I just finished a solid two weeks of climbing/vacation - including my first experience seconding (10+ pitches) trad, and my first time leading trad (3+ pitches).  Besides the obvious conclusion (trad climbing is a lot of fun), I came out of this absolutely loving the Black Diamond ATC-Guide.

I picked mine up on a whim when I lost my regular ATC (Black Diamond XP).  The Guide feels very solid and I thought I might get around to using the extended capabilities eventually.  For a few dollars more, it was a no-brainer.

It was when I led my first trad climb that I realized how this thing really shines.  The auto-locking capability is awesome, and it only needs an extra carabiner to realize.  With this properly set up there’s no worry about having to hold tightly during cruxes or accidentally dropping the second due to fatigue or poor footing.  This also allows for a more flexible top belay, as the anchors can be back from the edge and you can stand closer to the edge and minimize rope drag (and better see the second).

Like my previous ATC (the XP), the variable friction modes of this work especially well for rappels on thin ropes.  The openings are a little bit tighter than the XP’s, so this device has a lot of friction on thicker (think gym) ropes.  For anything you’ll be dragging up behind you, however, the walls are very nicely spaced.

The only downsides I can see are the weight (it’s a bit heavier, but the extra weight is a minimal portion of the full rack) and that it’s hard to lower someone (the auto-lock is very aggressive).

Lowering IS possible, it’s just a lot trickier than with a normal non-locking ATC.  Black Diamond also has instructions for using the device in this manner:

All in all, this is the best accidental climbing purchase I’ve made yet.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at 1:07 pm and is filed under reviews, rockclimbing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.