Complete Guide into Belay Devices - Differences and Efficient Usage | Ep.6 

You don't imagine how useful it is for a boulderer like me trying to get into sport climbing! I have taken lessons with a qualified instructor first, but these video are a huge plus to my climbing knowledge.

Forgot to mention that force measurements in the beginning were done just to demonstrate that you can't hold much if your brake hand is up. They are NOT accurate due to errors in measurement devices and also heavily depends on Rope diameter, stiffness, treatments, belay device used etc... Rope used: 9.0mm Mammut Sender DRY Also special thanks to everyone who provided feedback on Version 1 of this video many months ago... that resulted into much deeper research of this topic - that's why it took me so long to come up with improved version 2 :D

Actually, while using a grigri, if you point the gate the other direction (right) while loading/unloading the rope, you can further decrease the risk of dropping, as the nose always stays hooked in. As a right-handed person, this took a slight bit of getting used to, but now it is very smooth and I'm glad to have this technique when up on a wall

That knot tying at 17:22 was so incredibly smooth!

The quality of this content is incredible! I learn so much every single video, genuinely thank you!

Thanks for this great video! One thing (I might have missed in the video): If you need to take in a lot of slack fast, just take a few steps back. That is if possible, doesn't apply to multi-pitch for obvious reasons. Walking back two meters might take in a lot more slack than you're able to take in otherwise!

There's another important use of tubular devices: retrievable abseil. Where the rope is threaded through or around an anchor at the top of a route (e.g. sport anchors or a tree) and you abseil off both strands. Some assisted tubulars (e.g. Edelrid devices) also do this.

Your videos are the most thorough, clear, and concise on all of RU-vid. Well done and much appreciated 👍

I'm glad that you explained hand-over-hand and covered the things to be careful of instead of just saying that it should be avoided. In three years of climbing everyone just says "don't do that" and moves on

According to the German alpine association (DAV) the currently accepted technique to take slack is the tunneling one. This is also how you learn it in climbing courses nowadays.

I don’t even climb and this guy makes it interesting.. he could be talking about anything and I’d watch… great energy !! You got it

Man just a few days ago I was looking through your channel to see if you'd already made a video about different belay devices, and now here it is! You read my mind. Thanks for all the great education about climbing safety!

Sometimes i use another method to take slack in a toprope scenario: My brake hand stays on the rope, my other hand grabs the rope under the belaying device and then my brake hand slides to my other hand. I'm a climbing instructor in the Netherlands and i recommend your channel to all my students! Thanks for taking the time to make these video's!

Super helpful. I learned Slip Slap Slide from some old dudes teaching a community college course back in 2004, and I used it for a long time with tube style devices. Only when I went back to school and took another climbing class in 2015 did someone teach me PBUS. The instructor wasn't that put off by Slip Slap Slide, he'd seen it used for a long time, but he asked me to use PBUS because it was "better". I didn't really get a satisfactory answer on why it was better until now. Thanks!

Great job on the HoH, PBUS, Tunnel. Having climbed for decades and in many parts of the world, it's always annoying when people tell me I belay wrong, while I am doing things by the book. It's good to know, and the discussion here confirms, this is a rabbit hole and people will often thing the method they been taught is THE method. I would be interested in learning more about the (dis)advantages of different acceptable methods.

Your Belay Masterclass videos have been some of the clearest, thorough, and easy to follow I've seen on the topics you've covered so far. Thank you so much for making these! I imagine you might already be planning this, but I really hope you do a masterclass video on anchor building-covering the various sport anchor situations that climbers encounter when building a top rope anchor (just two bolts, connected with a chain, parallel vs diagonally aligned bolts, what if there's a rappel ring, etc.). Keep up the amazing work!

The proper way to attach a belay device section at 13:20 is also important because it helps make sure that you attach it to your harness correctly every time. The folks who try to manipulate carabiner, device, and rope hanging out in space in front of them are also the folks who swap the climber and belay strands in the device most often, for example.

Well done for this remaster of the belay device video 👍🏼 it’s much more thorough and it shows you’ve done lots of research. Kudos brother 💕

I can really see these videos being used as supplemental material in climbing courses. Fantastic video, thank you.

I would trust my life climbing with you. Excellent video and education.

I taught climbing 20yrs ago and learned how to climb in Southern Cali from classic old schoolers like Bob Kamps. You did an EXCELLENT job in this video! Wonderful refresher for me! I agree with everything you said brother! Aloha from Colorado!

Huge video!!! really interesting even for experiment climber... I didn't know the PBUS technic ! thanks a lot for this masterclass 👍

Dude. Your videos are SO helpful and digestible. You're killing it!

I'm currently working with a couple of friends to teach them lead and send your videos to them to watch to get an even better understanding so thank you for all your work!

I appreciate your videos with the detailed risks that need to be considered and mitigated. Your style is entertaining and of real value to a newly like myself. Thanks.

Thanks for doing these man, more people will be able to climb safely because you did this.

Very well explained.(With a good english accent understandable by a frenchy like me !). Good job. Thank you very much.

I was wondering when the belaying video was going to be back up! Excellent!! Thx.

Thank you for all the time and effort you are putting into the belay masterclass series!

Your videos are so clear, so thorough, and so entertaining! I just had to support you on Patreon!

Love this series! So well made and informative. I used this series as a supplement when I was learning top-rope climbing!

I searched for the episode you mentioned at 24:14 and didn't found it in your videos but after that I've realized that the current episode is really fresh, only 3 days old. Looking forward for the next episode with that awesome looking belayers, or belayerins 🤔

Your videos always teach me more than I expected. So many useful tips. Thanks very much 😀 👍

Been using a Black Diamond ATC Pilot for the last year or so and I absolutely love it.

These videos are incredible. Really helpful for lead newbies. Keep em coming Ben!

I would definitely appreciate a buyer's guide, especially as a starting climber who mostly wants to get practicing indoors as safely as possible

Your videos worth a lot more than all the climbing courses I’ve taken… huge thank and I hope this channel will continue!

I am so excited about the tunneling video. Another small experiment could be about the assisted tubers: Fall while you unlock the device to give slack.

Yes please! A comparison video would greatly add immense value to the classes :D

That was a really in depth video. Liked it a lot and share it with beginners and advanced belayers as well. Thanks a lot for your work, thats worth it.

Would absolutely like to see a video of a breakdown of the pros and cons of different devices :)

I would definitively love an in depth and objective review of the benefits and drawbacks of the various devices

I’m so thankful for you! Your work is great and soo helpful to me. I learn so much watching your content. I’m sorry I’m not at a place to give you money but I’m thankful for you putting it on RU-vid. So I alway give you a like!

26:05 the reason is also that some people (a lot in germany for example) learnt to belay with munter hitch, where this position provide the best friction

Thank you for your videos! I‘m a beginner who only ever used a grigri and I always wondered how these other devices worked. Keep up the great work! I‘m looking forward to your future videos❤

I started working at a sport climbing gym a couple months ago, these vids have been a great resource for helping out our members!

Hey man, love your videos, tons of useful information, really appreciate it. One thing I noticed that you say about the gri-gri for multipitch security: You can add even a bit more of security if you turn your carabiner the other way (like for a southpaw), then you can still have the device in contact with the carabiner gate and open the side to put the rope and when you are to close it, you don't need to fully separate the gri-gri from the carabiner. Note: I'm waiting for the video about how to leave the route without using a maillon carabiner to rappel out. Cheers !!!

That is a great video! Very well explained,, thorough but not boring at all, and useful. It must have taken quite some work to make it. I subscribed inmediately. Thank you so much!

Very good video :) In Czech Republic (Europe) climbing instructors should teach Tunnel technique as the main technique for taking slack. The reason why we are not recommending hand over hand is, besides the one you mentioned in video, that people have tendency to release main hand just a small moment before the second hand fully hold the rope. So there is possibility to fall to the not holded rope. BTW I like the Rule number 2 explanation :) I will use it in my class :)

Once again a great video! There is another unofficial belaying techniek that experienced climbers use. Take slack, lock, move slack hand below belaying device to become the new locking hand and the old locking hand becomes the slank hand. You can belay really quickly without ever unlocking and reversing taking and giving slack halfway through is easy natural and safe.

At 16:00 into the video… Great videos/info! I’m new to climbing (started with coworkers) but I’m a SPRAT III and I wanted to share a better way to use the grigri. In the video, the biner is connected to the grigri, nose to face plate. A safer way to handle the grigri is to make the connection by the biner from the back of the grigri. Doing it this way will make it so you don’t have to fully remove the biner from the grigri (the biner will always be “mostly in” the grigri while you’re opening it). Open the biner and move it just enough to open the face plate. Then, open the device, put the biner back in place (locked), thread your rope, open gate to slightly move biner out of the way of the face plate, close face, slightly move biner back into locked position. I hope this helps.

Fabulous as always

Dude! The sound affect for #2 had me rolling throughout the entire video.

Your videos are very engaging and informative. Thank you.

Vielen Dank für ein Video ohne nervige Musik. Das ist nicht selbstverständlich heutzutage.

I've climbed for years and still learn so much from your videos. Thank you. God bless

Dude, that was an amazing video. I didn't think I would watch everything but I did - and as a beginner climber, I thank you for the ton of lessons learnt. Subbed, obv.

Thank you for this video. I agree with most things you said and showed in this video. In our climbing gym only assisted devices are allowed and we therefore teach the tunneling method combined with the PBUS technique (if at one point there is too much lack to take in comfortably with the first technique). The thing I criticize is how far up you take your break hand while belaying. It's not necessarry and makes it more dangerous. If you push the upper rope to the front instead of pulling it down you can easily pull it out to the front (both of the ropes parallel). This even works with assisted belaying devices. As well as reversed for giving out slack with assisted belaying devices. If you pull the rope out to the front, instead of up they don't lock (but they still would if the climber fell in this moment, because the break hand always stays low enough). You didn't mention the Giga Juul which I love for multipitch climbing as it allows me to use it as an assisted device for lead climbing and switch to a normal tuber to minimize friction when belaying from above or when rappelling. And in my opinion it's absulutely necessery to know how to belay with a knot (I don't know how this is called in english...) when one goes multipitch climbing (for emergencies). Much love from a climbing instructor from Swizerland! I always recommend your videos to my students :)

This is an absolutely excellent series of videos. Very enlightening - many thanks.

Not only are your videos very informative for me, but they are entertaining also!! Keep them coming.

interesting, thanks for the info. When I learned belaying, there were only figure of eights, and stitchplates. It's interesting to see all the newer equipment. I learned hand-over-hand, so it is nice to see it is still used.

One thing I wish I knew before I bought my ATC, is the difference between the regular and guide versions. Ability to indirect belay your climbing partner during multi-pitch is well worth the extra cost of the guide, but at this point, I'm not sure I want to rebuy it. Edit: BTW, thank you for these videos. They are excellent! You have done a great service to the climbing community with these.

Been indoor climbing for 10+ years. Best video and explaination technique for belaying.. subbed.

Great Video! One important "device" you missed is the munter hitch/hms. When you talked about dropping your device on a multipitch I was sure you were going to say something like: "If you drop your device, here's what's going to save your ass."

It is nice to find all this in one place. Thanks! I think a comparison of auto tubers with regards to rope drag etc would be very useful to many beginners trying to pick their first / second device. For me Jul 2 wins hands down for top rope and lead, while I am still trying to get to like giga.

This is quickly becoming the preeminent guide to climbing! Thanks for all the hard work!

There is another method for taking slack, with alternating hands, I find this the most efficient and secure. This technique works as long as the breaking end of the rope is facing down (center) which is what happens anyways when you plug it all correctly to the belay loop. It's a pull, switch (pulling hand into breaking), break, release, there is no tunneling (then repeat all with the other hand as everything is now reversed). I suggest to give it a try and consider evaluating it's pros and cons. Thank you for all your great content, I find it very useful.

Thank you for making videos. You are an excellent teacher. Keep it up!

Good overview. Every belay method/device will have some weaknesses; none are perfect. It's important to practice and understand where those weaknesses may enter into a situation, and develop your usage technique to avoid them. Holding Gri Gris open is a common flaw; the phenomenon of a nearby directional carabiner being pulled against the gri gri and holding it unlocked is a real, but often overlooked concern, especially at a cramped anchor on multi-pitch routes. A huge belay error on single pitch sport routes is lowering where the rope end goes through the device - simply avoided with a knot in the rope end/ pre-tying it to something. Minor quibble - comprehensive testing in belay facilities has pretty well debunked the notion of a more dynamic, "soft catch" by an "experienced" belayer. Attempting to modulate the rope to add slippage actually just increases the total fall distance, which increases the chance for the leader to impact a ledge or bulge, but also increases the total energy of the fall; dynamometers have shown this creates a higher peak force on the top protection and leader, compared to a static belay which then allows the dynamic rope alone to optimally distribute the forces, never exceeding its maximum impact force, just stretching farther and over more time, as the fall's severity increases.

There is actually a 4th way to belay which we teach in the Netherlands, don't know about other parts of the world. We only teach this for top rope, since we use tunneling for lead climbing. It is a variation on PBUS, which could be described as PBDS. 'Pull' and 'Break' are the same, but then your non-dominant hand is placed just below the belay 'Device' (this is the hand that was holding the climber's rope during 'Pull'), instead of placing this hand under your other hand like during PBUS. Then, your dominant hand 'Slides' up to meet your non-dominant hand just under the belay device. So you begin and end always with two fists under your device, which is a natural, comfortable and safe resting position, with as many hands on the break rope as possible at all times. As a Dutch climbing instructor, PBUS looks cumbersome and weird to me, as we're used tot PBDS, and some gyms also teach the 'hand of over hand' method. In fact, in the Netherlands I have never seen a single person use PBUS. Awesome video, love your content and keep up the great work! :)

This channel has been so useful me I'm stoked to be able to learn extra on top of my other training without having to pay an arm and a leg

thank you so much for this. I've been climbing in the gym with my university group with a teacher, but I had no idea how much of the information I am missing out

Thank you so much for yet another amazingly informational video! Will recommend to all my climbing buddies.

Great video! What do you think about using "belay-gloves" to decrease the risk of rope-burn and avoiding getting your own skin caught in the device?

hello, your episodes are very clear, I often suggest them to my students, if I may, the systematic use of belaying gloves changes lives and can save some...

Singing rock Rama proved to be the best belay aid for us. It is a copy of Mammut smart or Black diamond Pilot. My son, who provides me with belaying, once let go of both hands from the rope. He was startled and confused, and if it weren't for the semi-automatic safety device, I would have fallen from six to seven meters to the ground. It was in an indoor climbing wall. Otherwise, many thanks for the great videos, very useful especially for us beginners.

Thank you bro!!! This masterclass is amazing!!! 💪🏻 I’m thinking to upgrade my belay device from a tube one to an assisted one and it will be easier after this video. I look forward for next episodes. Thank you very much!! 🙏🏻

New Subscriber. Love all your video's very great details. Thank you. Keep up the great stuff. And keep safe

Yes please , a video about comparing the devices would be great . Please 🙏

My first belaying device was Click up plus and I (un)fortunately lost it and moved to Rama. Not only it is almost 3 times cheaper (carabiner included), but it feels so much smoother to give rope to the climber and unlike clickup, it actually locks evrytime.

such comparision would be really cool since it looks like You have some experience with more then one/two devices.

Love the assisted tubers. Grigri brings bad habits to newbies.

very interesting and useful material, thanks!

Man, great video! Turned the bell on for the first time! Can't wait fot the belay device comparison (interested in the assisted tubular devices primarily due to being left handed) and the social experiment!

Glad to see this episode back up. Great information.

Great highly informative video! Always good to be refreshed on best practice. As an ex Click-Up user (I really wanted to like them but eventually moved back to a Grigri) I think I can answer your question about why Climbing Technology recommended using only their dedicated HMS biner with their Click-up. I found using some other HMS biners (e.g. Petzl and DMM) with this device if the Click-up happened to move into a cross loaded position over the biner gate the screw lock mechanism can jamb inside the slot in the Click-up causing it NOT to be able to ‘click up’ and lock the rope in a fall. The screw lock on the dedicated Climbing Technology Click-up biner is a larger diameter and as a result can’t slide into and jamb inside the biner slot in the Click-up. More than likely you could use a Click-up with a non-dedicated biner for a lifetime and never have this issue arise, but it’s worth knowing the potential exists. If you are using a click-up with some other locker check and make sure the screw lock mechanism can’t slide into the Click-Up biner slot!

Always stoked to see you put out a new video. Much appreciated.

Really informative and well made video. 👍

You look much stronger in this video compared to say the rope episode. Good job!

I would add that tubers are also great for rappelling down quickly and easily. Probably not useful for everyone but for me it's definitely convenient.

As a mega-jul convinced user, I'm a bit sad you didn't talk about it so much, since it combines all the pros of all devices :-p But then again you drop the pros/cons list after the tubes haha :D Also related, its method for paying out slack is slightly different than the one you show, so it could have been interesting to mention it. Otherwise, good vid as always ;-)

I was waiting for this episode!

After testing soooo many variants, I came to the conclusion that the perfect sport climbing setup (for me) is owning BOTH grigri and revo. I will give revo to inexperienced belayers so that they won't short-rope me; I sometimes belay with it when my climber aims at sending his project in one go. GriGri is most useful for projecting, since it provides rest for the belayer (of course, breaking hand stays on the rope). It also allows to evacuate from a belay point that is above the ground (happens sometimes) or if I need to recover 1sr quickdraw(s) due to overhanging terrain that won't allow my climber to do it. Unfortunately it requires some training, and inexperienced belayers or tuber fans will often short rope during clipping.

Thank you for making awesome educational content and being such a great teacher!

One day I dream of a world where you make a trad masterclass

Amazing video as always, I'm used several of the devices and still learned a lot!

I'd love if you pointed out your favorite devices, and why. Thanks for another great vid.

Great content as always! Very informative 🤓. Looking forward for a 'masterclass' into the dark art of roped solo... =)

Several gems of info in this video - even for experienced climbers !

Thank you for this amazing masterclass!