Arrested by Machines: Europe’s Lead Climbing Auto-Belay Targets US Gyms

December 2, 2021

A company in Italy may be permanently changing the lead belay as we know it. ProGrade, a somewhat unknown entity, recently introduced an auto-belay format capable of paying out slack and catching a climber on lead.

Of course, anyone who’s rope-soloed knows that a lead belay does not necessarily need to be performed by a person. In fact, ProGrade’s system is not the first to apply auto-belay technology to lead climbing. It is, however, the first of its kind to target commercial indoor climbing. gear junkie