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Gri-gris - any failures? 26-Feb-2004 At 9:04:45 PM Cliffhanger

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mmmm... this discussion comes around every few years, as "dalai" has seen many times before too!

Being the owner of 60 odd of the little suckers, i have had considerable experience with them in all circumstances and have had many discussions with Petzl about them over the years.

The Grigri will not fail if there is a break-hand on the rope holding it below (either side as stated above) as it is causing friction just like any and all other belay devices.

As "Dalai" pointed out, a lazy belay hand resting on the blackhandle will override the "back-up camming mechanism" and if there is no hand on the brake rope it will run - and run faster than any other device on the market due to the pulley shaped internals!

All reported Grigri failures have always come back to "human error" by the belayer.

Suggesting the best way to teach a begginer to belay with a Grigri is to tell them to let go of everything is just plain stupid. Everyone should be taught to belay properly so that it can be transferred from one device to another without concern.

As for rope diameters, we recently discussed this with Petzl, and the answer was 10mm is the min. The device has only been tested down to that diameter, BUT... given the .2m difference between a 10mm and a 9.8mm you can use a 9.8mm, except of course in a commercial applicationl ike a gym, where we have to go by what's printed on the device! Also important to note that Grigris do not give a dynmaic belay, so put a heap of strain on your gear if you take a whipper, so using a less stretchy thin rope and a Grigri could pull or destroy gear - petzl suggest they are for sport routes only.

As for euro's and dodgy belaying, that's a given! just like Yanks belaying holding the brake rope above the device - go figure!