Edelrid OHM

Supposed to help with light belayer/heavy climber scenario - Edelrid OHM

Wasn't able to find any clips of its use, but here is a photo ( from 8a.nu )

Here's a video of its use

I'm super curious to know what people who have used it think.

Seems like a good idea (especially for me being 6'4" and 200 lbs). But... Damn.... 100 € seems a little pricey for a belay add on.

sweet! I'm always looking for ways to increase the rope drag, clusker f*ck potential, and only 100 euro?

But think about all the dads now dragging their 10-year olds to belay them - yaay! (For some reason, I only imagine dads doing it not moms).

I'm curious to see this in action, on how it releases the tension to lower or pay out the slack after it gets weighed without the belayer having to reach to it. I assume the belayer has to do something to get the rope in line or something to relieve the tension.

doligo wrote:But think about all the dads now dragging their 10-year olds to belay them - yaay! (For some reason, I only imagine dads doing it not moms). I'm curious to see this in action, on how it releases the tension to lower or pay out the slack after it gets weighed without the belayer having to reach to it. I assume the belayer has to do something to get the rope in line or something to relieve the tension.

Obviously I've never used it, but my guess is that when the climber yards up to get back to their high bolt it will relieve the tension without the belayer having to do anything except take in the slack like normal. Kind of a cool idea for a very limited number of situations, but there may be a market for it.

I decked several years ago climbing with a light belayer, and broke my back. This device would have prevented that. If it works as advertised, I'm sold.

20 kN wrote:Seems like an expensive solution to a cheap problem. Just add some twists to the rope at the top or anchor the belayer, done. In the case of leading, anchor the belayer either with a weight or statically to the ground. I dont think I've ever been to a gym that dident offer one of those options.

Right, just break small people in half by anchoring them statically to the ground! And no one in their right mind would buy this for top-roping.

20 kN wrote: What I would like to know is how pulling slack to clip is going to be with this thing. I could envision it would constantly be short roping the climber the entire time when used on lead.

I imagine it feeds smoothly as Gri-Gri, but bites when it comes under tension - that is why they're charging 100 Euro for this.

doligo wrote: Right, just break small people in half by anchoring them statically to the ground!

I'm confused about this, how does anchoring a belayer statically to the ground break them in half. If done correctly, anchoring someone to the ground would make it so they don't feel anything during a fall. The climber on the other hand is going to get a pretty hard catch.

kennoyce wrote: I'm confused about this, how does anchoring a belayer statically to the ground break them in half. If done correctly, anchoring someone to the ground would make it so they don't feel anything during a fall. The climber on the other hand is going to get a pretty hard catch.

Depends how you're anchored, my girlfriend likes clipping in with the triple stitched loop on the back of her harness, Ive seen some people just girth the whole back part of the harness with a sling. Though its not what I think is ideal, shes stubborn and it'll hold so I'm not worried about it, her decision. When I take a big fall my weight pulling on her front and that on her back squeeze her sides pretty hard by pulling the harness. If she anchored to the belay loop then there would be nothing pulling on her harness other than the foot or so she gets lifted up before anchor catches. I guess it comes down to the comfort of having the anchor catch tight between your legs but not hurting vs behind you but maybe getting some weird fall forces compressing your harness on you.

Found somewhat instructional video

vimeo.com/153778584

Ryan Knowlton wrote: Depends how you're anchored, my girlfriend likes clipping in with the triple stitched loop on the back of her harness, Ive seen some people just girth the whole back part of the harness with a sling. Though its not what I think is ideal, shes stubborn and it'll hold so I'm not worried about it, her decision. When I take a big fall my weight pulling on her front and that on her back squeeze her sides pretty hard by pulling the harness. If she anchored to the belay loop then there would be nothing pulling on her harness other than the foot or so she gets lifted up before anchor catches. I guess it comes down to the comfort of having the anchor catch tight between your legs but not hurting vs behind you but maybe getting some weird fall forces compressing your harness on you.

This is why I said, "if done correctly". Anchoring the back of a harness to the ground is certainly not the correct method of doing it. Also, if you anchor the belay loop low enough so that the belayer can't be pulled up off the ground, there is no issue of having the anchor catch tight between your legs. Obviously you shouldn't anchor this way in certain scenarios, such as when the belayer may need to dodge rock fall, but in these scenarios, you probably shouldn't be anchoring the belayer at all.

In the video, did he open the OHM without taking it off the biner? I'm not sure if I would like that as I could see it having more of a chance to open in getting thrown around during a fall. It isn't going to be as critical of a piece if it did fail this way, assuming at least one other bolt has been clipped, but having the expectation of it catching then not (and losing that first bolt to keep the belay from going up beyond that) might cause more problems.

Unlikely, but still an unnecessary risk to add.

kennoyce wrote: This is why I said, "if done correctly". Anchoring the back of a harness to the ground is certainly not the correct method of doing it. Also, if you anchor the belay loop low enough so that the belayer can't be pulled up off the ground, there is no issue of having the anchor catch tight between your legs. Obviously you shouldn't anchor this way in certain scenarios, such as when the belayer may need to dodge rock fall, but in these scenarios, you probably shouldn't be anchoring the belayer at all.

Fully agree, but shes the one who catches my ass, I'll let her do it however she wants. All 103 lbs of her has caught all 180 of me on multiple large whips, with and without an anchor/or weight bag. Shes never come close to dropping me or make me feel insecure. Outside she rarely if ever uses an anchor as they are not always convenient and allow her to move out of danger, also soft catches when gear is more sketch, but you're not going to take as many whips in a day outside at the crag as you will in a few hour pump session.

doligo wrote:I imagine it feeds smoothly as Gri-Gri, but bites when it comes under tension

Looking at the video linked above I don't think it bites at all. The UK Climbing guys show that when weighted the Ohm 'snaps up' and it looks like it introduces a slight angle (rather than a full bend) which just causes additional friction. When they disengage the belay device the weight slowly lowers without completely stopping.

doligo wrote: Right, just break small people in half by anchoring them statically to the ground!

Light people have been anchoring themselves to the ground since before the advent of the climbing gym. Clipping a 40 lb weight to the belay loop on a tether is not going to cause any injury, nor will anchoring in tight to the deck. If they anchor into the deck, the load is simply transferred from the rope to the belay loop and down to the deck, not to the belayer's back.

the interview with em edelrid folks seem to imply that the OHM works with the varying of the angle of the belayer on the first bolt

they say that for it to work well the belayer should be standing away from the wall ... and to feed well on pulling up slack, the belayer should step close into the wall

obviously this would limit the usefulness on some climbs if true, especially on multi where the belay positions are fixed once they are setup

ukclimbing.com/gear/news.ph…

for fun take a look at the jul2 interview where they basically say the jul2 will catch hands free in a fall ... note the DAV tested the slippage of the jul2 at ~0.5 KN on an 8.9mm rope at the belayer, forces easily generated in a lead fall

dav panorama

not to mention the explicit warning by the dav that the device may not hold "hands free" on bigger falls

dav panorama

;)

bearbreeder wrote:this would limit the usefulness on some climbs if true, especially on multi where the belay positions are fixed once they are setup

Since device relies on having some angle in the alignment (2nd bolt)->(1st bolt)->(belayer), any offset will do - belayer needn't stand 1m away from the wall, he can be to the side of 1st bolt. All of that would only apply when climber is above 2nd bolt.
Not something I would choose to do, though.

If a route is quit overhung most likely none of this offset business is required.

I am so excited to see this. I weigh 95 pounds so belaying anyone over age of 11 has been a challenge and I've been tied to all sorts of things to make it a little safer for both me and my climber but it's not just unsafe, it's painful.

I've looked on Edelrid's website but I can't find it for sale anywhere. Can anyone tell me where I might locate one? I'm located in Indiana, USA. I may be willing to buy it from someone if it's only available internationally. Any info on purchasing would be very much appreciated!

Thank you :)

Here is the official video:

youtube.com/watch?v=t6ElZtM…

Seems really effective at mitigating weight difference. IIRC, should be available second half of 2016

does anyoknow where to get this?