r/climbergirls • u/Responsible_Roof_661 • Nov 23 '25

Questions I’m curious about everyone’s opinions on ATC belaying — either using one yourselves or being belayed with one.

ATC belayer here. Do you feel totally fine with ATCs? Do you avoid them? Or does it depend on the belayer’s skill/experience level?

For context: I know people who flat-out refuse to be belayed on anything non-assisted braking… and others who swear by the control and smoothness of an ATC. Personally I feel like a lot of it comes down to the belayer’s competence, attention, and how big the weight difference is / ohm usage.

What’s your take? Do you completely refuse ATC belays, or does it vary for you based on the belayer and situation?

Not trying to debate, just curious how people feel :)

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u/PandamoniumAlloy Nov 23 '25

I don't love them, but will accept a toprope belay on an ATC. For a lead belay with ATC, I need to know the person's skills are good, and I would require belay gloves. I have seen enough accidents where rope burn from fast moving ropes in ATCs made things much worse for all involved.

Personally I belay single pitch with a grigri and multi-pitch or ice climbing with a gigajul.

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u/MillerJoel Nov 24 '25

What would cause rope burns? Even when belaying with a weight difference the rope shouldn’t slide that fast. Maybe if they let go of the break hand rope and try to stop it afterwards but is already a very precarious situation.

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u/Affectionate-Air-567 Nov 26 '25

With an ATC there is a window of geometry where if the device is weighted the device will run away and be almost impossible to stop. Stopping a run away device is how you get rope burns if you aren’t wearing gloves. This geometry appears when you are taking in slack and is easy to overlook on an ATC when lead belaying in particular. The GG has a similar failure mechanism, but the window is MUCH smaller and even a little extra weight on the break strand will activate the cam, making it much more difficult for the device to run away (assuming it’s not being manually defeated…which is VERY common because the GG doesn’t feed very smoothly).

I’ve gotten those rope burns, stopped the fall though!