ATC Lowering technique - Is it legit?

Working at the gym tonight and had someone show me that they lowered with an ATC by curling the rope over the edge, like you would on a grigri.

The idea behind this was, you get the extra friction from the ATC's teeth while belaying, but less friction while lowering which is nice when your climber is very light.

So, is this legit? YGD?

Definitely YGD.

Just flip your ATC around and don't wear a groove in the thinnest part of the device

It will likely munch through your ATC is a hurry as well. I would assume the wear pattern this would produce would be kinda gnarly. Not that Im opposed to using things outside of their design intent but this one is kind of silly, both in concept and practice

what does the manufacturer say?

The answer to reducing friction on the device if the climber is light is to change the angle of the brake strand while maintaining control of the brake strand.  

Tell them they're gonna die. Or I will.

Doctor Drake wrote: Tell them they're gonna die. Or I will.

I agree with the Doctor.

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Just flip the device around and use low friction mode. I usually rappel in low friction mode cause it’s smoother and I don’t need the extra friction. 

Just get a grigri :^)

Definitely insufficient skill with an ATC. If you don't need the high friction mode when lowering, you certainly don't need it while they are climbing.

And if the weight difference is big enough, like parent belaying their kid, or light climber and a lot of rope drag on low-angle terrain, you need to know how to feed out slack while lowering anyways.

Seems like  bad idea to me.  Extra wear on the rope and the device for questionable reduction in friction.  As already said, there is already complete control of the amount of friction by varying the brake-strand angle, so no need for bad work-arounds.  Belayers who aren't very experienced with ATC's and who want to vary the brake strand angle should probably lower with both hands on the brake strand rather than just one.

 Flipping the device doesn't work in a gym setting, since the leader (or top-roper) goes from climbing to lowering without going off belay for such a maneuver.  Nor is it a good idea in general, since it adds unthreading and rethreading the device and so a possible source of a catastrophic error for no good reason.  Of course, the device could be flipped at the outset before the climber starts, and this might be a good idea in high friction top-rope situations, but for leaders it comes with the downside of reduced friction for catching leader falls.

I do not think it is a legit use-technique.  My guess is the technique is a carry over by Gri Gri users.  However, it probably would not result in anything too bad...  I would be interested in seeing data on this configuration, actual experimentally derived numbers on how the rope/device in this configuration performs. i.e. How it changes the breaking ability and the forces necessary for the break hand to exert a break at given angles.   

Seems to be yet another rope pigtailing technique.

Or the person could learn to lower properly.

On a double wrapped gym rope with a very light climber, I find it helps to pull up on the atc with your non brake hand as you’re lowering. 

Looks like it would introduce a horrendous amount of twisting into the rope too. Looks like the person in question needs to take the belay class again...

Zachary Bright wrote: Just flip the device around and use low friction mode. I usually rappel in low friction mode cause it’s smoother and I don’t need the extra friction. 

Just remember if you "flip the device around" prior to lowering, the lead climber is OFF BELAY while you're "flipping".  This adds another potential cause of an accident, so I wouldn't do it; even if the lead climber is clipped into the anchors while "flipping". There's just so many accidents reported due to lack of communication that IMO it isn't worth it! 

Starting out that way from the start of the climb, if for instance the lead climber is much lighter (or your rapping with the ATC) might be OK, but isn't the way the ATC is designed to work. Learn how to regulate the lowering / rappelling, which means (sometimes) you even need to "feed" the rope through.  

Robert Hall wrote:

 

Starting out that way from the start of the climb, if for instance the lead climber is much lighter (or your rapping with the ATC) might be OK, but isn't the way the ATC is designed to work. 

actually, BD clearly states in their literature that the ATC guide can be used to belay in either orientation...

https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/climbing-belay-rappel/atc-belay-rappel-device-BD620046_cfg.html#start=1

This is why i first suggested to the OP to read the instructions provided by the manufacturer for an ATC. All of his questions can be answered there...

Alex Holmann wrote: Working at the gym tonight and had someone show me that they lowered with an ATC by curling the rope over the edge, like you would on a grigri.

The idea behind this was, you get the extra friction from the ATC's teeth while belaying, but less friction while lowering which is nice when your climber is very light.

So, is this legit? YGD?

If they can't use an ATC correctly, "remedial training" is in order. The little extra friction there isn't useful if they don't know how use the gear in the first place.