What is a Figure 8 Belay Device?

Climbing can be a dangerous sport if you’re not careful and you don’t know what you’re doing. If you’re going to be climbing, it’s best to know and feel comfortable with what you are doing, or climb with someone who does. An important part of climbing is belaying, or coming down. If you’re going to be doing any kind of climbing beyond bouldering (where you are only a few feet off the ground), you need to know how to belay. When you are belaying, you control the rope’s movements to protect the climber, and an easy way to do that is with a belay device. A simple piece of rock climbing gear called a belay device acts as a brake on the rope by applying friction. The device along with the belayer’s work, can stop a climbers fall. There are many different kinds of belay devices, but one that many climbers use is called the Figure 8 Belay Device. Here are some great pros and cons of this simple piece of climbing gear.

What is a Figure 8 Belay Device?

A Figure 8 belay device is actually shaped like the number 8 with two holes, one large and one smaller hole. A bend of the rope is fed through the large hole and then looped around the outside of the smaller hole until it rest on the “neck” or middle of the figure 8. Then the smaller hole is clipped to the climber if they are self belaying, or the anchor. These belay devices are some of the most popular kinds of belay devices for a climber’s collection of rock climbing gear. The Figure 8 belay device is efficient and smooth for rappelling and works with nearly any climbing rope diameter, but they do have a few drawbacks.

Cons to the Figure 8 Belay Device

The first disadvantage to this belay device is that it can offer inadequate braking for anything but top-roping, (unless you use it as a belay plate with the rope only going through the smaller hole). Also, a Figure 8 belay device does require more attention and strength from the belayer’s hand than other devices. What you should really watch out for though is that sometimes the Figure 8 can put a twist in the climbing rope, which could make belaying more difficult. So when you are trying to determine which belay device to add to your collection of rock climbing gear, ask yourself what kind of climbing you’ll be doing before making a decision on what kind of belay devices to pack. It’s a decision that could save your life.

It’s an important note to take that belaying is one of the most critical of the climbing skills to learn because you have your partner’s safety, and possibly their lives, in your hands. It isn’t something to be forgotten.

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