Gri-Gri Brake Hand

[ahab]

...Why are people so reluctant to believe that a gri-gri will fail if you leave your brake hand off the brake end of the rope? Even Petzl admits this as a possibility. . .

Because, people like to leave their brake hand off the rope when using a gri-gri.

[Shamis]

Why are people so reluctant to believe that a gri-gri will fail if you leave your brake hand off the brake end of the rope? Even Petzl admits this as a possibility. . .

I equate it to a ghost story. If you told me you saw a ghost, I wouldn't necessarily call you a liar, but I would assume that it was much more likely that you were somehow mistaken.

Was the gym rope a static line? I could see a really slick static line being used for top-roping perhaps slipping through on a really gentle 'take'.

The other possible scenario is a really slick gym rope, where the belayer mistook your 'take' for something else like clipping, and gave the device a little pinch. Once a slick rope starts moving fast, it might not catch unless there is a sudden increase in force. For a real fall, with a sudden high impact on the belay device, there is no doubt in my mind that the gri-gri will work 100% of the time, but if you the belayer manages to pinch it to get the rope moving and the fall is one with gentle impact force(basically just a take right at or below the bolt), then maybe I could see it happen. But more than likely your belayer is not fully aware of what happened. Things happen fast when people start falling toward the ground...

[TradMike]

Petzl indirectly says it is OK to take your hand off the brake if you prevent the cam from being locked open. If you look at their example on how to bring up a second with a grigri they don't have any brake hand whatsoever. They just say the grigri won't work if it gets locked open.

[whilojo]

From Petzl's website:

http://en.petzl.com/ProduitsServices/GR ... 4601-I.pdf

[krampus]

I did not read the entire manual there so I should probably not ever use a gri gri, however those pictures sure seemed to clarify this argument.

[JR]

I am suspicious of people that prefer to use ATC's. For belaying it seems like a superior device. Reminds me of a Seinfeld bit....

"Ya gotta admire the Chinese ... they've seen the fork, and they're still going with the chopsticks"

[Shamis]

From Petzl's website:

http://en.petzl.com/ProduitsServices/GR ... 4601-I.pdf

there's some pretty interesting stuff in that manual.

Everybody should definitely take a gander at picture 3D. I never thought of that scenario, and it seems extremely unlikely, but boy would that suck.

Their picture on how to feed out slack is a joke.

The description of how to rappel was kind of interesting...

[DriskellHR]

It was said already but, TIE A SAFTY KNOT!!!! if you let go of the brake end to take a picture, dress you rope, or scratch your ass, throw an overhand bight in the line. It's what the AMGA teaches and seems like a easy thing to do to avoid "failure" on the devices part or a jackass belayer

[DriskellHR]

8)

[FujManiac]

yes (if the gri-gri is being used correctly and right size rope etc)
however, it should NOT be practiced and I wouldn't climb with anyone who did as such. It creates bad habits.