A Better Belaying Device, the Trango Cinch.....

[le Voyageur]

During my tenure working the Point Camp outpost at Blue Ridge I had the chance to belay dozens of scouts and scouters of different weights, and skill levels with the Cinch. IMHO, for single rope top belays, ATC's are dinosaurs, and I'm no longer putting them on my buy list for next year.

 

The Cinch is safe, reliable, and has a fast learning curve, and feeds rope like a champ. As an auto locking device it will lock off a fall quicker than any belayer can with an ATC, and that margin of safety to minimize fall distance is priceless.

 

Here's what this guy looks like....if you're a COPE, or Climbing Director, give this tool a try, I think you'll be impressed with it like I am....

 

http://www.gearreview.com/images/trango_cinch.jpg

[buffalo2]

Like it better than a GriGri?

[GernBlansten]

I'm a climber from back during the Carter administration. We used a figure 8 device for belaying and rappelling exclusively. Very simple, fast enough to take slack. Could stop an elephant with little more than two fingers and a thumb. No mechanical parts to fail. Any device that has moving parts seems to me to be asking for problems. Of course we also turned away from those fancy spring loaded cams for protection too (Friends came out in the early 80s). Guess I'm just old school. Perhaps I need to step into the 21st Century!