A beautifully simplified piece of gear to use for ascension and hauling systems. In addition to the Micro Traxion this device always lives on my harness when venturing into glaciated terrain. Just a heads up though, unlike a Prussik or other type of friction hitch, this device may scuff up the rope with its teeth if used frequently, just something for the user to keep in mind.

Purists might scoffingly assert that any mechanical advantage raising/hauling system should be built exclusively from biners and prusik cord. But the Petzl Tibloc is so trivially small and so trivially light yet so incredibly useful for building such systems (especially for crevasse rescue) that it rates Five Stars for sure.The picture shows one caution and one tip:- As also illustrated in the user manual, be sure to clip through the body of the Tibloc and hence also through the rope, not just through the hanger extension.- If you tie a little loop with some thin accessory cord, then you can attach a stuff sack weighted with snow so as to drop(/lower/slide) the loop of a 6:1 Canadian Droop Loop down along the travel rope to a victim in a crevasse fall when ... MorePurists might scoffingly assert that any mechanical advantage raising/hauling system should be built exclusively from biners and prusik cord. But the Petzl Tibloc is so trivially small and so trivially light yet so incredibly useful for building such systems (especially for crevasse rescue) that it rates Five Stars for sure.The picture shows one caution and one tip:- As also illustrated in the user manual, be sure to clip through the body of the Tibloc and hence also through the rope, not just through the hanger extension.- If you tie a little loop with some thin accessory cord, then you can attach a stuff sack weighted with snow so as to drop(/lower/slide) the loop of a 6:1 Canadian Droop Loop down along the travel rope to a victim in a crevasse fall when you're unable to toss the loop down to the victim to clip in, thereby pulling up the victim sort of indirectly by hauling up the original travel rope, i.e., rather than hauling up on the victim's harness. (This will lose the advantage of hauling out the victim on a strand that hasn't already been sawing into the edge of the crevasse, but it's still a potentially helpful trick.)Speaking of cautions, for use instead as an ascender, remember that many rope owners (perhaps yourself!) will freak out over the prospect of damaging the sheath by ascending on a Tibloc with all its menacing-looking teeth.

Compact rope grab

Handy and compact little ascender to carry around in place of a hand ascender to create miniature haul systems! Love it. Be warned, teeth are sharp and any excessive dynamic loads will likely desheathe a rope quite easily.

Great addition to the rack

It is quite small, lightweight, and can be very helpful when you less expect it. It gets the job done as well as a prusik hitch to ascend on the rope, and looks at least three times nicer than a piece of cord. Attach it to a Petzl Sm'D Twist-Lock carabiner, and boom; you won't ever drop it by mistake.

Great little rope grab

Well made and Compact progress grab.But fiddly to use with gloves but works well. Held on 6mm accessory cord with a quick test at home but bought to use with Beal rando.Nice and small and lightweight, ideal for a ski/mountaineering rescue kit I'm making up.

Great piece of kit!

These little devices are fantastic! Any mountaineer has an undying love for the Prusik, but these little guys are so much more efficient and quick! Definitely upgrading my crevasse rescue setup with these, and for the weight/size keeping one on your harness for whatever might come up is a no brainer. Love the engineering and design, thanks Petzl!

Simple lightweight alternative

I’ve gone years looking at the Tibloc, but always choosing a prussik instead. Now that I have one I see it being a regular inclusion in my gear bag, especially for glacier travel. It’s lightweight and simple, and I think my preference is to use it as a standby rig for emergency ascent or hauling. The benefit is how compact it is, and when compared to a prussik, won’t need any management to remain untangled with everything else.Petzl’s recommended usage and techniques seem to be pretty important, so I’m planning to use and train with the Tibloc on a regular basis until I feel really comfortable with it. But I’m stoked to have this new piece of versatile and lightweight gear.

Slight improvement over the original

The added plastic widget improves the ability of the Tibloc to grip the rope rather than skipping across (and possibly damaging the sheath of) thinner ropes. Folks who are using the Tibloc on ultra-lightweight cords should know that it is approved for use by the manufacturers of the following small diameter cords: Petzl® 6mm RAD Line, Mammut® 6mm Dry Glacier Cord, and Edelrid® 6mm Rap Line II. You really should be cognizant of the fact that a 10mm round carabiner, such as the old round Petzl Attache or BD Magnetron, radically improve the performance of this device on all ropes but is pretty much mandatory when using smaller diameter rope/cord less than 9mm. Having said that, your safety margins are very low when using toothed devices on small diameter cords and ... MoreThe added plastic widget improves the ability of the Tibloc to grip the rope rather than skipping across (and possibly damaging the sheath of) thinner ropes. Folks who are using the Tibloc on ultra-lightweight cords should know that it is approved for use by the manufacturers of the following small diameter cords: Petzl® 6mm RAD Line, Mammut® 6mm Dry Glacier Cord, and Edelrid® 6mm Rap Line II. You really should be cognizant of the fact that a 10mm round carabiner, such as the old round Petzl Attache or BD Magnetron, radically improve the performance of this device on all ropes but is pretty much mandatory when using smaller diameter rope/cord less than 9mm. Having said that, your safety margins are very low when using toothed devices on small diameter cords and shock loading must be avoided at all costs. The smaller the cord, the more careful you should be that the Tibloc seats properly before loading it. You should not use the Tibloc on the Sterling TRC cord (not currently tested or approved by Sterling or Petzl) and definitely not on any other small diameter accessory cords. I did some testing with various cords and managed to rip the sheet off of a wide variety of 5mm, 5.5mm and 6mm high tech cordage at alarmingly low loads. You should also be careful with icy wet ropes as the teeth may become plugged with ice and thus not grab properly. (This is an issue with pretty much all toothed rope grabs and ascenders.)

Solid quality, definitely won’t slip

Typical high quality construction from Petzl. I do like this product b/c it’s relatively inexpensive and simple to use.One complaint/caution is that trying to descend a few feet gets a bit annoying as the teeth will dig in and it’s like taking a bone from a dog.Honestly, I end up using a prusik more frequently b/c it’s easier to ascend and descend as you are doing things like cleaning a route or trying that crux move over and over.

Works perfectly and Lightweight

After using this for the past few months, I've really grown to like it. The Tibloc works as described. It's basically a Prussik replacement, and easier to use. The bigger the carabiner used the more grip. I used it a couple time to ascend a rope and it really worked well.