l use the super 8 and l know you use the belay device for rock climbing but could you use one for repelling thanks

l use ATCs all the time for both belaying and rappelling.

l think that a belay device is what in europe is known as a ''cri cri right?

Yep! you can use it to reppel. However, if you want to do that because you are planning on hanging from it in mid descent and have your hands free, additional sefety should be used. a simple square knot around a carabiner on the rope below you and then get the carabiner on the rope above you will do.

You're talking about a gri gri, which is made by petzel. They're supposed to be auto locking belay devices, but anyone I've ever asked that uses one says they would not trust one for the life of them & always keep a hand on the dead rope.

To answer ur question when you're abseiling you're basically doing the same thing as when you're belaying, but instead of the rope moving you're the thing that is moving. The device is just there to cause friction on the rope & hold a fall. So u can use anything that will cause enough friction to hold u up to abseil, the same as u can use anything that will cause enough friction to hold a person in the case of a fall when belaying.

Here is three things that l can think of off the top of my head u can use for both these things:

Belay device
Italian Hitch knot & Carabiner
Gri gri

You could also use prusik cords & do the opposite of ascending a rope. And there is a method called the classic belay where u run the rope through ur legs over ur shoulder & around ur waist to cause the friction, but this is not advised for abseiling on anything overhanging or vertical.

Yes.

l recommend the Super 8 over the ATC, but the ATC works too. The Super 8 is actually designed specifically for abseiling but can also be used as a belay device as opposed to the other way around. l personally do not like Gri-Gris not because of safety concerns (though those r real) but because l find that auto-locking devices tend to wear down my rope.

Belaying & rappeling/abseiling essentially invoke the same mechanical process. In both cases, u r easing off of a brake to allow the rope to slide through the device. The only difference is which of the two lengths of rope is anchored & which is the load-bearing end.

Yes - l use figure 8 is and ATC is for rapelling/abseiling.

My BO when climbing is used for repelling, though.

l use atc for rappelling, the plus of using a atc is that the rope can not tangled inside the device, but the plus of using a super 8 is that you can go faster. And if you are going to use a figure 8 get a normal one.

First, it is ''rappel not ''repel although it is indeed possible to use a belay device to ''repel'' if u wield it like brass knuckles. :)

Honestly, a figure 8 device (of which the Super 8 is) is not the best device to use for either belaying or rappelling/abseiling anymore. It has been established through the years that there r multiple modes of failure that can happen with the figure 8. Failure in a rappel can be fatal.

One annoyance with the figure 8 is that it tends to introduce turns in the rope.

One common mode of non-fatal failure is ''larks-footing''. This is a hitch that forms which is actually very difficult to get out of. You may be stuck in the middle of a rappel with no way of going up or down. There r ways to utilize the figure 8 so that it does not happen.

A fatal mode of failure is that the figure 8 can break ur carabiner with it as a long lever arm. It takes surprisingly little force at the end of the figure 8 to have this happen.

There r many better belay/rappel devices on the market these days for rock climbing, including but not limited to ATC-type devices.