RRC Archives

I'm with Toy on the belaying technique! By palming the gri-gri like that it lets you keep a couple of fingers in place for you to clamp down on the brake, should the need arise. Its also practically impossible to hold the gri-gri open that way if it is weighted and the easiest way (for me, anyway) to feed out slack. Faster than I've ever been able to do with an ATC.

The only injuries I've heard of that can be directly linked to using gri-gris have been from operator error-usually someone freezing and holding it open. One of the scariest things I see out there is when you have only one person with some experience taking one or more people out-leaving nobody on the ground to keep an eye on the belayer when the more experienced climber is climbing. Its far too easy for the person on the ground to make a mistake or freak out. They need some one ground level to keep an eye on them.

Yep, I will second that idea. I experimented using Toy's method this weekend and found that yes, it will take practice, but it also let's me keep some control over the brake rope too. It's just like anything though, it takes repetition so it becomes automatic.

Mj

Hey, me too! I used the technique and totally dug it. It makes me concentrate on maintaing my hold on the rope while I feed out slack. It's like when I learned to clean the anchors by using a figure eight on a bite so I'm never off belay; it's another simple safety tool that seems really important.