Trango Cinch Belay Device
By Dave Allison

When a new piece of climbing gear is introduced to market, you can usually glean fairly reliable beta from the local climbing shop guru, the climbers hanging out at the local crag, or by surfing the net. I sought beta from all of these sources before touching the new Trango Cinch, but while everyone did had something to say, but no one I talked to had actually used the Cinch. I heard every opinion from, "my buddy almost died because it didn't feed slack out fast enough", to "it saved my buddy's life when he took a fifty-foot whipper." I figured the proof was in the pudding, so I went out and actually bought a Cinch to review.

Before I go any further I should state for the record that I am a big fan of the Gri Gri and have been using one since it was introduced. With that aside, let's get on with this.

The Cinch retails for $59 and weighs in at 6.2 ounces (175g), or 33% less than the Gri Gri. It accommodates ropes from 9.4mm to 11mm in diameter (or virtually all CE or UIAA rated single ropes), and the three moving parts are made of high strength aluminum alloy, investment cast stainless steel, and the handle is made from glass filled nylon.

Being so accustomed to the Gri Gri I had to do a little thinking the first few times I used the Cinch. The big change for me was holding the Cinch in my left hand and feeding out slack with my right hand. This felt awkward at first but once I held the Cinch exactly as pictured on the product instruction sheet the magic began. While I had heard the Cinch had problems feeding slack, I found the opposite to be true. It fed slack like a champ.

There are actually two ways to feed slack. While holding the Cinch in the correct orientation with the left hand, feed the rope toward your chest and then up in a semi-circle pattern with the right (see product instructions and FAQ links below). There is no need to hold the camming device open while doing this, and rope feeds out smoothly. In the event you need tons of rope fast, slight pressure can be applied to keep the cam open as you yard out the rope (similar to how slack is fed with the Gri Gri). I have never had to hold the cam open to feed slack quickly as I have to do with my Gri Gri.

The Cinch locks up tight and has a lower risk of releasing if jammed up against the rock if the belayer gets pulled into the wall. It's a little more sensitive to lower someone or rappel with, but after a few jerky moments I was feathering the rope through the device with ease.

The Cinch also functions well as a top-belay device. On my last multi-pitch route, my Reverso stayed in the pack until the double-rope rap-off. While this isn't a review of the Reverso, however, I just want to add that while I will always have my Reverso handy, the Cinch fills every requirement as well as or better than the Gri Gri and Reverso, the exceptions being the double rope rappel and the 2 simultaneous followers top-belay. The one negative point to the Cinch is the glass-filled nylon handle, which does seem a little small, had a slight raised seem left by the molding process that did bite into my hand a bit (that is until I went over it once with fine grain sand paper, shhhh- don't tell Trango).

Summary: If you haven't purchased a self-locking belay device yet, or you're looking for a lightweight alternative for Alpine, Trad, or Sport climbing, look to the Cinch.

When Dave Allison isn't trad climbing or fast-packing he usually can be found in the behavioral research lab at BYU.

For more information, contact:
Trango
4439-C North Broadway
Boulder, Colorado 80304