Harnesses?

[rydra_wong]

Now I've finally learned how to tie in with a rethreaded figure-of-eight, belay, etc., it has occurred to me that at some point I may need to buy a harness.

So, what should I know, people? What are the questions to consider? What should I take into account (other than "it should fit me and be appropriate for a lot of indoor top-roping")? Advise me!

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

I definitely recommend spending a little extra for a harness with cushy padding and extra loops for clipping things onto it. While a harness without padding will still protect you, it won't feel very good when you take a hard fall. The loops are handy, even if you never sports climb, for things like your chalk bag, your shoes when you aren't climbing and your water bottle.

[syderia]

My advide would be to find a shop that lets you try them out before buying. Here there's one where you put it on and they hoist you up in the air, so you can judge how comfortable they are.

The second the "extra loops" piece of advice from the previous poster. Try to have at least four.

[cofax7]

Harnesses vary. Some of what you will need to decide includes indoor or outdoor, sport or trad, gear loops, cushy leg loops, etc. Women's harnesses have a narrower waist, are often lighter and more brightly colored.

I recommend you find a shop where you can try one on and hang in it for a few minutes. Also imagine being yanked about by 200 lbs pulling you upwards, how comfortable would that be for half an hour at a stretch?

More expensive ones are probly more than you need, and are designed for big wall climbs. Try some out, talk to people about their gear. I'm sure you already know not to buy a used harness...

[wpadmirer]

I have a Camp harness. I got it three years ago, and it's held up extremely well. The waist straps are dual - one on each side, which makes it really easy to tighten comfortably and have the loops centered. Nice thing. It is padded and it's not expensive.

It's a unisex harness, because I don't give a damn about colors, and I wanted something good. (grin) I highly recommend the Camp harnesses. It's got loops, a special tab loop in the center of the back for your chalk bag, it's durable and comfortable. I've climbed indoors and outdoors and it's worked well for all.

I know some people want to go with lighter harnesses, but I think you give up some durability and certainly comfort when you do.

Yay, gear :-)

[emperor]

UKClimbing has quite a lot of harness reviews, which are good. I got a new harness last year, which is a DMM Renegade, and I'm liking very much. It's comfy and has enough gear loops for trad.

Any decent climbing gear shop should have at least some rope and a 'biner hanging from a beam which you can attach to and sit / swing / hang in harnesses. The most, most important thing is that the blessed thing is comfy.

The second most important thing is that it'll fit when you're wearing almost nothing (think a light t-shirt and shorts or whatever you'll go climbing in if we get summer this year) and when you're wearing a bazillion layers (e.g. t-shirt / fleece / waterproof for when climbing in "summer" in Wales).

Next, consider what you're going to use it for. For trad, more gear loops are a definite plus (my first harness had four, which was OK, but not quite enough), whereas for sport you can probably get away with one or two, and probably even fewer for indoor-only climbing. Equally, if you only want to climb indoor, you can probably save some weight and some £££ by picking a harness with fewer loops, and won't need to bother with leg loops with clips (sort of an outdoors-only need)...

ETA: oh, you get unisex, male, and female harnesses. They tend to vary in size, colour, and the relative dimensions; I'd only really worry about finding one that fits...