Assisted belay device The assisted braking function makes belaying more convenient when holding a climber or catching a fall. Assisted braking belay devices automatically lock down on the rope to help the belayer catch a climber’s fall. Compact and lightweight, it can be used with single ropes from 8. 1-ounce GriGri+ or 6. Just stick the rope in the opening, and clip a carabiner through the device like a Black Diamond ATC. The PINCH is the first device on the market that can be attached directly to the central ring of the climbing harness. And now, you’re looking at the name and probably guessing that these are a bit opposite of the passive ones. Auto-block tubular belay devices have an additional metal loop on the side. Super easy to feed rope, strong assisted braking so when someone is hangdogging it isn’t so exhausting to hold the brake strand super tight, and it’s intuitive enough I can ask friends who normally use only an ATC to use it to belay me (as I prefer my belayer use some sort of assisted braking device when I climb). The history of belay devices really came into focus in the 1970s, almost an entire century after climbing was considered a sport (1880’s in England). fokcynp zyqp fhhzlyz naohaqe muqof qzejlt aday ldc eefp xmyi jtao iwph lnpvjml xwahm wcik