The Petzl Connect Adjust has been out for a little over a year now but many climbers haven’t really had a chance to be exposed to it to determine whether or not it would be a helpful addition to their kit. In this review I’ll go in depth on what this item is, how it is different from other products in this category, and what purposes it might be best suited for.
So what is it? Simply put it is an adjustable lanyard for conveniently attaching to an anchor. There are a few applications where using a lanyard while climbing can be quite useful. To name just a few; cleaning an anchor at the top of a sport route in preparation for lower/rappel, multi-pitch rappelling where you want to stay anchored without using the main climbing rope, route development/maintenance. It’s probably best to see it in action before we dive into the details.
There are other options in the “tether” arena, and to fully understand the advantages of this piece of equipment it must be held up against what is already out there. So let’s take a very brief look at the two most common solutions climbers use a tether.
- The single/double length sling. Cost effective multi-purpose item with the distinct disadvantages of not being adjustable or shock absorbing. Care must be taken to ensure there is no fall potential on generated slack within that attachment. Not redundant.
- The Metolius Personal Anchor System (PAS). 93.5 grams. More expensive than the first option, some limited adjust-ability, options to make the situation redundant. It’s no surprise this item has gained a solid following over the last few years for both sport and traditional climbing climbing.
What does the Connect Adjust achieve that these other options don’t? In my opinion there are two distinct advantages of the Connect Adjust:
- It’s CE certified for personal fall protection. Its design incorporates the use of the Petzl Arial 9.5 climbing rope. This adds considerable strength (over 15Kn) and durability, along with some dynamic elongation, to your tether. This option does weigh 32.5 grams more than the PAS and is a bit bulkier to rack.
- It’s a fully adjustable tether. Other options simply don’t have the ability to fine tune your adjustment length like this device. Sure, there’s the Purcell Prusik, but that can have limitations based on what you build it with.
Before I dive into a couple drawbacks lets get this out of the way right now.
There is no piece of gear that is perfect in every single situation. So don’t look for that. But there is a great piece of gear for every application out there! In this case the Connect Adjust shines in a few arenas;
- Cleaning a sport route. Yes, you can continue to link quick draws together with non-lockers to attach yourself at the top of that sick on-sight you just sent. But you know there are better ways. This could be one of them.
- Multi-pitch descents/canyoneering. There are some great reasons to bring this along for these type of trips, mainly, the additional “fall protection”. Before I get into explaining “fall protection” here is a clever solution to be able to use this as a rappel extension while still maintaining the tether option (note you lose a bit of length with the girth-hitch and the resulting tether is about 10 inches shorter than a knotted double-length sling.
Fall Factor at its essence means how much force will be transmitted to the climber/anchor in the event of a fall. You could connect yourself to an anchor with a 4 foot nylon sling, climb up 4 feet, fall 8 feet, and be seriously injured or killed. That’s “Fall Factor”.
Ok, back to “fall protection”. This device is meant to protect against that in climbing situations in two ways.
First, it’s dynamic in nature. While not considered a “shock absorb-er” the technical specs allow for falls up to FF1. That means you could be futzing about trying to adjust something on the anchor with 2 feet of Petzl Arial between you and your anchor point. If you create two feet of slack but don’t go above the anchor point, and fall directly on the anchor (a fall of 2 feet or less), this attachment will dissipate the energy enough to not scramble your organs. The nylon sling/PAS options will not accommodate this type of mistake.
Second, it’s easily adjustable in both directions. You can shorten or lengthen this with consider-able ease increasing the chance of not having unnecessary slack in the system to worry about generating any high fall factor forces. Granted, adjusting it to be longer takes a little bit of practice, especially if you want to do it one handed, but with a little bit of practicing it becomes second nature, and is definitely easier than the Purcell Prusik which pretty much requires two hands for both tightening and loosening.
With that point addressed there is only one other consideration I want to bring up, and that is in redundancy. The materials throughout are more than enough strong for the application, but when confronted with a double bolt anchor without chains this device doesn’t allow you to be clipped into both without building a quick sling anchor (Magic X) or the like. In this regard the Metolius PAS starts to show some advantage. However, the Petzl Dual Connect Adjust solves this issue quickly, though picks up some more weight & bulk in the process.
I’ll be testing the Dual Connect for the next month or so, and plan to update this post with more info related to that. Specifically I have some ideas for how I will rack/store these items on my harness in a more efficient way. While I admit I won’t pack these on trips where I am shaving ounces everywhere there are plenty of times I can see this making my day easier. Off the top of my head guiding 3 clients half-way up Whitehorse before rappelling, cleaning/bolting new routes in the outback, and as a personal tether for Mountain Rescue Service applications (especially as a litter attendant, this device has great potential due to its specifications).
In summary Petzl has created something unique and innovative here. It’s not the Holy Grail, but it’s functional and serves purpose. It does not replace the PAS, double length sling tethers, or clove hitches, but gives us another option of how we secure ourselves in the vertical world. It’s definitely worth checking out.
So what do you think of it? Have you tried it? What’s your personal tether system look like? Let me know in the comments below!
Disclaimer: Both the Connect Adjust and Dual Connect Adjust are being loaned to me from Petzl for this review and I’ll be returning them shortly. My opinions on the device(s) are solely my own.
Northeast Alpine Start 
Thanks for the informative write up. I can see how it could be useful for some specialized situations, especially if you use a PAS today. I’m pretty weight conscience so will continue to just anchor in with my rope. When cleaning sport or top rope routes I just use a nylon sling and locking biners from my existing rack (and avoid getting above my protection).
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Looks like it would be a good adjustable daisy for aid climbing and new routeing. It may weigh more than the POS but it is certainly not as much of a cluster!
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I have about 1.5 aid pitches under my belt Nick but I think you are right.
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Hi David,
I was wondering if you could expand upon your statement that the connect adjust shines in “Multi-pitch descents/canyoneering”. I totally understand the advantage of having a dynamic tether however this would require your rappel device to be rigged to a completely different system(if you want to extend your rappel). If not your rappel device would have to attach directly to your belay loop. When you used this on multi-pitch descents how did you rig your rappel?
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Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the comment and questions! I’ve added a photo to the review showing a clever way to extend your rappel device and still maintain a tether with the single Connect Adjust. Take a look and let me know if that answers your questions!
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I think the thing that is most attractive to me about the connect (vs. the Metolius PAS or the BD anchor system) is that you can adjust the length *without* undoing your locker. I can shorten my Metolius PAS without undoing the locker only by adding another biner to the system.
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Good point Livia! Thanks for the comment!
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do you think it is ok to girth hitch the connect adjust to the harness tie in points, rather than the belay loop similar to what i would do with a knotted double length nylon sling? is the clove hitched biner used as a rap extension ok’d by petzl anywhere? just wondering.
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I can’t find any reason why it wouldn’t be ok to girthhitch the tie in point vs the Belay loop but Petzls instructions indicate it is ok to only capture Belay loop. Petzl has made no comments regarding the practice of cloving a carabiner like I have but it’s a non-issue IMO. Plenty strong enough.
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thanks – appreciate the reply – i agree – i feel either way of tying in would be fine and the girth hitched biner looks good too – just curious
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Curious what your perspective is of using a clove hitch here versus an alpine butterly loop, to extend the rappel with a Petzl Connect Adjust? Safety/practical trade offs?
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@G. Clove Hitch works great for that. Plenty strong and secure enough!
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Could the Petzl Connect double as a way to hang your pack between your legs while rappelling in canyoneering scenarios instead of carrying dogbones.
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I don’t see why not? It might be a little overkill for the purpose but dynamic adjustability cant hurt. I would think it would be a perfect tether for station transitions. Disclaimer I have almost zero canyoneering experience.
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Do you see if any issues in using the Petzl Connect Adjust alongside a Petzl Arial rope (same colour/diameter)? Wondering if it would make it a little confusing when looking down to grab slack
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+ Or when cleaning the anchor
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Hi Michael, thanks for the comment! While perhaps not ideal having the two be of the same color/pattern it might require one to pay just a little more attention but I wouldn’t consider it a deal breaker.
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Hi David, did you get any other answers/information for the multi rappel use ? (Petzl has made no comments regarding the practice of cloving a carabiner like I have but it’s a non-issue IMO)
Thanks !
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Hi Tristan, could you elaborate on what info you are looking for?
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I mean, in terms of safety and strength degradation in case of a fall.
Thank you !
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Hi David!!
Where you able to review the DUAL CONNECT ADJUS?, Im
Worried about redundancy, so I was wondering if I only add another caribiner in the middle to create an extra anchor point (Im from Mexico, so my English is not good)
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Hi Maggie, I was not unfortunately but the Dual Connect Adjust would certainly be a redundant option. With the regular Adjust you can gain redundancy at your anchor but using a Quad, Sliding X, or pre-equalized tied off sling. I talk about a version of the Quad in this post: https://northeastalpinestart.com/2017/11/02/tech-tip-the-mini-quad/
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Hi David,
Did you manage to review the Dual Connect Adjust as well? I was wondering what kind of carabiner has to be used on the “sewn termination with plastic protection”. I tried a normal carabiner but the hole in the plastic is very narrow. Is it meant to deform when inserting the carabiner?
Many thanks in advance
David
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I did not get to review the Dual Connect Adjust but Petzl does make some specific carabiner recommendations for this use. Have a look here: https://m.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Choice-of-lanyard-end-carabiner-for-a-rock-climbing-or-via-ferrata-lanyard?ProductName=DUAL-CONNECT-ADJUST&Familly=Lanyards
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Thank you very much!
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Hey David, just curious would you feel comfortable using the Dual connect directly on the anchors when cleaning a sport route? No use of slings, or cordelette. I like the idea of this Petzl dual connect as a simple option to clean sport routes.
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Yes that’s a great use for it!
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Perhaps a stupid question, but how do you rack these on your harness?
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Not a stupid question! When I’m using it it stays attached to the belay loop and I shorten the tether and clip it to my rear gear loop. I’ve seen some people prefer to run it under their legs to a rear gear loop but I prefer keeping it to my right side
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