Any suggestions on the best belay device for a 7 year old girl to use to belay her 190lb dad? I was thinking about just using a silent partner and rope soloing routes and not make her belay me at all, but that kinda sounds lame for her. It would be sweet to have her belay me.

This would be on easy routes that she could climb (5.8 and below).

Is the gri-gri the one or are there better ones out there?

Thanks,
Mut

Tyson,

How about a Hanna Montana chalkbag?



-Glenn

woah...is that real?? I want one.

The physics alone make this absolutely unsafe for you and the child. You weigh 190, your daughter weighs what, 50 lbs? I don't care how much pro is between you, you weigh 4 times what she does. One of you is going to get hurt. If she holds you, she's taking a very rough ride into the wall or first piece of pro. If she's anchored, she'll likely suffer serious bruising from her harness. The flip side is, well, she lets go of the rope to avoid injury to herself...or as a result of injury to herself.
Think of it this way - try belaying someone that weighs 4 times what you do, about 760 lbs. Does that sound like something you'd like to do?
My advice: if you'd like her to be able to belay you more than once, wait a few years.

First off, I'd doubt he is going to be lead climbing with a 7 year old as the belay (at least I'd hope not)
And it reminds me of the time when my brother and I were tiny and my dad had us belay him on top rope. I remember both of us having to try very hard to keep him in the air. Then another person comes walking along and see it and jumps in to help asking something along the lines of 'Are you crazy?'

Tim - almost a valid argument, but uhh, if he's gonna TR the routes, who's gonna lead them and why wouldn't he just have that person belay him?

Welcome to Mountain Project Mut!!! Good post, and good luck.

I wouldn't allow a 7 year old girl to belay anyone unless they were using a gri-gri and had an adult right there as back-up. I have taught several 8 year old boys to use a gri-gri that way and then let them belay me many times but always with a designated back-up.

What's "access trail?" A merry band of rope-guns? Never heard of them. Sounds like a great job though. "Hey, lemme jump on the lead here while you (or your 7-year old daughter, doesn't matter to me) belay me, or you know, whatever."

Nice responses.

Glenn,
Is this site called Mountain Project or Flat Mid West Project? Nice chalk bag. It will look good on you at your local climbing gym.

England,
Thanks for the welcome and some actual substance in your response. She has belayed in the gym and at TR areas with an 8 but not an ATC. I should have been more specific in my initial post. I went to a local climbing store to look at the gri-gri and there was one other similar device (which i spaced the name of). There was no-one there who knew anything about either. I thought I'd post here to see if the gri-gri was the best belay device of its type or are there others out there? I should have left the 7 year old out of it.

Primo,
Physics Smisics, uhh, she's not going to be pulled on at all. The belay device will be anchored to a tree or rock and she will merely be operating it.

Tim C,
Yes I am lead climbing with her. Actually we plan to climb a 300ft 5.6 to warm up.

I guess I belong to the "this is a really bad idea" club. Attention span and cognitive development are certainly issues. Putting a kid in a position of responsibility for your life is just plain wrong in my book. What the hell are they expected to do if you are hanging there hurt?

If your response is that you aren't going to fall, then pile the rope neatly, solo the pitch, and give the kid a pass on the belaying task altogether.

If they are going to be made to belay, any kind of friction device, e.g. eights (OMG!!!!), ATC's, tubes, is out. Such devices are all force multipliers, meaning that they essentially multiply your gripping strength. A seven year-old just plain doesn't have enough grip strength, even after multiplication, to hold a leader fall by an adult, unless the adult is fortunate enough to have lots of friction in the system.

So, the device has to be an autolocker, like a gri-gri, on a solid anchor. But gri-gris can be tricky, and some leaders have been dropped by adult gri-gri belayers.

The only sensible thing is to go as a party of three with another adult.

my daughter(100lb), (14yrs old) learned to belay me(190lb) using an atc in a gym. we've finally moved to a gri gri. i don't lead with her on belay only toprope with a gri gri. she's been taught that the autolock feature is only a backup and never takes the place of proper technique.
i would not be comfortable placing that responsibility on a 7 year old. even at 14 there's still the fear of doing something wrong and "dropping Daddy"

And by the way, using an ATC to top-rope in a gym doesn't come close to modeling what can happen outdoors with a leader fall, since almost all gyms do something to add friction (in some cases, a lot of friction) at the top pipe. That type of gym experience can only breed a misplaced sense of confidence in the belay.

Even in a gym, I think it would be a good idea to have the kid wear gloves. I can't count how many kids I've seen get skin pinched in an ATC in the gym.

I've never seen a child that young fully comfortable or capable of belaying an adult properly. I don't blame them. I still know some adults who get it wrong. It seems like a role reversal to have your child take the role of responsibility for your life and safety BUT if you can educate your child on how to do it properly and ONLY if they are comfortable, maybe your kiddo will be the exception. 7 seems far too young to me. Not exactly the gear advice you were looking for. Sorry about that. :-)

I thought this was a troll when I read it yesterday.

Letting a 7 year old belay you on a lead climb seems like one of the worst ideas I've ever read on this site. So the route is only 5.6. I'm guessing that means you won't be sewing it up. Which means if you happen to fall, you'll probably take a pretty good whipper.

How will you feel if your daughter gets hurt and has to go to the hospital?


When I am thinking of doing something with my 2.5 year old that I think might be questionable, I ask myself this question. If something bad happened, what groups of people would defend my decision to engage in that activity? His mom? His grandparents?, My siblings? My friends? Other parents? Others who participate in said activity? A jury? (not all of these questions need to get a yes for me to continue with the activity btw)

Make some new friends who have kids and go together would be my advice. She's only 7, you have lots of time.

Cheers,
Brad

PS. I don't want to come off as someone who thinks you should mitigate all risk for your child. Certainly I do things with Owen that would make many parents/people cringe. That's why when I'm asked about something that makes ME cringe, I feel like I should speak up. In any case, I wish you all the fun in the world with your daughter. :)

Bring your wife or some other adult, your child is on the last rope so she does not belay.

Seriously, when I first saw this, I almost started a thread titled:

"My 2 1/2 year old daughter wants to spot me bouldering, which pad should I buy?"

I thought I would be funnier than you.

If the 7 year old was tied to a tree or rock that would keep her from going anywhere, including getting out of the way of rock fall. If the device was just connected to the anchor whats going to stop her from letting go of the device to avoid rock fall? That being said a gri gri would be the safest, but even I still will short rope lead belaying with a gri gri sometimes, I have seen competent climbers have close calls while lowering. To me it just seems like a 3 person operation till she is a little older. Teach her all the correct techniques, and in a controlled environment such as a gym let her practice with someone a little older and heavier to back her up,just some added redundancy. Good luck and be safe

Do it Mut!
She can handle it! You're both competent and you'll both have a blast! Best way to learn how to swim? Jump the fuck in!!