Belay Devices

Climbing is a sport that relies a great deal on your physical and mental stamina. Even though the sport pushes yourself to limits you have never considered possible for yourself, you still need someone you trust climbing with you. This is for safety reasons along with the very obvious reason that you need someone to belay you. Belaying is the process of controlling the amount of rope available to a climber when they are climbing so if a fall were to be taken, it would be the shortest distance possible. Also, why belaying, it is your responsibility to listen to calls from the climber such as “take” which means the climber wants to take a break and lean back in the harness. Becoming belay certified is not a difficult process and usually only takes a couple hours to learn. This process may sound simple enough, but it is crucial that you take a class and learn properly to avoid any disasters. There are multiple ways to belay and they each depend on what type of climbing that will be done. However, there are only a select few belay devices that can be used. Belay devices are used by the person belaying to create friction on the rope to stop any falls or to lower the climber. The most common ones are the ATC, Gri-Gri, and Figure 8.


First is the most common belay device, called an ATC or Air Traffic Controller. This design is lightweight and typically an inexpensive addition. The device offers multiple friction modes depending on which side of the device the rope is guided through. The design of an ATC is ingenious. When lowering a climber using friction, the rope can become very hot. The ATC allows for air flow to cool the heated rope. One downside to the ATC is that it is not an auto-locking belay device. This means if the climber were to fall unexpectedly, the climber would fall until the person belaying has pulled the rope into the breaking position.



Another type of belay device is the Gri-Gri. The Gri-Gri, unlike the ATC, is self-breaking. If there is an unexpected fall, the belay device automatically locks because of the extra weight being applied to the cam so that it pinches the rope. This device is great for indoor climbing or working on new routes. Also, for indoor climbing, the Gri-Gri is best for setting and cleaning the man made routes. A drawback to this belay device is that it is very heavy and expensive.



The last belay device is the Figure 8. This is typically used for repelling. It gets its name because it simply looks like a figure 8. These devices allow a quick but controlled descent on a rope. Also, the design is much like the ATC in that it is made to stay fairly cool when creating friction while coming down the rope. Granted, I would still wear gloves while repelling, it is still a nice feature.