The Edelrid Mega Jul - What's The BIG Fuss? | Climbing Daily Ep.1525 

Do you think the Edelrid Giga Jul fixes the aformentioned issues?

@@creepyshadow55 sry I don't have any experience with the Giga Jul yet.

@@wdinternational really helps! just bought one and was trying to figure out where I'd use it and where i would not. You answered all my questions!

I have also used a loop of accessory cord (pull away rather than just down) or my cleaner pick instead of the tiny nose biner in the unnecessarily small tilt control hole.

I used GigJul for one year and I love it.

What's the difference between this one and the mega jul sport?

@Daniël Jansen van Rosendaal www.edelrid.de/en/sports/locking-carabiners/hms-bulletproof-triple-fg.html I recommend this one. It is pricey but well worth it. It reduces the chances of crossloading and the reinforced steel plate on the high wear section of the carabiner allows this to last a lot longer than other HMS biners. It also reduces the amount of metal (aluminum oxide dust) working its way into your ropes. So using these Bulletproof biners extends the life of your rope and biners!

@@MrRed0135 no plate, has rills on it though, so it doesn't heat up, can't use for alpinism

Barca

@Lukas Ethan Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site on google and im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.

@Lukas Ethan it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thanks so much you really help me out !

@Kole Melvin happy to help =)

You could attach an Edelrid Pure carabiner to the front hole and use it as a lever to let yourself down. It's a lot easier that way.

I found that out the hard way.

No need to go all sarcastic, I think it was good!

Perhaps in a like for like comparison, steel is stronger than aluminium but the Mega Jul is much thinner than any aluminium belay device would be. I don't think durability is really a deciding factor for this or any other device to be honest.

@@aspuzling actually it is. Aluminum devices are being grinded through by ropes. Very fast by dirty ropes. After that they start to grind the ropes themselfs by sharp edges. This steel device will hold much longer, so it will live longer and dont grind the ropes.

@@aspuzling edelrid bulletproof quickdraws are using a steel insert on their aluminum biner for that reason. Really makes sense for the draws you will be top roping on.

Depends on the rope! (I'm using it for about 6 years.) It may lock almost 100% with the stiffer Mammut, but not with others. Handling is very good with edelrid or sterling. Recently I belayed with an old, grigri-used super soft Beal; started with mega Jul - shit! - and switched to a grigri at second bolt. But I do the belay like with a tube, not like shown in the video. I also had ropes in my hand, where I didnt liked a grigri, but Megajul was OK. The abseiling in locking-mode is almost imossible, works only on few ropes; or an single rope. Nice option anyway, I used it for abseiling single half-rope one day. Be careful to really hold the break hand like with a tube, the impact can be high (but very rarely). I had this effect one time at a bad belay position in multi-pitch.

no. the pinch is designed that way to allow for thinner ropes, so it is grabbier on larger ropes.

You’re going to find some debate on your use of the terminology. A prusik is a friction hitch variant and the terms are used interchangeably in large parts of the climbing world. It’s still a safe method. as far as I can see from the video. There are varied methods after all. He could have done a Klemheist knot or a Bachmann knot as well. They are all valid methods of autoblocking. Sure he isn’t using a classic prusik, but colloquially most would still call it a prusik. The way he did it is not unsafe in any capacity, in fact the french method/autoblock is specifically more advantageous for rappelling/abseiling. I might be uppity as well and say if you were using a classic prusik you could be using a Bachmann, as a classic prusik is a simpler friction hitch, thus you’d need to be corrected. But that’d be pedantic and ridiculous since it’d be completely fine and people interchange the exact terms all the time.

I'm more upset that Matt's extension is girth hitched through the belay loop and not the hard points. 🤷‍♂️

@@jbdavisnc It is fine to girth hitch to the belay loop. The only reason it is advised to girth hitch through the hard points is because a lot of people leave their extension/tether/PAS/etc. attached to their harness all the time which can lead to wear and tear on a non-redundant piece of fabric (famously resulting in the death of a climber a while back). The hard points are redundant and are less likely to fail before a harness needs replacing. If you dont leave your extension/etc. attached all the time, for the sake of expedience you can girth hitch to your belay loop in a pinch. In many places the climbing ethic is to lower rather than abseil anyway so this becomes an infrequent operation that is unlikely to result in a single event failure mode of the belay loop.

@@shoeonhead I've never met anyone that would call an autoblock a prussik, because an autoblock is not a prussik. It seems ridiculous to mention the Bachmann knot, since the it incorporates a carabiner, which would be a glaring distinguishing characteristic; you may as well call an overhand slip knot a "bowline" since they are both loop knots. Since the four friction knots all have different characteristics it seems lazy to me to conflate them all as "prussiks".

It's called a French prusik where I am.

I would guess that that is just how he holds his hand while belaying, I find myself holding it different depending on where I am standing in relation to the rope.

yeah. it was removed for some reason

oh... 'there's an update in the middle' :D :D :D

@@therampagerado yeah i noticed it too. glad they did correct the video to give out correct info. good work

Sorry, but there’s a smart made for two ropes.

Very confusing

I use the edelrid HMS biner with a clip.at the bottom... makes sure the biner cant rotate and go horizontal.

Bro Jaxs you don’t HAVE to, I’ve used mine in this way to lower a follower back to the ground. However I have to imagine whatever they sell being more efficient, it still took me forever, the main problem being the carabiner I had was just a bit too wide to fit completely in that little eyelet on the back so I couldn’t get as much leverage without the “lever” carabiner just slipping off.

The volume thing was obviously an editing mistake

no need for a "special" carabiner... a usual HMS will do fine

This is the only answer that comes to my mind ;) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LUph-y55rdw.html

@@ZAMOLXEDARK no need for any carabiner. Just girth hitch the little hole with a runner or cord.

I hate it because the NEVER mention this one, it's like they don't even know it exist... That's becoming almost irritating

@@minirusse19 He does mention a smart in passing I think somewhere after 9m

Use twin gates. Solves bunch of problems.

What's the diameter of your rope? I had that same thing happen with my BD pilot with a 10.2 mm, but it went away when I used a 9.5

Using a glove on the hand that releases the brake really helps. also saddlebags eliminate the weight on the rope and is much smoother to rappel on.

Figure 8? Surely not!

Guide mode

Unfortunately the Mammut Smart Alpine seems to have been discontinued. My climbing partner uses one regularly as well as the Mega Jul and I've used both. The Smart Alpine has more leverage on its nose, making it easier to lower a heavy climber or repel with than the Mega Jul in assist mode. That said, I'm finding my repels smoother with the Mega Jul in non-assisted (extended + prussik) repel mode as I find sliding the prussik easier than lifting either devices' nose when heavily weighted.

What are the issues?

@@vincentkrause7097 Compared to a reverso or BD Guide, It's not very smooth in direct belay (this of course depends on rope diameter/angle/etc). You get a real workout sometimes. Rappel has a couple of issues; locking mode is great for single pitch, but for long raps it again is a workout trying to release it. Also can be very difficult to move up when you are setting it up at the anchor. There are a few others issues and a couple of the elderid tech show vids discuss the improvements of the giga vs mega.. Pretty much all of the issues are resolved on the gigajul by sliding a plate to change the shape of the channel that the rope is moving through. From second hand viewing it looked gimmicky or sketchy but it actually works very well and feels solid to me. The only thing I don't like about it is the whole device went from a tiny lightweight, to a clunky one.

Seen Giga Jul?

I had the same thought after watching this video.

It’s a tendon rope! And we’ve got a wide selection on EpicTV… shop.epictv.com/en/brands/tendon/ropes?page=1

That is correct, Owen. The knot Matt tied as his third hand is a Simple Friction hitch, but also called French prusik.

The term 'prusik' is a bit ambiguous as it is used here. Originally, the prusik knot was a particular type of friction hitch tied the way you describe. However, as time went on, the climbing community began to use this term to describe the short piece of cord commonly carried for the purpose of providing friction on a climbing rope. The bit of rope became synonymous with the knot it was used to tie. It would be like calling all 60cm sewn runners (or slings) "extenders" because that is what they get used for a lot.

He tied an autoblock, not a prussik.

Not really for belaying as long as it fits into that groove to pinch the rope but I haven’t had any that are too thick. However, if you want to lower your second from above using the lever style than only a few fit the nose of the megajul. I use the Petzl Spirit for that application.

You didnt belay with it long enough, feeds like butter on belay, even with old, flat gym ropes. Rappel is difficult but you could just flip the device to avoid the assisted braking mode.

Dude, just feed a runner or cord into the tiny hole lol. No special biner needed!

The Petzl Spirit works too

It does look strange but it is how you use it. Edelrid even announced an update a few years ago. I’ve never had any issues. I use a rounded spine locker from Metolius. Works just fine.

At first I thought mhm , might be a klemheist, but wtf is that knot?

I've used a lot of friction hitches both as backups to rappels and to ascend ropes and have never had one fail. The cord i mostly use is 5mm and rated for 6kN so plenty strong as long as you're not taking a big fall on it.

This is safe because it is a completely different application with vastly different loading profiles than found in tree climbing or rope access work. I would never work a tree off of a machard tied in non-heat resistant cord like Matt is using in the video, but for a rappel backup it is more than adequate, as the friction hitch is really only replacing the climber's brake hand on the rope(s). The belay device is taking the majority of the load, even more so than with a rope wrench or similar SRT device. As to friction hitches not working on dynamic ropes, I have no idea where you're getting that from. Of course hitch selection and relative sizes of the cordage involved are very important, but whether the line the hitches are used on is static, dynamic, or semi-dynamic like a tree rope is neither here nor there. A little googling should turn up some of the vast amount of testing that has been done on this over many years by the UIAA, guide associations, S&R teams, and private individuals. Or just get a lead rope and try it yourself. You will quickly convince yourself that a garden variety triple prusik hitch tied and well set with, say, 6mm accessory cord, around even the skinniest available dynamic climbing rope is absolutely bomber. A Machard is less idiot-proof, but ultimately even stronger because the load is distributed to four strands instead of two. This why putting bodyweight on a Machard tied in 5mm cord is not nearly as crazy as it sounds, and again, when used as a rappel backup, the knot will never see anything remotely close to full bodyweight.

@@JackBringloe Thanks for the explanation, thinking about it a bit like srt makes a lot of sense, that the belay device is still taking most the load. in regards to the dynamic rope friction hitches are less likely to selftend and can slip a little as the rope stretches and then constricts again this movement can cause the hitch to loose its bite on the rope.

@@n4boards144 I guess I'll buy that for a dollar. However, I'd make a couple of points: Self-tending ablity isn't really an issue in rec. climbing or even rescue applications. That's what mechanical ascenders are for. Also dynamic climbing ropes don't really stretch as much as some people think. 10% max over the whole length of the rope for single ropes, 12% for half ropes. The texture and condition of the rope, whether or not it is dry-treated, and especially the conditions (i.e.: water, ice) are all more important factors. In practice friction hitches of all sorts work very well, assuming they are tied properly from suitable material.

vimeo.com/145012490 ACMG - Canadian Mountain Guides Testing friction hitches vs mechanical devices. Great video. Good point on hitches not destroying your rope upon failure point.

No, it is assisted braking and does guide mode. One extra step, lift up on green to lower/feed slack

What do you mean by this? It is expected that the device locks during a fall and otherwise, I'm not sure how your weight makes a difference. I do notice that people sometimes complain that the Mega Jul gives a hard catch because it locks down so quickly and abruptly. In this case I think it makes a big difference if the belayer is heavy or the climber is light. Luckily for me I'm a lightweight so my climbers don't complain too much about hard catches.

And a super handy/important skill to know if you ever get a rope damaged!

up to 10.5mm

Couldn't you rapp down on a Grigri by using a tag line, or an EDK at the rapp rings, or maybe alpine butterfly w a carabiner at the rapp rings? I've not tried this yet, but should work, no?

@John Daley that sounds so much less complicated than what I had in mind. Makes sense 👌 But I also suppose to do it that way you have to pay careful attention to leaving enough slack on the end that slides thru the grigri, or else just tie off at the end rather than the middle of the rope?

One device for it all? It doesnt do guide mode or rappel on 2 ropes... and the mammut smart is 15g heavier.

No Tiny biners needed! Just girth hitch the small hole with a runner or cord!

it's a machard

@@baucez yep... but I get where people misundertand this. Most climbers that I know call the carabiner+cordelette a prussik, not even with a knot yet. So, every autoblock knot is called a prussik, even if is not.

Oh yes it is.

Yep. right. and also this method was wrong. I mean beginners copying this might forget to. use a 120 sling with a knot and a carabiner on the very front to clip you intonthe wall. while building your abseil method...

It’s a French prussik

Megajul has guide mode

Stopper knot is a totally different thing...just saying.