RRC Archives

mcrib wrote: Loders secret handshake with the break hand...

Damn, Petzl publishes two different recommended techniques for the Grigri. They warn the user that both techniques have recommended positions that are sketchy and should not be held for long. They publish skull and cross bones on techniques that we SEE AT THE CRAG all the time. On top of these hypothetical issues, climbers are dropping too frequently. What the hell is the fix?

pretty simple...when your climber falls, grab the rope below the device.

Faders SUM?

stix wrote:pretty simple...when your climber falls, grab the rope below the device.

= death

grabbing the rope after the climber is falling? hm, i'd think the hand should already be on that side of the rope..but call me crazy.

it's not the device or the method that matter. when your climber weights the rope make damn sure your break hand is on the brake side of the rope and in the appropriate position to create enough friction to stop the fall. most of us choose to do this by keeping a brake hand on the brake rope all the time, but obviously there are tons of small variations on the belaying theme that are practiced successfully every day.

stix wrote:obviously there are tons of small variations on the belaying theme that are practiced successfully every day.

Yep--we are constantly reminded that those 'variations' will prevent decking 99.5% of the time.

all i'm saying is that every one of these accidents would have been prevented if people just put their brake hand on the brake side of the rope below the device and squeezed (again, assuming the right amount of slack was out). nothing else really matters. it was their inability to do this that caused the accidents and everything else is avoiding the point in my opinion

cliftongifford wrote:Faders SUM?

YES