New gear arrived. Pictures update..

Petzl grigri 2 and Black Diamond lock carabiners, tomorrow I will try them for the first time on top rope, wath you guys thinking about them?

TR self belay? Grigri is a lousy self belay device IMO (rarely self feeds).

Well I just pull the slack line wile I'm climbing on and if you fall the grigri will catch you,is it correct?

don't forget backup knots :-)

This recent thread has a variety of info you may be looking for:

mountainproject.com/v/self-…

Walter Galli wrote:Well I just pull the slack line wile I'm climbing on and if you fall the grigri will catch you,is it correct?

That's the plan. But there's a reason the manufacturer tells you not to take your brake hand off the rope.

John Wilder wrote:Screwgates are a big no-no for any kind of self-belay scenario as well.

Curious to know why?

John Wilder wrote:Screwgates are a big no-no for any kind of self-belay scenario as well.

Also interested in this. I route set with a GriGri and always swap out the auto-locker for a screw gate. Why? Because the rope rubbing next to the autolock has caused it to unlock. I haven't had this happen on a screw gate to date.

Yes Charly that is why I chose a screw gate, alwayse on my harness I put a screwgate and in any circumstances that is not required an autolocker.

In the military, we rappel from a single locker. You have to be sure the rope runs through the locker in a way that TIGHTENS, not LOOSENS the screwgate.

trentbrown wrote:In the military, we rappel from a single locker. You have to be sure the rope runs through the locker in a way that TIGHTENS, not LOOSENS the screwgate.

This is basic for climbing.. For sure.

Hi walter, great post. let us no how it goes

ScottJM wrote: Curious to know why?

I may be wrong, but I believe it has something to do with the constant rope feed possibly unscrewing the screwgate if the biner gets oriented in a certain way.

Might not be exactly pertinent or appreciated in this thread but my favorite carabiner for self-belay (in my case, top rope soloing with two micro trax) is the DMM Belay Master. The cross piece efficiently prevents cross loading and covers the screwgate to prevent unscrewing from the rope (which I hadn't considered before).

However, most important thing for me is the cross piece entirely covers the screw gate and prevents the device from sliding over it, getting caught and loaded from the side. For the micro trax, this will bend the side plate even under low loads, which in my experience is the most obvious way for it to fail. It is easy to see the side plate start to bend under body weight. The point is that I am not worried about cross loading the biner...I AM worried about cross loading the device.

Walter Galli wrote: This is basic for climbing.. For sure.

Quinn Baker wrote: I may be wrong, but I believe it has something to do with the constant rope feed possibly unscrewing the screwgate if the biner gets oriented in a certain way.

This is the only reason I can guess why screwgates are such a no-no. We use them extensively in the military. I trust them and I fully support you Walter in your use of screwgates for your purposes. I solo-toprope with a microcender, grigri2, and screwgates on both.

On the other hand, I would like to know more about why they are so bad in a self-belay scenario. If anyone could shed some light on it, I for one, would be grateful. Its always good to learn.

Most devices (Grigri etc) tend to slide into a cross-loaded position as you move which could be expected to break or damage something. I use a rubber band to centre my GriGri on the karabiner or if I´m lead soloing a maillon anyway.

Jim Titt wrote:Most devices (Grigri etc) tend to slide into a cross-loaded position as you move which could be expected to break or damage something. I use a rubber band to centre my GriGri on the karabiner or if I´m lead soloing a maillon anyway.

I like the idea of the rubber band to keep it in position,,,I will try this,

walter - This topic has been covered so much, and you are off the mark on how to set up a self-belay TR. Many people do it many ways, but I trust the Petzl suggestion more than any wanker on the internet (which would include me in this post)

Anyway, check out these series of webpages from Petzl and decide for yourself.

petzl.com/US/EN/Sport/Gener…

For ~$170, you'll have a microcender and a minitraxion, and a system that is well tested.

Even still, it seems like most people bite the dust because they made some mistake at the transition.

JohnnyG wrote:walter - This topic has been covered so much, and you are off the mark on how to set up a self-belay TR. Many people do it many ways, but I trust the Petzl suggestion more than any wanker on the internet (which would include me in this post)

All those wankers who are bolting routes all around the world while hanging hands free on grigris not to mention all those gym route setters doing the same with plastic and grigris. Wankers, all of them!

Ok guys I know that all of you are pro compare to me, but I love simple things and here are the pics of my set up, I use it this morning in my woody and I try to fall at least 50 times not once my grigri went wrong is actually not even a fall because I pull the slack wile I'm climbing up, so wath it does is just stopping me to fall and you can stay hand free on it, but for sure the set up working only for topmrope as my concern, is the safest way of doing solo top rope, check the pics, cheers..

That works but it's a lot more streamlined to fix the line and just run the gri gri on it. Tie a couple pounds to the bottom and it nearly feeds itself. Either setup really ought to have a back up though, even something as simple as a second fixed line with a few loops in it that you could clip a tether to.