RyanJames1984 wrote:
I agree with the fact that people cause belay related climbing accidents and not the belay device. However, from what I've noticed, it seems like people fumble more with the cinch and use it incorrectly than any other belay device. I was reading a forum on MP.com where someone commented,
"it seems that everyone i've talked to has seen someone dropped or heard of a friend of theirs being dropped or nearly dropped with these things."
Could the fact that when the cinch is open the rope goes straight through the device, as oppose to the atc and gri gri where the rope is kinked through the device, possible cause the cinch to be more dangerous with lackadaisical belayers?
Pure sampling bias on your part. Until this thread, I had never seen or heard of anyone being dropped by a Cinch, but I have seen and heard of more people than I can remember being dropped using Grigris and ATCs. You cannot draw conclusions about the relative safety of belay devices from such sources.
