A new GriGri?
Petzl Neox, courtesy of Petzl.com
The Neox has arrived! Petzl’s GriGri has long been the quintessential assisted braking device in most climbers’ quivers. It’s reliable, tough, and available all around the world. You’ll find it permanently attached to many top ropes in gyms, and some gyms (including Reach Climbing and Fitness here in Philly) only let you use the GriGri.
The only Achilles heel of the GriGri was its slack feeding during a lead belay. It can be finicky and hard to learn as a beginner. Fast feeding on the device requires you to use your thumb to disengage the cam, which could increase the length of a fall. Because of its convenience, newer (and more experienced) belayers will default to the fast-feeding method. I’ve also met several climbers who have only ever used a GriGri and only know how to fast feed with it. Thus, if handed a different device like an ATC, Verso, or Mammut Smart, they don’t know how to operate these other devices.
Slow feeding on a GriGri takes finesse and practice, two things that many of us don’t have the patience to learn. In steps Petzl with the Neox. It is an update to the existing design while still keeping the Grigri in rotation. Instead of a cam with an immobile pivot point, it incorporates a free-spinning wheel in contact with the rope. A set of gears inside the device creates the braking power should the climber fall.
Neither device is hands-free, but the GriGri’s reliability often creates the illusion of safety. The Neox will presumably have less reliability if the belayer becomes incapable of belaying, but it makes up for this in the incredibly smooth rope feeding. Apparently (I have yet to test one), it feeds like you are using a high-efficiency pulley to belay. That’s a pretty exciting prospect if you’re often belaying a lead climber. One position to keep your hands and no awkward thumb technique sounds like an innovation to an already excellent product to me.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to get my hands on one soon. Will it replace the GriGri on my rack? I’m doubtful. But I’ve been wrong before…
Stay Climbing,
Michael
