UKC

I'm quite impressed by the look of the Smart Alpine as an assisted locking device for twin ropes but does anyone have experience of using one? I've used the ordinary Smart for single pitch sport climbing and that worked well but what happens on multi pitch when bringing up a second so the rope is coming from below rather than above? The instructional video shows the device being used directly through a high belay point so the rope is again going out upwards through the belay point before going down to the second. I'm not at all clear if it will work as an assisted locking device directly off the harness loop or whether it will operate like a conventional ATC type device under those conditions. Anyone know?

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

bringing up a second in guide mode is super smooth, smoother than an atc-xp guide

bringing up a second directly off your belay loop should work fine (cant say ive used it this way) but im not 100% certain it would still be "assisted braking". i dont see why not

i have brought up seconds off my loop by redirected off the anchors -- in this configuration, the device works like top rope belaying someone in a climbing gym

In reply to valjean:


Yes, that's what's done on the instructional video, which is on bolts, and I can see that solves the problem perfectly. I was thinking more of a trad route where an ultra-reliable higher anchor may not be available and was wondering how it would work in that situation. My non-technical guess was that it would probably be as good as an ATC-type device but probably would no longer work as an 'assisted' belay. Thanks for the info.