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GriGri Belay Device

By Lars Bartels 11/10/2025

As both a Teaching Assistant for an introductory climbing class and as an employee and the WREC’s Climbing Gym, I often are teaching people how to use belay devices. There are many different types of belay devices, the Petzl GriGri is one of the most common and well refined versions. During a belay class at the Wrec Climbing Gym, I was giving a lesson particularly on how to use this device. I knew this would be a good opportunity to do a naturalistic observation with the read-aloud protocol of how belayers were able to learn and use this device. The goal of this task was fairly simple. All the user had to do was correctly attach the device to the rope and to their harness. I was able to then observe this process while they were telling me what they were thinking.

The process of correctly installing the GriGri is about 3 distinct steps:

Since the product only requires three steps the overall use of the device is efficient. When a harness is already on and the device learned for about 10 minutes, installing the device usually takes between 10 - 20 seconds. Not only is it efficient but the process is satisfying. The device has a nice weight to it and the moving parts are solid, with a cling that resonates well. With time the user can eventually learn motions that reduce the time to take eventually turning the step by step process into a fluid, dance-like motion. When learning there are many afforadances which I actively saw helping the user to learn this product. The first is the hole in the device which the carbiner clips too (as seen in step 1). This is made to be the most obvious and only point and that the carabiner can clip to. With its slightly oblonged shape and a narrower section of the device, its suggested this feature is built to be attached to a carabiner. Another part which give affordances is the small engravings on the side pivoting plate and the internal cam (shown below). They represent which direction the rope should go into the device. The side of the rope tied to the climber should be exiting next to the engraved climber and the side being held by the belayer near the hand (shown below). Making sure the rope is put into the device in the right direction is critical to the effectiveness of the device.

Annotated Image of the Closed GriGri Annotated Image of the Opened GriGri

This device (like many in the rock climbing world) is consistently responsible for the life of one or more lives at once. Its design needs to be effective. The goal of this device is to be able to easily slide a rope one direction, and grab powerfully in the other. In a climbing context this allows for the belay to catch a climber at any moment, while keep as little rope between the two as possible. If the device is loaded incorrectly, it could be fatal. Luckily the device gives really good feedback. If put incorrectly it wont let the belay perform the technique they need too. It will restrict the users movement and immediately tell them they have done something wrong. In tandem the product has a really error prevention heuristic. If the device is going to be misused the device in a way which will drop a climber from any distance it simply will not let you. When the device has the weight of a climber or other heavy object pulling the rope, the device will not open or let the user remove the rope from the device. Despite both the effectiveness, feedback, and error prevention of the device, users can still override these features if they have the intention to do so. This is a problem inherit with all life-supporting devices and not easy to solve. The most realistic solution to this problem is competant and abundant manuals and classes on the importance of these devices.

Image from Petzl's User Manual