Reduce lowering accidents

Lowering accidents are pretty common and we should always tie a knot, but the problem is of course that doing it always might feel a bit strange climbing 12 meter routes. Another solution for this is to always have your hand straight down, which hopefully will make you feel that the rope is about to end. In order to benefit from this belay technique with a straight arm downwards, you need to have 99 % of the friction on the belay device, meaning in practice you just touch the rope within your hand. You should also lower down slowly. An advantage with this belay technique is that your hand will get less dirty. It should be noted that some belay device producers, like Petzl, say you should open the GriGri fully and have 100 % of the friction in your hand. However, no experienced climber follows this advice. General 8a safety article. The picture shows that with your hand too close to the Grigri you will not have a chance to feel that the rope is too short and also would not be able to hinder it from passing though the Grigri. With your hand as far away from the Grigri and working with the friction only, you increase your chances to not let the rope run through your belay device if you forgot to tie a knot.