The Edelrid OHMEGA, announced today, is a new type of belay assistance that reduces the load on the belayer in a fall while providing other advantages. The OHMEGA defines a new category of belay assist devices. Placed on the first piece of protection, it actively reduces the load on the belayer in a lead fall.
It also reduces rope drag for the leader and has other advantages. It will hit the market in August 2025.
Edelrid claims that the OHMEGA is a different animal than the OHM. The German brand developed the OHM (now in its second generation) to offset the negative effects of a lead climber far outweighing the belayer.
The OHM passively adds friction to the rope in the event of a fall, decreasing the force transmitted to the belayer. This reduces the chances of injury to the belayer from being pulled into or up the wall and does the same for the lead climber by minimizing fall distance.
The OHMEGA actively adds resistance to the rope during a fall via a spring-loaded cam instead of passively doing it through geometry and rope drag. Additionally, the amount of “weight” added to the belayer is adjustable between three levels of assistance. This is functionally the most significant difference between the OHM and the OHMEGA.