ATC Guide

Most of the comments thus far aren’t aware of the differences between a standard ATC, and an ATC Pilot. You can’t go wrong with a grigri or Pilot but the Pilot is the better option for most first devices IMO. Unless you’re gifting it to someone. My recommendation is not as a former Black Diamond rep

Oh my God, I had this bullshit happen in real life. I was ice climbing (well, top-roping in the Ouray Ice Park) with my wife belaying me. Long story short, some dude walks by and accuses her of having an unsafe belay. In reality, she was properly using a BD ATC, but he insisted BD stopped selling th

IMO, everyone should learn on a non-assisted device first to build strong brake-hand-always-on habits, and then if assisted braking is desired, get a Grigri because it's more or less the standard ABD. I started on a BD ATC-XP, which worked very well. I would recommend a two-lane device, and to get a

Why two belay devices? Skip the ATC, it’s antiquated, especially for gym climbing. Skip both carabiners, get a D shaped locker for the Grigri or Neox. Black Diamond has produced faulty avalanche beacons which have killed people, and BD put off issuing recalls - consider whether you want to trust and

I have a Giga Jul and use it as my primary device for gym and outdoor sport climbing. It's super versatile, and can be used with double ropes as well as for rappelling, but if you're not going to be doing that, then your options are more open. I haven't used the Ocun Bow, but it looks to be the same

I stick to screwlocks for basically all my carabiners (save for a couple small wiregates I have for clipping shoes/chalk to my harness). For a belay device, assuming it's an ATC style, get a round stock carabiner - ie it looks like it's made of a cylinder of metal instead of the flattened profile th

I’m small relative to many people I belay, at times at the level of the difference you’re taking about. I’ve never had any issues with safety on TR (with chain and steel ring anchors), mostly just with ease of lowering. My ATC was the worst and most annoying, the Black Diamond Pilot was much better

If you weren’t having issues with an ATC, then I’d recommend switching to a different belay device. I use the Black Diamond Pilot, and I personally think it’s much better than a grigri! It’s much more intuitive, easier to feed rope, and in my (controversial) option is safer.

Hijacking the top comment for an UPDATE I contacted black diamond and they confirmed that metal gear should be good to go. "Metal gear such as ATCs, cams, stoppers, and carabiners can sometimes remain usable after decades if they show no cracks, deformation, or corrosion. However, soft goods like ro

This is from Black diamond before it was called that. I saw an ATC once with that logo. Sick!