Belay devices: how the standards classify them.

What the bodies say about learning to belay

The American Alpine Club calls belaying the core skill behind nearly all roped climbing (Ron Funderburke, first printed in Accidents in North American Climbing 2016). It says lead belayers often learn only part of the required skills before using them, which can lead to accidents, and it points to maker instructions and its own instructor curriculum. The UIAA, in a 2018 handbook extract, says anyone using technical gear needs to read the instructions, get specific training and understand the gear's limits. This page describes the devices and their standards; it does not explain how to belay.

Device families

The AAC names the tool families used for belaying as the Munter hitch, the Sticht plate (an early device), tube-style manual belay devices and assisted-braking devices such as the Grigri. Standards bodies and makers use different words for the same groups, as the sections below show.

The European standards: EN 15151, two parts

The catalogue summaries say Part 1 excludes manual devices, which belong to Part 2, and fully automatic fixed installations. We could not check those scopes against the standards' own texts, which are sold by standards bodies.

A Climbing Technology instruction manual, quoted in search results, says EN 15151-2 divides manual devices into four types, from Type 1 for descending without friction adjustment to Type 4 for belaying and descending with friction adjustment. The manual did not open for our research, so the exact type wording is unconfirmed. Edelrid's own instructions (9 October 2025) do confirm one use of the scheme: they class its MAGO 8 figure-of-eight as a manual braking device to EN 15151-2:2012, Type 2, tested by TUV SUD Product Service.

The UIAA standard: UIAA 129

The UIAA first published its braking-device standard, UIAA 129, in 2009, and after minor changes agreed at a Safety Commission meeting it took effect on 1 July 2011 (UIAA, 1 February 2011). The UIAA says the standard sets baseline requirements for device strength and rope slippage, based on the forces generated in falls on dynamic ropes. It currently stands at version 9 (2018). The text of version 9 was not available for our research.

In its 2011 announcement the UIAA described three classes:

• Manual devices, such as tube devices and figure-eights.
• Locking-assist devices, for example the Petzl GriGri.
• Panic-function devices.

Every class must pass a strength test, and locking-assist and panic-function devices must also pass a rope-slippage test. A UIAA page seen only as a search snippet describes the scope as four types (manual, locking-assisted, abseiling devices and abseiling devices with a panic function); we could not open that page, so the four-type wording is unconfirmed.

When the first devices received the label in February 2011, Petzl's GriGri 2 and Black Diamond's ATC, ATC-Guide, ATC-XP and ATC-Sport, the UIAA called it the only certification for braking devices worldwide. That is the UIAA's claim as of 2011.

Makers' terms do not always match the standards

The names on a device's packaging come from the maker, and they do not line up neatly with the standard parts:

• Petzl groups its GRIGRI under "Belay Devices with Cam-Assisted Blocking".
• The UIAA (2011) classes the GriGri as a locking-assist device.
• EN 15151-1 is the part for devices with "manually assisted locking".
• Edelrid describes its GIGA JUL as a standard tube device and an assisted-braking tube device in one, with the braking support switched on or off by an internal mechanism, and certifies it to EN 15151-2, the manual-device part. Edelrid gives its rope range as 7.1 to 10.0 mm.

So "assisted braking" is a maker's description rather than the title of either standard part, and at least one device described that way, the GIGA JUL, is certified to the manual-device part. The research behind this page did not confirm how the standards' own texts treat such devices; a maker's instructions state which part its device is certified to, as Edelrid's do for the MAGO 8.

What makers say about their devices

Edelrid's MAGO 8 instructions (2025) give the device's maximum service life as "no limitation", with retirement when it reaches its durability limits, and name deformation and sharp edges from wear among reasons to retire it. They give a dry use temperature range of about -30 C to +60 C, and warn that slippery ropes, moisture or icing can reduce a device's braking effect. Those are Edelrid's statements for its own device. The maker's instructions and a competent person decide when any particular device is retired; the gear lifespan page compares makers.

Devices and human error

The BMC, citing research by the German Alpine Club (DAV), says human error rather than the device is the leading cause of belaying accidents. The DAV's 2024 gym accident statistics, compiled with KLEVER and reported by LACRUX, found ground falls in gyms were mainly due to tie-in and belay errors. The roped climbing incidents page covers the accident data.

Recalls

A UIAA recall page posted on 16 March 2021 relays recalls for inspection of first-generation Beal Birdie and Edelweiss Kinetic belay devices from listed 2019 serial batches, after reports of broken handles. The recalls page lists this with other notices; the maker's own current notice is the authority on which devices are affected.