Edelrid Ohm

Hey guys recently I came across across this nifty piece of gear the other day and I want to know if anyone has any experience with it. My main climbing partner ways about 50-60 pounds more than I so I am pretty used to taking a ride whenever he whips. The only problem is that I cannot belay him on some of his harder projects that are not bolted well or if there isn't good pro because of the chance on him decking.. would this be worth while and make a big enough difference?

My wife has caught me with it many times and loves it. Check out the other thread as well.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/111580396/edelrid-ohm

I have used the Ohm with my partner (60-pound difference) and the results were perfect. It increases friction enough during a fall and lowering to make belaying much more manageable. That being said, your leader shouldn't fall directly on the device and so can only fall above the second bolt making many outdoor routes not worth the trouble. It also can engage when clipping but just like a grigri you get used to that with time and don't clip as fast, but if the leader needed slack fast it could make things difficult. Personally, I only use it indoors now but It has the potential for a lot as long as you are sure you won't fall before the second bolt. Also, you can't use it on trad.

P.S I love the Ohm

My climbing partner is twice my weight (small girl, big guy). We have used the ohm quite a lot indoors for a while, and outdoors on a few occasions. After some time though, I realized that I prefer to be tethered to the ground due to few caveats:

- You can't use it on trad, or any gear that is not fixed, and we're climbing mostly trad nowadays. At first we reasoned that since your first piece needs to be multi-directional anyways, the upward pull created by the engaged ohm wouldn't matter. However, when we clipped it to a cam it nearly pulled it out (and that was a really good placement), and bent the stem.

- You don't need it on multipitch because you're on the anchor - you will not fly up. Heck, you can even belay directly from the anchor (there are a lot of discussions about that. I find it better in most cases).

- Even for its designated use, which is sport climbing, there are two (minor) annoyances: slack tends to pile up on top of the device, and soft catches are somewhat less soft. Oh, and lowering is sooo slow, but those are not deal breakers.

That being said, tying in to the ground can harm your spine, so make sure to read about it if that's the route you want to go. I'd still recommend the ohm for indoor gym use and for climbing partners with big weight differences who are just starting to lead and are worried about flying into the wall.

TeRSo Yammine wrote:

I have used the Ohm with my partner (60-pound difference) and the results were perfect. It increases friction enough during a fall and lowering to make belaying much more manageable. That being said, your leader shouldn't fall directly on the device and so can only fall above the second bolt making many outdoor routes not worth the trouble. It also can engage when clipping but just like a grigri you get used to that with time and don't clip as fast, but if the leader needed slack fast it could make things difficult. Personally, I only use it indoors now but It has the potential for a lot as long as you are sure you won't fall before the second bolt. Also, you can't use it on trad.

P.S I love the Ohm

If the leader falls directly on the device, it's fine but it won't add any extra friction, something to be aware of but not a major deal

TeRSo Yammine wrote:

...That being said, your leader shouldn't fall directly on the device and so can only fall above the second bolt making many outdoor routes not worth the trouble...

That's not true.  Works fine if you fall on the first bolt.  Check out Edelrid's video and skip to 3:36 for a fall directly onto the device:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ElZtMcvpM 

And Peter's comment above "If the leader falls directly on the device, it's fine but it won't add any extra friction, something to be aware of but not a major deal" is also incorrect.  In a fall directly onto the device, the rope drops into the same v-grooves that are engaged by an upward pull when higher draws are clipped.  Look how little the belayer moves in that video.  A fall with that little rope in the system would otherwise have pulled her much harder.

The Ohm has been a game changer for my wife and I (~90 lb difference).  We are both much more comfortable when using the Ohm.  The Ohm takes getting used to.  There are techniques that make it work better, and both the climber and belayer need to do things to make it work well.  But that's a small price to pay.

Slack can pile up on top of the device if you clip high over head and then climb up.  A quick shake of the rope by the belayer solves that problem.  

I find it to be a little grabby on routes that are steep right off the ground.  I think that is due to the angle that the rope leaves the device.  It works best if the rope is running more vertically.  On a steep wall in the gym it grabs a little when I do a big clip.  In that situation I pull up half of the slack, and when it starts to grab I just give a small shake of the rope and the device drops back down so that it feeds smoothly for the rest of the clip.

Yeah, it doesn't work for trad.  Whatever.  I can use other methods for that situation, but I'm psyched to have the Ohm for the situations that it does well.

I've used one with a partner (Her 120 lbs/ Me 180 lbs) and I really like it. The diameter of the rope can effect its characteristics. I first used it with a fuzzed 10.2 Metolius Gym rope and was a bit finicky. It would catch when clipping, lowering was sometimes a pain. I've switched to a 9.7 Bluewater Lightening pro and it works great.

It's a great device.  Get it and use it.

I use it with my partner who has more than 100 pounds on me.  It works so well!  We mainly use it in the gym since outside we generally trad climb.  I would still use it on multi-pitch sport because it gives me greater control when lowering him.  This would be less of a plus if you used a gri gri, but I generally stick to my trusty ATC.  

I agree that it gives less of a soft catch, but, I still get pulled up.  The difference is, with the Ohm I gently bounce off the wall about two feet up instead of being yanked all the way to the first bolt at top speed until my device slams against it.  I could not love it more.

I belay my dad who is about 50 lbs heavier than me. We did a couple of tests with our ohm and when he falls, I don’t leave the ground. Everyone at our climbing gym asks us about it and always ends up buying one. Totally worth the money!!