Kong Gigi Belay Device

By Author: Dr Joel Cooper
Total Articles: 13
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No, this isn't a GriGri. Although it truly is employed commonly among stone and alpine guides, it truly is much less popular with the general public. The GiGi has sensational benefits and drawbacks compared with similarly designed vehicle blocking belay devices.

The GiGi is our favorite system for belaying fast climbers or two seconds simultaneously because of its amazingly smooth action. In the event of an emergency it is really one of the devices that to escape the automobile block. And at 2.4ounces it is really one of the lightest. So why perhaps have not you heard of a GiGi? Well, it does have one huge factor going against it: it cannot belay a leader.

The GiGi's largest drawback is it doesn't belay a leader. People that use it pass it forward and backward as they re-rack their protection, but a lot of people do not prefer to give off their belay device. When rappelling with the GiGi, particularly on ropes, so that you can get enough friction to maintain control of the descent speed we had to clip two carabiners into the bottom for the rope to run around. Rapping single strand with a single locker can be ...
... a bit of a fight, for lack of a better phrase. Another huge disadvantage is that there's absolutely no keeper loop. It can have an extra hole in the top that one can clip to, however this is not as chronic or as secure as with many other devices.

The Kong GiGi is undoubtedly the simplest auto blocking belay device to pull rope through. We'd heard this claim by additional guides before but couldn't feel that there might be such a major difference. But once we used it we were believers. The Kong GiGi is also one of easiest device to escape from while in car blocking mode ("escape" refers to its ability to release or to lessen a climber down while in car blocking mode). It has a big hole that easily helps the clipping of some other carabiner or girth hitching a throw, which changes the alignment of the device to allow rope to move across. The single apparatus which is better to escape from will be the new Reverso 3 that enables you to utilize a carabiner as a lever and release your "victim" with merely your hand and not a redirect. Still another benefit is that the GiGi lets one 2nd to keep climbing even if the other has fallen. Kong achieves this by having a raised rib on one side creating the locker (that the string is bending through) to change to one side to keep both rules from locking as lengthy as it is not needed for it to take action. You certainly can do that with many other vehicle blocking devices but the GiGi is definitely the easiest to-use.

It is best at what it will: belay seconds. The lack of goalkeeper loop means you should stay mindful of it or risk losing it.

In the event you climb with Chris McNamara or other really fast climbers you'll definitely notice a big difference with other auto blocking devices you should anxiously take in meters of slack. This becomes rapid in parties of three when belaying two seconds simultaneously. For stone and alpine guides it prevents the tendinitis connected with tugging ropes through auto block devices. The rib in-the middle of one side allows one man to hang a useful feature for any climber, while the other climbs and particularly for instructions and trip leaders. Any person will be served by this belay device nicely who climbs many multipitch routes and is willing to pass it back and forth. In case you consider an AMGA course or an exam, this product is incredibly helpful as you desperately pull rope up as fast as you can, viewing your other students, applicants and examiners blaze up the path.

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