GriGri+ Launched
- Friday 27th January 2017
Jan 27th; 2017
Climbing megastars descended on Chris Sharma’s Barcelona gym earlier this week for launch of Petzl’s GriGri+.
The GriGri family: Original GriGri top left; GriGri2 top right and the GriGri+ centre bottom. Note GriGri+ shown larger for clarity.
Launched in 1991, the original GriGri represented a step-change in so-called ‘assisted braking’ belay devices. Widely adopted by sport climbers, the GriGri was especially useful for arresting falls and holding climbers whilst ‘dogging’ routes. Fast forward to 2011, Petzl introduced the updated GriGri2 which facilitated use on ‘thin’ ropes – ie single rope down to 8.9mm as well as ‘fat’ ropes up to 11mm in diameter.
The GriGri+, the third generation design, from Petzl has a number of new features including a stainless steel reinforced wear ‘plate’, a lead/top rope modes as well as an anti-panic lock mode. The GriGri+ has been optimized for use on 8.9 to 10.5 mm diameter ropes.
Petzl athletes from around the world, including Steve McClure, Neil Gresham and Gavin Symonds from the UK, attended the launch in Barcelona of the GriGri+. Posting on FaceBook, Steve confirmed that following the launch he was out outside to play with his new ‘personalised’ GriGri+.
Watch a Petzl’s promo video for the GriGri+ below.