UKC

hi just after peoples opinions on slowest belay plates (belay plates with most friction). i use bugs and atc but my missus finds a atc a bit fast with my weight on the other end. i have had a quick go with one of these plates with grip like teeth on it after i was told they grip the rope a lot better then a bug. personly i don't like them but i did not notice any more grip in fact the one i used felt faster. so do these teeth really work?

In reply to jim:

If you have it you could try a second identical HMS back to back with your usual one, that will give her a lot more control.

jk

In reply to jim:

Yes, definitely. The ATC in particular is quite a slick device, and I have had trouble with skinny ropes in mine. Using other devices with grippy bits (VCPro, ATC Pro and Reverso 3) definitely makes a difference for me.

JK's suggestion is also a valid option.

she is using the bug which she finds manageble but im sure she will appriciate a bit more grip so i will try that next time thanks (do you mean to just mean to put rope through plate then 2 carabiners, so widening the u bend on rope and pushing it in to the sides of the plate more). i also just wondered if any one had noticed a huge difference between the teeth or no teeth (excluding atc for obvious reasons)

In reply to jim:

Yeah, you just use two similar sized krabs back to back clipping the rope/harness with both.

I've only tried a couple of the modern grooved devices: One I got for my girlfriend (Red, probably BD or maybe DMM - Sorry, useless info!) when she started which is very nice and progressive. The other some ghastly stainless steel junk (possibly also DMM) belonging to a friend who presumably found it in a xmas cracker.

Personally I use an old (unsprung) Sticht plate for half ropes and where weight matters, otherwise I us use a GriGri. In both cases it's the powerful initial bite that I like, neither lower brilliantly with out a bit of practice but that's secondary.

jk

In reply to jim: I've been using the Mammut Smart recently and quite like it, similar to the Grigri and Sticht plate in so much as that, as previously mentioned, it is a good initial "bite" and tricky to get a smooth lowering action without practice but nice and cheap, no teeth on it but a neat design idea i think.

In reply to jim:

The Metolius BRD is the most powerful plate followed by the ATC XP and the Reverso. They are all around 10-15% more powerful than an ATC or bug. If you add another karabiner (both clipped into the belay loop on the harness you get about another 20%.
Before you use two karabiners check the underside of the slots is smoothly rounded, we destroyed a rope because of this when we were testing with a model which had sharp corners there.

In reply to jimtitt:

I would second the BRD from Metolius. It's the one my wife and I use (4 months of gym climbing) and it is pretty "grabby" (people who've borrowed it comment on that). Overally I would recommend it, though I wonder if it'll be awkward when we start lead climbing.

Other benefits: it's a nice simple design, very solid, and very effective.

In reply to jimtitt:


I'd be interested to know what model this is.

In reply to flaneur:

No doubt, but I´m not saying. All belay plates wear and looking at the condition of the underside in combination with where using two krabs forces the rope is important, irrespective of the age or manufacturer.