Kong GiGi vs New Alp Plaquette vs Reverso?

[goatboy]

ANOTHER vote for the Reverso.

 

I frequently climb in a party of 3 with it and lead on double ropes (8.5 mm), then belay both seconds at once with the Reverso. Petzl advises being aware of the orientation of the carabiner when using it in this application -- see instructions that come with the Reverso -- and it's great. Almost as fast as climbing in party of 2.

 

Have used this strategy in party of three on Snow Creek Wall, Zebra/Zion at Smith, and in other places. I love it. No complaints about the Reverso here.

 

Steve

[Big_Sky_Ry]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lambone:

Hey Ryan,

Just Curious, can't you walk off the middle? Did you have to leave 18 rap anchors?

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Lambone: Well, yeah, you can walk off the Middle Teton. If you can climb the sucker FIRST!!

 

OK, so we climbed the Middle Teton Glacier route that took us to the 12,400 foot col below the summit block where the glacier route falls off one side (ice couloir) and the (relatively dry) Ellingwood couloir falls off the other side. It was 4:30 pm when we reached the col. We tried to climb the (normally easy) 5th class slabs up the summit block, but they were covered in melt-freeze water ice from a recent storm, so ascending them was, well, problematic. Needless to say, when it began snowing and getting dark, we resorted ourselves to descending by some route OTHER than the 'walk off' down the south side couloir. So, 3 raps later (on a single 7.6mm x 60m rope) we were back at the 12,400 col by dark. We were considering rapping down the ice couloir but not having any long screws for V-threads and recognizing that most of the route was unprotectable on the way up, we figured we'd be better off rapping down the Ellingwood side, which is climb-rated as 5.1. Piece of cake, we thought, it'll be a breeze. 1200 feet to the valley. Well, in reality, the Ellingwood is rotten as all get out and required some of the more creative rap stations I've ever hopped off. It took us 15 rappels to descend the couloir - in the dark - with a stead updraft of 20-30 mph all night long. We were very fortunate to have 6 pitons (4 KBs & 2 Ushba's, all of them used for rap stations), the ability to sling some decent flakes with our slings (all of them were left). That left two rap stations with no gear to rap off. On one of them we dug a bollard in a 6' x 10' patch of neve and for the last we found a huge hex nut that some other idiots must have left trying to do the same thing we were. Out of gear and with no flakes, we used the hex on our very last rappel by wedging it in between two large boulders sitting on a rotten slope. Exciting. And stupid. But by then it was 4:30 am and we were starting to hallucinate and shiver uncontrollably so everything was pretty darn fine.

 

So, yeah, you can walk off the Middle Teton...but you gotta get up to the top first...!

[Lambone]

epic dude, glad you made it...

 

I hope to be coming to Bozeman in mid december for some ice, maybe we can hook up for a beer...

[Hummerchine]

Hiya, I've climbed a ton over the last 25 years, and am a bit of a gear fanatic. I've tried just about every belay device on the market, thought I'd give my opinion on this forum. The Reverso is pretty nice, but does not have enough friction for my taste and wears out fast. If you are way in to the belay-from-the-anchor-autolock feature, it would be a good way to go. Personally, I feel safer with more friction, my current favorite device is the BRD from Metolius. More friction that most, but still runs smooth. It will also last longer than any other device that I have seen. If anything, it might be a bit too burly, could have been made a touch lighter. I bought a B52 this summer because it is lighter, looks really cool, and has the anchor-autobelay feature. Unfortunately, I hated it, the design is flawed. It looks like it cams on to the rope like the Metolius unit, but it has way less friction, the friction modulates poorly, and the device has a hump on it that rides on the locking carabiner wierd and wants to pop over it. Anybody wants one I'll sell mine real cheap, I only used it one day climbing (heh). Hope this info helps!

[Swedish_Chef]

So, I probably go with the reverso. Here are some other more or less weird competitors:

 

New Alp Placa (new wersion of Magic/Plaquette)

 

Cassin Self Arrest Plate (looks very similar to the Kong GiGi)

 

Faders Catch (kinda looks like the B52)

 

All of these toys (and more) can be found at barrabes.com.

Regarding brake force I actually prefer quite low 'coz I will only use this thing for alpine climbing. Thus it is also important to be able to pay out rope fast for easy sections. However, maybe it is better to carry one device (like a normal atc) for belaying the leader and a separate for the second. What do you think?

BTW i use the HMS knot (munter hitch) quite often when climbing on a single rope. Never tried it with doubles though because I imagine rope management to be a real pain in the ass.

 

[ 10-29-2002, 06:56 AM: Message edited by: Swedish Chef ]

[Beck]

a classic stich plate with spring modulates real well, no autolock as in these belay plates pictured above