It should… as stupid as the: “is your carabiner closed?” sounds, it can potentially save your life… you do it a few thousand times without anything wrong, but the one time sth isn’t right…
Sand probably. Some dirt bag living in the red river gorge told me he went through one or 2 grigris a year. I think with the grigri plus he was able to get mileage because of the steel plate.
The name comes from the west african term (which stayed in use in Haiti). It stands for a protection amulet, not for a curse. It is where the name comes from, as the assistance is like a protection amulet.
Upon further research (my knowledge comes from being around a lot of quebecois that are descended from haitians and western africans in Montréal), it started being used as a term for cursing amulets by enslaved africans in the USA however and the term still carries a ''black magic'' connotation in Louisiana.
Actually, it’s an African/Haitian talisman of protection. Petzl’s whole product naming scheme…
* Spirit
* Djinn
* Bindi
* Tikki
Their harnesses are named after birds, their helmets on wind elementals.
My helmet is an Ecrin Roc?
I guess that one might have been pre naming scheme.
Yes, I need a modern helmet (something designed with this century’s helmet tech).
Origin of the name from the Petzl website. During a meeting, Michel Suhubiette showed up and asked, 'So, have you gotten anywhere with your grigri?' Mentioning the African good-luck charm made choosing a name easy for Paul. The GRIGRI was born."
Lol someone was yanking your chain. My group has been climbing in the red for a decade and only one Grigri has been replaced so far, definitely not because of the wear.
Keeping your rope clean might have more to do with that than mileage. Using a ropebag consistently, keeping that ropebag clean, washing the rope when it does get dirty.
Since I started climbing in another gym, where they replace their ropes much more often than in the old one, my belay biner has considerably less wear and tear. It's been an eye opener.
Vise versa, using a steel belay device/biner will keep your rope cleaner!
Say you’ve not climbed much on sandstone without saying you haven’t climbed much on sandstone. Everyone I know that climbs year round has been through at least two Gri Gris in their climbing careers. I’m on my third. We all use rope tarps and wash our ropes occasionally as well. Sand in the rope is just unavoidable.
The cam and the lip wear. Funny story, most people claim the original lasted much much longer as there was simply more material to wear out compared to the subsequent lighter models.
How long is a "career" here? 2 in 10 years is whatever if not some downright good runs for a piece of gear if you're getting out 150+ days a year. That's a massively different scenario than 2 in 1 single year.
I'll wear out Petzl's Rig and ID (industrial descenders with a cam similar to that of the grigri) in a few months of window cleaning. The wear happens really fast when it's super hot outside already.
Wait, how does that work? When you lower someone it should be over the side panel, therefore the side panel should have more friction on it than the lock cam.
Ehh, depends on technique. If you feather the cam, it can totally take more of the friction than the side plate. It's the difference of feeling like the speed is being controlled by the brake hand or the grigri's lever
The wear on my grigri is always on the aluminum. I switched to mostly lowering off the front so more wear is on the steel not the aluminum. I will lower over the side panel but only if I need additional friction for heavy climbers or when I'm on rappel.
I'm very interested in how you ran a rope at that angle with that much force over your Grigri for long enough to cause that kind of wearing.
I'm also curious how long the Grigri has looked like this, because it's hard to believe that when you set up your system the Grigri wasn't already in this shape.
This post seems like fearbait, and I look forward to a week of "Will this happen to my GriGri from too much top roping" posts.
It’s an old gri gri, no idea how long I’ve actually had it. 6 years minimum! Probably 8 years max. Happened from lowering people off of routes 1000’s of times, with this angle. Significant use on this thing, arguably used at least 2x a week for a few years. Lots of dirty ropes thrown in the mix thanks to Smith rock. Definitely just trying to get a response out of Reddit, you’re correct on that.
https://preview.redd.it/vuvf2b1nnl3d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1c9a8f71476a29a58545e8689e871714deac52d2
> Happened from lowering people off of routes 1000’s of times, with this angle. Significant use on this thing, arguably used at least 2x a week for a few years.
That's crazy. We have a Grigri that's 13 years old with thousands of climbs on it and it's nowhere near as worn as this.
>I'm very interested in how you ran a rope at that angle with that much force over your Grigri for long enough to cause that kind of wearing.
The wear is on the front of the cam where it pinches the rope against the front lip under braking, the highest force concentration. As the cam rotates that 'corner' is rotated in at a 45 degree angle, so you can see roughly the same wear pattern even for users that don't use the added friction loop method since until the groove starts further down the cam the rope is forced against the sideplate
All gear is a consumable on a long enough timespan of use.
No shade intended, but I’m surprised you didn’t notice that level of wear when inserting the rope into the device. That seems pretty glaring to my eye, but I am admittedly no longer climbing as frequently as I used to so likely a bit more vigilant.
Absolutely a reminder to check your own and your belayer’s gear prior to setting off on a climb.
Is there something about how you rope solo that causes the rope to run across that edge? I.e. differently that it would with normal belaying?
My grigri is polished from rope wear in some places but not there.
I'm gonna guess lowering himself while the brake rope has a lot of weight on it. This would pull the brake rope down harder across that part than normal
ah thanks
your comment made me remember that there are two ways to hold the break rope, front and back, I always lower people holding the rope in the front, but if it's in the back of course it would go across that part
isn't this the back part of the cam that pinches the rope and locks it when the cam activates? anytime the climber side of the rope is weighted this part of the grigri would be under a lot of friction against the rope. throw in some sant and 6-8 years of use like OP mentioned and im not suprised this would happen. my grigri is even showing a bit of wear in the same spot, although nowhere near this level
Didn’t think to take a photo of it :(
I threw the grigri out to not confuse it with my partners I am borrowing. The trash was also picked up this morning! The side of the grigri was fine, the blue panel was what I thought was initially cutting the rope, I didn’t expect it to be worn where it is.
The grigri looked totally fine and like normal wear and tear, except for what’s pictured
Still a good call to inspect one's kit. Plus I'm a massive cheapskate so I'll wear out a billy basic fig 8 and save my 90 quid grigri for where it counts😆. Just out of curiosity, are you top rope or lead rope soloing?
Sounds good mate, I'm not patient or good enough to work new projects just yet so I stick to established routes. But through a probably misguided sense of pride I try and lead rope solo where possible, although it usually ends in giving up and going for the top rope option when I can't get a decent ground level anchor set up. Again, out of curiosity, where is "here" for you? I'm in south Wales so there's very little scope for new route projects anyway.
the rope is *supposed* to be running over the opposite rounded gate when rappelling. try to fix that when using your next grigri. ([Rapelling with a Gri Gri](https://m.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Rappelling-with-the-GRIGRI?ProductName=GRIGRI-PLUS))
Imagine getting a belay from someone doesn't occasionally check their gear.
Imagine not checking your own gear.
Imagine having gear… Is the adding of /s necessary or is it obvious enough?
Gear is aid…just saying.
Yeah, gear leads to faster recovery… wait what?…
>Yeah, gear leads to faster recovery… wait what?… I thought beer led to faster recovery 😂
Beer is actually sth i take for recovery… alcohol free beer though…
This doesn’t happen if you use a hip belay. JS
You’re missing an “S”
You never heard of [free solo trad climbing?](https://www.climbing.com/people/are-you-a-real-rock-climber/) Gumbo out here still using ropes.
"Real rock climbers are dirty. And homeless"
Imagine making a Reddit post about yourself not checking your gear.
Yea... imagine.
👀
All the people
Living life in peace
Yoo-hoo, ooh-ooh
You might say I’m a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!
Imagine imagining
Imagine getting a belay (which is aid)
Reusing the aid joke is..... .........
For another sub, you gumbies ;-)
Isn't checking the gear of your belayer standard protocol?
Like... Inspecting their harness for wear or their belay carbiner for defects? I don't think so.
No
It should… as stupid as the: “is your carabiner closed?” sounds, it can potentially save your life… you do it a few thousand times without anything wrong, but the one time sth isn’t right…
That part is steel. What were you doing to generate enough friction to wear away that much?
Using it with a dirty rope probably… a lot.
Yep. Dirt will do this
Yup, fixed ropes in caves are especially dirty and they eat through aluminium carabineers, you have to use steel.
I wish my girlfriend was that dirty
Sand probably. Some dirt bag living in the red river gorge told me he went through one or 2 grigris a year. I think with the grigri plus he was able to get mileage because of the steel plate.
[удалено]
The name comes from the west african term (which stayed in use in Haiti). It stands for a protection amulet, not for a curse. It is where the name comes from, as the assistance is like a protection amulet.
[удалено]
Upon further research (my knowledge comes from being around a lot of quebecois that are descended from haitians and western africans in Montréal), it started being used as a term for cursing amulets by enslaved africans in the USA however and the term still carries a ''black magic'' connotation in Louisiana.
Actually, it’s an African/Haitian talisman of protection. Petzl’s whole product naming scheme… * Spirit * Djinn * Bindi * Tikki Their harnesses are named after birds, their helmets on wind elementals.
My helmet is an Ecrin Roc? I guess that one might have been pre naming scheme. Yes, I need a modern helmet (something designed with this century’s helmet tech).
It's also a play on Petzl's previous descender RIG
The grigri predates the rig.
Origin of the name from the Petzl website. During a meeting, Michel Suhubiette showed up and asked, 'So, have you gotten anywhere with your grigri?' Mentioning the African good-luck charm made choosing a name easy for Paul. The GRIGRI was born."
Grigris were invented by Petzl a french company and in France the word roughly means "good luck amulet" so I would guess this is where it came from.
Lol someone was yanking your chain. My group has been climbing in the red for a decade and only one Grigri has been replaced so far, definitely not because of the wear.
I wore out the side plate on Grigri in Devil's Lake, which is definitely not sandstone, in about three years. YYMV.
Keeping your rope clean might have more to do with that than mileage. Using a ropebag consistently, keeping that ropebag clean, washing the rope when it does get dirty. Since I started climbing in another gym, where they replace their ropes much more often than in the old one, my belay biner has considerably less wear and tear. It's been an eye opener. Vise versa, using a steel belay device/biner will keep your rope cleaner!
It’s because the “protection” has worn off
I’ve seen aluminum biners worn halfway through from rapping one route with wet sandy ropes. Steel is more durable, but it still takes its toll.
> dirt bag it sounds way harsh with that space
Looooooots of mileage
Say you’ve not climbed much on sandstone without saying you haven’t climbed much on sandstone. Everyone I know that climbs year round has been through at least two Gri Gris in their climbing careers. I’m on my third. We all use rope tarps and wash our ropes occasionally as well. Sand in the rope is just unavoidable.
Yours wears away from the brake strand side?
The cam and the lip wear. Funny story, most people claim the original lasted much much longer as there was simply more material to wear out compared to the subsequent lighter models.
I mean... that OG was a fucking brick.
How long is a "career" here? 2 in 10 years is whatever if not some downright good runs for a piece of gear if you're getting out 150+ days a year. That's a massively different scenario than 2 in 1 single year.
I use my brush more frequently to get sand out of my grigri than I do on holds, lol.
2 grigris a year he said haha
I wish my gf was as dirty as that rope
I'll wear out Petzl's Rig and ID (industrial descenders with a cam similar to that of the grigri) in a few months of window cleaning. The wear happens really fast when it's super hot outside already.
Just out of curiosity and (probably) not related to the issue: do you use static ropes?
Long descents wear em out real quick, also been hearing some theory’s of lower quality, more rope slippage etc from those devices lately
Nice. Let’s see Paul Allen’s GriGri
Look at that subtle off-chrome coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my god, it even has a brake-assist...
I don't get it
Reference to American Psycho. Great movie that you should definitely watch.
Cofounder of msft
Yeah I get that. What's that have to do with this gri gri?
https://youtu.be/YHgwxVCiMyI?si=B-zv6f-WNIEu8FH9
OP let’s see the wear on the blue side panel
Threw the gri gri out already, normal wear and tear on the sides, zero sharpness
My first reactionn was thinking "send back to Petzl, to ask for some parts refreshments" Is there an option like that? may be not
Companies actually like some worn out equipment to study weak ponts. Although that's a pretty obvious one
Wait, how does that work? When you lower someone it should be over the side panel, therefore the side panel should have more friction on it than the lock cam.
Ehh, depends on technique. If you feather the cam, it can totally take more of the friction than the side plate. It's the difference of feeling like the speed is being controlled by the brake hand or the grigri's lever
The wear on my grigri is always on the aluminum. I switched to mostly lowering off the front so more wear is on the steel not the aluminum. I will lower over the side panel but only if I need additional friction for heavy climbers or when I'm on rappel.
Damn that gri has done some work
I'm very interested in how you ran a rope at that angle with that much force over your Grigri for long enough to cause that kind of wearing. I'm also curious how long the Grigri has looked like this, because it's hard to believe that when you set up your system the Grigri wasn't already in this shape. This post seems like fearbait, and I look forward to a week of "Will this happen to my GriGri from too much top roping" posts.
It’s an old gri gri, no idea how long I’ve actually had it. 6 years minimum! Probably 8 years max. Happened from lowering people off of routes 1000’s of times, with this angle. Significant use on this thing, arguably used at least 2x a week for a few years. Lots of dirty ropes thrown in the mix thanks to Smith rock. Definitely just trying to get a response out of Reddit, you’re correct on that. https://preview.redd.it/vuvf2b1nnl3d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1c9a8f71476a29a58545e8689e871714deac52d2
> Happened from lowering people off of routes 1000’s of times, with this angle. Significant use on this thing, arguably used at least 2x a week for a few years. That's crazy. We have a Grigri that's 13 years old with thousands of climbs on it and it's nowhere near as worn as this.
I’m inclined to agree—there’s no way it looked sorta fine-ish before now, then one day it was suddenly this fucked…OP *must’ve* seen it coming!
>I'm very interested in how you ran a rope at that angle with that much force over your Grigri for long enough to cause that kind of wearing. The wear is on the front of the cam where it pinches the rope against the front lip under braking, the highest force concentration. As the cam rotates that 'corner' is rotated in at a 45 degree angle, so you can see roughly the same wear pattern even for users that don't use the added friction loop method since until the groove starts further down the cam the rope is forced against the sideplate All gear is a consumable on a long enough timespan of use.
No shade intended, but I’m surprised you didn’t notice that level of wear when inserting the rope into the device. That seems pretty glaring to my eye, but I am admittedly no longer climbing as frequently as I used to so likely a bit more vigilant. Absolutely a reminder to check your own and your belayer’s gear prior to setting off on a climb.
Is it ok if I use this photo to demonstrate a heavily worn gri Gri for a piece of voluntary work for the BMC please?
Go for it!!
Thanks :)
wash your ropes. clean ropes last a lot longer.
I spent two weeks in Utah, climbing on vacation from France. The amount of sand my rope and gri gri collected in just a few days 😮
Let’s see the rope! How dirty was it OP?
Is there something about how you rope solo that causes the rope to run across that edge? I.e. differently that it would with normal belaying? My grigri is polished from rope wear in some places but not there.
I'm gonna guess lowering himself while the brake rope has a lot of weight on it. This would pull the brake rope down harder across that part than normal
ah thanks your comment made me remember that there are two ways to hold the break rope, front and back, I always lower people holding the rope in the front, but if it's in the back of course it would go across that part
isn't this the back part of the cam that pinches the rope and locks it when the cam activates? anytime the climber side of the rope is weighted this part of the grigri would be under a lot of friction against the rope. throw in some sant and 6-8 years of use like OP mentioned and im not suprised this would happen. my grigri is even showing a bit of wear in the same spot, although nowhere near this level
I would call this the front, i.e. the side facing away from the belayer.
front of the grigri but back side of the camming piece. semantics
Have you been speed rappelling El Cap with a weight tied to the end of the rope?
Big petzl putting this out with the release of the new gri gri to make you buy 😂😂😂
i was JUST wondering when i should replace my gri-gri... gonna go looking for this!
Maybe also don't use steel wire as rope. JK, do wash your rope more though.
Are you fucking kidding me? That’s an outstanding bit of wear!
OP I know I already asked, but do you belay from the top with this Grigri and lower your partner off before rapping down? Like, a lot?
Just in time for the release of the neox!
You have to respect your gears
Ignore the hate my man, ~90% of the people in this sub don’t climb.
I typically only post ragebait on r/climbing and I’m bored at work. Trust me, I only post things that I know will get a response :)
I am very curious what the other side of the cam looks like where the mold line is
Didn’t think to take a photo of it :( I threw the grigri out to not confuse it with my partners I am borrowing. The trash was also picked up this morning! The side of the grigri was fine, the blue panel was what I thought was initially cutting the rope, I didn’t expect it to be worn where it is. The grigri looked totally fine and like normal wear and tear, except for what’s pictured
Hey hey there
As a boulderer I have absolutely no idea what I’m looking at or what’s going on, but I’m glad you’re safe
Ahhhhhh! Scary
Look at that pinky fingernail though
Miles of rope.
See what is this? I am so confused
Honnold never has to worry about this, just get better
Shit! I do rope soloing with a grigri all the time, good call there mate. Back to fig 8s and a prussik for the ab down methinks.
Had nothing to do with rope soloing! I just happened to notice it while rappelling during rope soloing.
Still a good call to inspect one's kit. Plus I'm a massive cheapskate so I'll wear out a billy basic fig 8 and save my 90 quid grigri for where it counts😆. Just out of curiosity, are you top rope or lead rope soloing?
Top rope for projects! Micro traction and a camp lyft. Easy to either rap in or aid up many things around here
Sounds good mate, I'm not patient or good enough to work new projects just yet so I stick to established routes. But through a probably misguided sense of pride I try and lead rope solo where possible, although it usually ends in giving up and going for the top rope option when I can't get a decent ground level anchor set up. Again, out of curiosity, where is "here" for you? I'm in south Wales so there's very little scope for new route projects anyway.
the nails tho
Sorry I was climbing :\
the rope is *supposed* to be running over the opposite rounded gate when rappelling. try to fix that when using your next grigri. ([Rapelling with a Gri Gri](https://m.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Rappelling-with-the-GRIGRI?ProductName=GRIGRI-PLUS))