Old climbing gear

Aside from none other than Chris Bonnington telling a mate of mine many many years ago that he was going to die, I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone tie in with a bowline.

I used to for variety, but always with a stopper not just the bowline.

Belaying with Krab through the belay loop and tie-in rope loop was considered good practice by the club.

It doesn't need to be guaranteed, just better than certain death if someone lets it slip for a moment.

just better than certain death if someone lets it slip for a moment.

If you're thinking about it in those kind of terms I'd suggest that climbing maybe wasn't for you in the first place!

Even a regular, old fashioned, tube style belay device won't lead to certain death if someone let's it slip for a moment and there are now lots of devices that offer far better 'fail safe' for some applications.

The way that almost all belay devices ‘fail-dangerous’ rather than fail safe I find horrifying for exactly this reason. And yet no-one in the climbing community seems to care in the least. It’s one reason I stopped doing it.

A Grigri will auto-lock like a seatbelt, it requires human intervention to override the brake. Which, of course, is its inherent weakness.

She has an insta account. lily.climbs

Had a quick look. Feeling old and weak and clumsy.

Which, of course, is its inherent weakness.

It is?

It is?

I'd say it's more of an essential feature than an inherent weakness.

thus far proven difficult to design something that offers a guaranteed catch and also meets all the other parameters.

That's what I love about the Smart. It's not guaranteed, but you'd really have to try to drop someone with one. It's also such a ridiculously simple design.

OK, it's an absute horrorshw with anything approaching 11mm furry rope, but then who uses 11mm rope these days...
And you also need to have the rope bag positioned right in front of you, but.....

That’s what I love about the Smart

I've not used one, sounds good.

Flog the hardware. Unless the wires are frayed nowt can go wrong. I use slings etc for all sorts of things. Aided a big tree last year with 30 year old etriers. My old static ropes are used for firewodd extraction although oe gets used to support a tarpaulin at a woodland BBQ venue. Tight as a bar using two 1970's Jumars.Harness for tree climbing but most are not old . Date from 1990-93. The 1980 Whillans doesn't get much use! Bought new 9mm rope in '93 before I left the retail trade. Nver took it out of its bag for 25 years and it was stored in a dry bue barrel. Now chopped in two and used as a winter walking/scrambling rope,
Now, what about my Terrors

It is?

It isn't?

The problem with a Grigri is it can be easily overridden by human error. If you grab the thing in a panic or swing on the lever it'll be free-running. You know that thing when driving where if your wheels lock up and you start sliding, the instinctive thing to do is press the brake pedal harder?

I like them, as I say I've used one for decades. But I wouldn't let a new belayer near one until they'd absolutely bomb-proof mastered an ATC or similar first. (Honestly, I wouldn't want them near any fancy belay device until they'd learned how to reliably use something bog-standard.)

I think I might try and pick up one of those Smarts before I go climbing next. I'm intrigued.

Hmm , better than the other default of dropping someone... I've noticed I've become quite suspicious of people NOT using an assisted device, be it a GriGri or smart, pilot, megajul whatever.

Particularly old timers who don't hold many falls

The grigri can also see some lazy techniques for paying out rope, one hand holding it down (open) and what should be the hand on the dead end yarding the rope through the device. And belayers leaving their hand on the device holding it open. I have seen a couple of unnecessary massive falls due to both these user errors. Both at the crag not the wall.

But used correctly the grigri is ideal when working a sport route so I don't think the device itself is flawed.