Seriously. They seem to have a practically constant stream of it cleaning their "windscreens." I feel like even in a rainstorm they would periodically do it. I used to think it was just Nick, but I've realized that everyone else does it too.
Meanwhile, the Mile End "director" critiqued my GriGri belaying tonight. I was belaying the way that, like, 90% of the people who use GriGris do -- right hand, palm up, holding the cam down when feeding out rope quickly with pinky and a little aid from ring and middle fingers, etc. Normal. So the director came over and said in a little dipomatic way that he'd like to give me a suggestion, so I said fine, and I figured it would be that new way that Petzl advocates here. (The video also illustrates what I do -- the "classic technique." Don't worry, I don't do the death skull-and-crossbones method at the end of the video.) I particularly figured that this new method would be the suggestion, because there is also a poster on the Mile End wall advocating it.
Now, sidenote right here: the new technique is probably superior on little dental floss ropes. But on old fat clunky ones, it makes too sharp an angle with the GriGri when it comes time to feed out rope quickly. You get too much drag, and you can't feed out rope fast enough. So, since I seem to always be belaying old ropes that are >10mm, I still use the old method. With, say, a 9.6, I'd be much more tempted to try and get better at the new way.
So, anyways, I was waiting for an explanation of the new way, with reference to the poster, but it never came. Instead, Mr. Director seemed to want me to not manually disengage the cam at all. As in, just feed out rope slowly. Don't disengage with pinky, don't disengage with thumb, don't disengage. (You can see this in the video at the "giving slack as the climber progresses" stage.) Clipping quickly never came up. I got the impression that Mr. Director had never actually lead-belayed with a GriGri. So, I just said "okay, thank you" and used Nick's ATC (well, Jaws) until Mr. Director left the room.
Stupid Mile End.
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9 comments:
For some reason, it seems a lot of people don't know how to use a Gri-Gri. I don't know how I feel about this "new technique" vs. "classic technique" thing. I'm definitely still a "classic" guy. I think that people make three common mistakes:
1) Leaving the cam to do all the work, which it might not if you're belaying Captain America on of his 9.1 mm ropes.
2) Giving a really hard catch because you're a grizzled Trad Climber He-Man and have never heard of this newfangled "sport" climbing nonsense. Jumping? What is this, gym class?
3) Giving too much slack. There always seems to be more slack in the system than I think, and even when I keep it at a minimum, people still seem to fall a fair ways. Certainly some of the ice belays I've been getting have been "hmm, I think I'd fall to that ledge" sort of belays. But I think I'd rather have a loose belay there, than get short-roped and actually fall. For sport though, I think people need to give less slack!
How did you enjoy my rant?
Oh, I have one more:
4) Impatient belayers who fidget, don't pay attention, or otherwise complain when I'm spending an hour flailing and falling all over my project. What, have you got somewhere to be? 'Cause I know you're just going to do the same when you get on yours! Maybe if you weren't wearing one of those dental floss harnesses, your pants (and other parts) wouldn't feel like they were getting squished! However uncomfortable being the belayer is, I think you know that the climbing is harder! :)
I was attempting to explain #2 to Nick, again, this weekend. He seemed skeptical. "Okay, okay, I'll try." I threatened to make him a diagram.
An ATC is the most you'll ever need. In fact a Stitch plate should be just fine. I am not "grizzled" - I am "experienced".
Oh, sure, "experienced." Well, I'll leave you do lead your A4 death pitches on your homemade grappling hooks, and I'll be content taking soft whippers on bolts and leading the odd bit of crazy ice.
Soft catches are not just for sport. They are for trad too since you want to (1) put less stress on your gear during a fall, and (2) put less stress on your knot so that you can get it loosened up later (unless you use a double bowline). The best belayer I have ever seen is Dave Messner. He uses an ATC, doesn't jump much, is a trad climber, and gives a "continuous lowering" to the ground (which can't be done with a gri-gri).
I personally don't see much difference between the classic and new approach. I guess I am using an unapproved method, but it is probably closer to the "classic" method than anything else. That said, I will try the new method and see how it goes. I think Nika is right that with > 10mm ropes it will be hard to play out rope.
Nika, here's an anecdote for you. At continentals I was told that I couldn't use a gri-gri for belaying because IFSC rules prohibit it. I later checked the IFSC rules and there is no mention of Gri-gris or any specific device.
Eugene, on #4, you might want to have some sympathy on your belayer. They may be anxious to get on a route so that their muscles don't freeze up. I generally am wary of hanging around on a climb unless I know my belayer well. In fact, I typically won't take more than 1 or 2 falls on a climb unless I'm with my wife and have warned her that I'm going to hang around a lot.
All that said, I only wish I could belay with an ATC the way I can with a gri-gri. An ATC (as Old Eric says) is all you really ever need. On trad climbs, a gri gri is useless (well, maybe not if you need to haul your second up).
Yeah, Vasya's dad is good at doing the lower-all-the-way-to-the-ground technique too.
That's funny that you got banned from using the GriGri at Continentals.
I didn't actually get banned. The Canadians claimed that gri-gri's were against the IFSC rules, but when they checked with the IFSC person he said I could use one. I later checked the rules and found no mention of anything on this topic. In fact, I belayed Zeb (among others).
Ahh, okay. Speaking of which, there are some (very Sean McColl-centric) videos of that online.
Semis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uMk2lQgcA4
Finals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRZfrV6Uq0Q
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