I've said it before and I'll say it again. I prefer that my belayer uses a self-locking belay device (ie GriGri) for trad, sport, aid - whatever. The reason is I like to know that if the belayer looses control (lets go, gets hit on the head by a rock, gets distracted, falls asleep) that the device has a backup. The off chance that a bit of trad will blow by being shocked loaded by a GriGri is negligible sideffect for me. I generally climb routes with bomber gear, and double up as much as I can. It is very very rare for me to ever blow bits of trad gear. |