One hand amputated--which belay device to use?

I know someone that has one hand amputated and wants to belay (both top rope and someone leading). Any suggestions on what type of belay device she can use to safely belay??

Any auto-caming device would be great. Feeding of rope will still be difficult and potentially dangerous while lead belaying and so would lowering. Most would probably recommend the Grigri 2, not recalled version. I would think of a way to connect the brake side of the device to her leg to keep the rope in the breaking plane for lowering, or maybe connect to her elbow.

TomCaldwell wrote:Any auto-caming device would be great. Feeding of rope will still be difficult and potentially dangerous while lead belaying and so would lowering. Most would probably recommend the Grigri 2, not recalled version. I would think of a way to connect the brake side of the device to her leg to keep the rope in the breaking plane for lowering, or maybe connect to her elbow.

Really? How do you feed slack quickly with one hand? Lowering would be sketchy as well. Maybe one of those new devices, like the click 'n up or whatever its called would work.

Sounds like a good question for the guys at Paradox Sports who help people with disabilities get out and do things like climbing. I'm sure they can offer some great, experienced insight into appropriate devices and techniques to accommodate the needs of your friends.

I work in pediatric prosthetics :D

It's going to be tricky for her to pay rope out and take it in. She's got a couple options.

1. Use her one hand for both taking rope in and paying it out. It'll be slow for belaying a leader, unfortunately, but probably not something the leader couldn't work with (ie, waiting to clip till the bolt is closer to the harness so she doesnt have to pay out multiple arm-lengths of rope).

2. Kids that are born missing hands but still have their elbows and use their elbows a TON for "grabbing" things. Since she is a recent amputee, she wont have this skill like kids that grow up from age 0. All that to say that she could probably use her elbow to "grab" the rope and pay rope out, even though it'd probably require the belay device to be centered higher on her torso (maybe try a full body harness with a higher centered belay point to bring the lead end of the rope to be closer to her elbow).

3. If she is a below elbow amputee, she could learn to use a prosthesis. It takes practice to get really good with it, but it'd probably be the best ability to grab the rope and pay it out quickly. If she wants more info on prosthetic stuff, you could PM me or have her PM me.

Best of luck!

There was a thread on this last year on UKC, the solution was a Wild Country SRC and a cord loop for the foot for lowering if I remember rightly.

Jim

Who would really wants a one handed person belaying them? Not I.

I'm really sorry to hear she had to have an arm amputated! That's a huge bummer! Any chance of her getting a prosthetic?

Good luck to her!

i'd rather have a competent belayer with one hand than a lot of the 2 handed folks that i have seen. as mike schneiter pointed out above, paradox sports would be a great place to start your inquiry. they probably already have a pretty good idea for this sort of thing.

A friend of mine uses a normal ATC-XP. amputee at the wrist. She feeds out and takes in slack just fine. Pretty sure she has said that a gri gri does not work for her very well. i'll see if she'll post up.

the Click-Up is simple to use one handed. Don't need to grip it to release, just a nudge should do with forearm. Not useful for any double rope rappel though.

Michael Schneiter wrote:Sounds like a good question for the guys at Paradox Sports who help people with disabilities get out and do things like climbing. I'm sure they can offer some great, experienced insight into appropriate devices and techniques to accommodate the needs of your friends.

+1

Jake D. wrote:A friend of mine uses a normal ATC-XP. amputee at the wrist. She feeds out and takes in slack just fine. Pretty sure she has said that a gri gri does not work for her very well. i'll see if she'll post up.

Yup, my go-to devices are my atc-guide, reverso, R3 etc. It is hard to pay out slack in a gri gri in a safe way...sure, I could just hold down the cam with my stump and pay out, and chances are that the jerk of catching a fall would knock my stump off of the cam so it would engage, but I climb with some fatties I'd rather not take the chance of catching on my fore head.

The biggest whipper I ever caught, I was belaying a buddy (who had one leg) who must out weigh me by 100 pounds. He took a thirty footer, I was using my guide. Worked fine, other than the brown spot in my panties.

Red wrote:Who would really wants a one handed person belaying them? Not I.

If you've ever been dropped by a one-handed belayer, it might not have been an accident.

jimmy wesley wrote:I know someone that has one hand amputated and wants to belay (both top rope and someone leading). Any suggestions on what type of belay device she can use to safely belay??

When did she lose her hand? Where are you guys located? I work with Paradox, and if she wants to chat she should email me at mbeck@paradoxsports.org.

There's myself, a guy who was born without his arm at the elbow, and we sort of have this kick ass chick in Sweden who was born with a malformed lower limb. I know there's more of us out there...we're like the mutants in Xmen.

Phil Lauffen wrote: Really? How do you feed slack quickly with one hand? Lowering would be sketchy as well. Maybe one of those new devices, like the click 'n up or whatever its called would work.

Lowering isn't hard at all with one hand (depending on how long your arm is)

Paying out slack is.

Jake D. wrote:A friend of mine uses a normal ATC-XP. amputee at the wrist. She feeds out and takes in slack just fine. Pretty sure she has said that a gri gri does not work for her very well. i'll see if she'll post up.

Next time you and I are climbing together, we'll have to take that video 'how to belay one handed' like I've been talking about for years.

Geez, you get me started on gimp climbing and I'll yak your arm off.

Momoface wrote:Geez, you get me started on gimp climbing and I'll yak your arm off.

Alligator! AHHHHHH!!1111

Red wrote:Who would really wants a one handed person belaying them? Not I.

I have, It's fine. Along with many of my other friends. Has even caught whips that took her off her feet.

Perhaps you should think before you talk?

Jake D. wrote: Perhaps you should think before you talk?

+1, that was completely insensitive. I agree with slim, I'd much rather have a competent one-handed belayer than most of the two-handed belayers I see at the crags.

Thanks momoface. I'll PM you with the details and hopefully get the two of you introduced. Thanks everyone for your input.