Self-locking device

Type of climbing equipment Self-locking devices are pieces of rock-climbing equipment intended to arrest the fall of solo climbers who climb without partners. This device is used for rope solo climbing, for "ground-up climbing", and for "top rope solo climbing". To date, several types of self-locking devices have evolved. Types Prusik sling The earliest type of self-belay device used was the ubiquitous prusik knotted sling used by climbers. The method requires the solo climber to feed out an estimated length of belay rope so that they can reach their next stance and repeat the process as the rope is difficult to feed through the prusik knot while climbing. Gibbs-style type 1 ascender A Gibbs-style ascenderThe next level of device development improved on the locking limitations of the prusik sling by utilizing a cam that is activated by the climber's body moving down to rotate the simple grab cam inside a rigid frame. The climber's harness is directly attached to the cam and the frame encapsulates the rope. Early versions of the cam systems used a Gibbs-style type 1 ascender placed in an inverted position attached to a soloer's sit harness opposite to the manufacturer's intended use