gri-Gri and he belayed me on the warmup. A bit later, he caught me on my project. But I forgot to make sure he put the rope in the right way! When I came off, he only caught me because he still had the habit of keeping the brake hand on the rope. If not for that, I would have decked from about 40 feet. It was my own stupid fault completely.

Obviously, since then, I'm a lot more careful about checking out my partners belay before I leave the ground, as everyone should. If they're new to the device, we practice catching falls very near the ground where I can't get hurt. I also do the brake test where you quickly pull on the rope to make sure it catches. Anyone else have any eGrigious stories to share?
"Doin' right aint got no end." - CRLT
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