RRC Archives

depends on the rope. brand new rope, yeah its smooth. older rope, i'll take the ATC.

Depends on the situation....big climber or new climber that may hang a lot = grigri. Multipitch....ATC guide...is schweeet.

I am biased to gri-gris for single pitches only because I was dropped while someone was belaying me with an atc-xp...the reason was not the fault of the device mind you...but my belayer took me off belay because he said the the teeth side didn't "look right"....naturally this was on a crimpy route and I was going for a move as he did this...slipped...and I was on the ground....luckily we were in a gym...I was prob about 15-20 feet off the deck...

BUT in the hands of a competent person...ATC's are wonderful. I actually wanted to try the reverso..but have not had the chance.

Whatever the person on the sharp end wants me to use.

whatever the person belaying is comfortable with. fuck the climber. if the belayer can't do their job effectively then i don't want to be the climber.

i agree with anti and kirker. i went climbing with some people i didn't know this weekend and the guy asked if it was ok that he was using an ATC. i would rather have someone who is comfortable with an ATC use that than have them somehow mess up using a grigri or short roping me constantly.

generally my preference is to use a grigri, it allows a bit more flexability should i really need to take my hand off the rope. for some fat/stiff ropes though, i'll use an ATC though. and when i'm doing multipitch i use an ATC-Guide, they're great.

I'm more concerned about having a good belayer that pays attention than what device they use. What makes me more nervous than anything when I'm climbing is hearing my belayer jabberin' away at the base, clearly not watching me when i'm feeling sketchy. I hate that! Sometimes I'll go "Hey, are you with me?" They'll go "Yeah, I'm with ya." then go back to spraying. Jeez!

I like the grigri, but I've been dropped in the gym when my lead belayer squeezed the top of the device. Its safer than an ATC when used properly, but causes more problems with the less experienced.

if both are used properly, how is one safer than the other??

I prefer an ATC for the responsiveness compared to a gri gri. When my leader is trying to decide whether to clip or to fall and has got the full body elvis- I feel more capable of rapidly taking up or yarding out the slack. That said, I haven't invested much time perfecting my gri gri skills and would use one if I could learn to work it as well as my ATC.

I prefer to belay with a gri-gri , if my climber prefers an atc I'm cool with that.I do like the atc-guide. I started using a gri-gri because my original partner and I would hang dog our way up routes while "trying" to improve our skills/abilities. I became very comfortable with the device, and I don't think anyone I climb with will complain about my rope handling with either device. I routinely remove my hand from the brake end of the rope to feed rope for a clip, but I always know exactly where it (the brake strand)is. The safety of the belay is in the belayer not the device.