Two Break Assisting Belay Devices Enter, One Will Leave!

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Some climbing gyms require the use of the Petzl Grigri. you walk into the gym, and the devices are pre-clipped into the rope.

Since it’s introduction in 1991, the Grigri has been a dominant piece of equipment in the market, overall, and certainly within the sub-category of belay devices. And since that quantum leap in belay technology, there hasn’t really been a similar large-step in innovation for our belays.

And while the Edelrid Pinch - at least in my opinion - doesn’t constitute a big advancement, either, it does make enough changes that I think it has become distinct from the Grigri. That is to say, there are now honestly times that I will leave the Grigri at home and take the Pinch, instead, and vice versa.

Obviously, the video will go into greater detail on the differences between the two devices and, thus, the reasons why I might be inclined to take one or the other for certain climbing situations. But suffice it to say that - again, my opinion - we’ve now entered the same territory as so much other gear in the climbing world: items that are optimized for certain very specific things but maybe, therefore, less adept at other things.

This was already the case for break assisted devices, writ large. For example we can’t belay with two ropes on these devices. But now I’m talking about the difference between face climbing or crack climbing, or weight differences between belayers or rope diameters. Things are getting more fine tuned. And when it comes to risk mitigation, there are a few schools of thought that might be in opposition in this regard.

On the one had, we could argue that taking a piece of equipment that is truly optimized (at least in comparison to the other gear we might choose) for a specific need, when spread out across multiple pieces of gear can add up to significant risk reduction.

On the other hand, the opportunity to select the less-optimized piece of gear by mistake (either by not truly knowing what our climb will call for or by being surprised by an event that happens during the climb) could actually add risk. So, too, could needing to be proficient at and know the uses cases for multiple, different pieces of equipment.

I tend to go with the former, maybe even if I shouldn’t (I honestly don’t know) because, well, I find it fun. I like tailoring my equipment to the mission. I love the forethought and intellectual challenge of it all. But reasonable people could easily come to the other conclusion.

So, back to tradeoffs in all things, I guess.

I am happy I have the Edelrid Pinch to choose from, though. As the video goes into, there is one specific use case - and a use case I happen to run into a lot - for which the device is the only one of its kind on the market. So, there’s that, I guess, too.