Belay devices are mechanical pieces of climbing equipment used to control a rope during belaying.[1] They are designed to improve belay safety for the climber by allowing the belayer to manage their duties with minimal physical effort. With the right belay device, a small, weak climber can easily arrest the fall of a much heavier partner. Belay devices act as a friction brake, so that when a climber falls with any slack in the rope, the fall is brought to a stop.
Belay devices generally have two modes of operation: in the first mode, the rope is relatively free to be paid in/out by the belayer. The second mode, which allows the belayer to arrest the descent of a climber in the case of a fall, functions by forcing the rope(s) into tight bends where the rope rubs against the belay device and/or against itself. This rubbing slows the rope, but also generates heat. Some types of belay devices can transition between these modes without the belayer taking any action, others require the belayer to hold or pull the rope in a particular direction to arrest a fall.
Belay devices usually attach to the harness of the belayer via a carabiner, and are usually made of aluminium or an alloy. Some belay devices can also be used as descenders for a controlled descent on a rope, that is abseiling or rappeling.
Many belay devices can be used to control either one rope, or two ropes in parallel. There are many reasons why the two-rope option might be chosen by a climber, including the consideration of reducing rope drag.
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This is a device that you feed a bight (loop) of rope through a hole or Aperture and then hook it into a locking carabiner on the harness.
This is the original belay device, named for its designer. It consists of a metal disk with one or two holes drilled through. A wide wire spring is attached on one side. The rope is threaded through from the side without the spring through a locking carabiner and back through the same drilled hole. The locking carabiner is attached to the belayer who is then able to lock the rope at will.
Nowadays, Sticht plates are becoming less popular since more modern designs provide smoother control over the rope and are less prone to jamming, especially when doubling as a descender.
This type of device generally has a tubular or rectangular shape. It is an evolution of the Sticht plate's concept by creating more surface area to dissipate heat and the ability to create sharper angles which creates a stronger degree of friction which has greater stopping power. As a result this is generally the most common type of belay device used. This type of device goes by multiple trade names including Black Diamond ATC (Air Traffic Controller), DMM Bug, Trango Pyramid.
Besides arresting the fall of a climber, these devices can also be used for rappelling.
Sometimes just called "eight", this device is most commonly used as a descender. A figure eight can be used for belaying, and indeed there are some which are designed specifically for belaying, however they are not generally popular due to the tendency to twist the rope. there are also variations on this design including DMM's "cardiac arrester" which does the same thing but is shaped like a heart. It is designed to help stop rope twisting. Figure eights, although not the most common belay device, are still frequently found in use. For most uses, a tubular style belay device is easier and safer to use.
Referred to as self-locking or autolocking these devices automatically restrict the rope from being pulled away from the device by pressure applied by a climber. This is achieved as either a default setting or as an electable mode of the device.
This is a metal plate with an elongated slot for the bight to go through and then a carabiner is attached so that when pull from the climber occurs the carabiner will be pulled to lock off the device.
A similar device to the traditional tubular belay device has an extra loop as a part of it so that you can attach the device to an anchor and use a second carabiner to perform a similar stopping function to that created with the guide plate. This is meant to when not using the second carabiner implementation this can be used just like a normal tubular device. This device goes by two trade names the Petzl Reverso and the Black Diamond ATC-Guide. This and the Guide plate are considered safer alternatives to using the Italian Hitch (a.k.a. Munter hitch).
A Gri-gri is a belay device that automatically locks the rope in the event of a fall. Because of the self-locking mechanism, modified belay techniques are widely used. Gri-gri's reportedly give a harder catch than a regular belay device because they allow less rope slippage when catching a hard fall. They are a proprietary design by Petzl. The Gri-gri is a preferred device for belaying the follower directly off the anchor because lowering the follower is quite easy. Trango sells a similar self-locking belay device called the Cinch that is rated to work on ropes 9.4 to 11 mm (the Gri-Gri is rated from 10 to 11 mm).
Using a Gri-gri to bring up a second on a traditional anchor is however less favorable than other belay devices because the Gri-gri gives a more static catch with little to no rope slippage. This increases the amount of force exerted on the anchor which, in turn, increases the chance of anchor failure.
Self-belay devices are designed to allow solo climbing where the climber wears the belay device, or secures it to a fixed object on the ground. These devices automatically lock without any intervention when placed under sufficient load (during a fall), but allow rope to move relatively freely whilst climbing.