Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Gris Gris banned at Sydney Indoor 28-Jun-2006 At 10:45:55 PM Rock Weasel

Message

Maybe I missed something, but I always thought that the belayer's job was to ensure that they catch a falling leader every time, without fail. Since when did belayer comfort become such an issue that it has started effecting the leader's safety? Gri Gris seem to encourage poor/inattentive belaying technique (at least Neil had the integrity to fes up.) The principal benefit seems to be that a Gri Gri reduces the strain on the belayer's bottom hand. Am I the only person who is amazed by this? When you (or I, or anyone) belays your job is to keep the person at the other end of the line alive. Belayer's need to be able to perform their function (appropriate stance, upwards anchor, etc.), but they don't have to be comfortable. On your list of priorities, belayer comfort should rank somewhere between getting your prostate examined and spending quality time with Moussey (and I know that we'd all prefer the former.)

Personally, I like feeling someone hanging on the other end of my belay, something about job satisfaction I guess. I don't see a requirement for auto-locking devices, as they seem to encourage laziness or entice even more spastics into our beloved sport.