Plaquette Pick Off Rescue Explained | Single Pitch Technique

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I like the adaptability of a tube-style, plaquette belay device, like the DMM Pivot that my sons and I frequently use, and which features in this video. I like that I can belay two ropes through it… after all, I am often climbing with my two boys. I like that it is easy to convert into a lower. I like that I can easily do a two strand rappel, not needing to lock one strand in place like I would need to with a Grigri or the like. Since my kids and I are often on blocky and adventurous terrain in the alpine, not having knots or carabiners to pull down on a multi-pitch rappel means a considerably lower probability of our rope getting stuck when we pull it. I like the (comparatively) wide range of rope diameters most of these devices can accommodate, meaning I can just as easily manage that two-stranded rappel on thicker, workhorse single ropes as I can belay out a leading partner on some skinner twins on that ice climb we are doing.

That being said, these devices don’t have a brake assist when belaying a leader (the do when belaying a follower from the top). They can be comparatively complicated to convert into a lower (again, when belaying from the top), and they certainly are harder to convert from belaying or rappelling to ascending while in progress-capture mode. But, they can manage these last two scenarios with a bit of engineering.

This video will go deep into this last use case, and then some. The beginning process of going to rescue a climber above us who needs help on the wall starts with going hands free (as it would with any device type) but then shifts to needing to unweight the device and a conversion process that gets it ready to help us capture our upward rope-ascension process.

Then there is the question of efficiency. At least for this use case, there is a lot more friction involved in ascending with this style of device. So, more physical effort (and a bit more engineering to help mitigate that friction) is called for.

So, why do I like these devices, again? Well, there are some things it doesn’t do as well as a modern assisted-braking belay device (ABBD), but there isn’t much is simply cannot do. Sure, once we get into the edge cases of lead rope solo setups and the like, then these plaquette devices truly cannot be part of the system. But being fully inappropriate for some things is just par for the course when it comes to single-strand ABBDs. The two-strand rappel is by far the standard rappel technique on multi-pitch sport climbs, for instance. And we simply cannot do a knot-free or carabiner free two stranded rappel unless we have one person on the single-strand ABBD and another person on our two-rope device.

So, sure, when I think I’m going to be using two strands belaying as we go up or two strands as we head down, I am bringing my plaquette. But when I don’t know what I am going to face, I also bring my plaquette: the jack of all trades but master of none.