The 4 Plaquette Tie-Off Techniques That Keep Climbers Safe

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I’m not sure how many climbing teams use tube-style plaquette devices, anymore. The ubiquity of the Grigri seems to be driving out this older device.

Of course, there are particular use cases where the tube devices with guide mode option (like the DMM Pivot, which I use) is still the standard. We see it more in alpine terrain with multi-pitch routes, where we often will have a least one of the two climbers ready to make a double stranded rappel to either take out before the final descent, or avoid needing to make at all, various knot, carabiner, or hitch blocks at the rappel point (that would allow for single strand rappels). This means smaller knots being pulled down the route and therefore making it less likely for our ropes to get stuck.

We also see teams of three use these devices so that they can belay two followers at the same time.

Those are just a couple of examples.

But, more people climb single-pitch than multi-pitch. More people climb sport versus trad. More people crag versus go into the alpine. The days where most climbing was somewhat exploratory - finding new rock, maybe developing new routes, etc. are gone. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t mean that more complex climbing isn’t happening now than back in the 50s, or the 70s. But as a proportion, most climbs now are conventional. So, the needs for a device that can handle diverse situations is less.

Balance the reduction in that need against the potentially improved safety of having brake assisting help from the device, itself, and it makes a lot of sense that we are seeing the proliferation of the Grigri.

But if we need to be able to do more things, the tube-style plaquette still has its place. And for those of us advancing our climbing, doing more things usually becomes part of the equation.

I’m aware, then, that many climbers now start with the Grigri and then move later to something like my DMM Pivot. That wasn’t necessarily the case for previous generations of climbers because break assisting devices didn’t exist. We all come to them later, after their development, after starting with tube devices.

Therefore, some climbers being newly introduced to these devices that were the old standard, no longer the dominate equipment found, need to be shown the basics… even if they are very accomplished climbers. This video is one of the videos supporting that concept. In some ways, it’s a beginner’s video, if we think about people just “beginning” to use plaquette devices. But in other ways, it’s tailored to climbers with experience, but more experience climbing versus experience with these particular devices.

Because, as you’ll see, there are some differences with tying off a belay on a plaquette when compared to something like the Grigri, which is easily tied off with just an overhand on the brake strand. Yes, we can do that with a plaquette, but there’s a risk - which is also covered in the video.