As a female climber and also a physicist I do really really really love your videos! And today I would like to tell you my experience buying harnesses and if you get to read this, or anyone else in the community, I would like to know you opinion and if you know about similar situations. It was VERY VERY VERY difficult for me to find a harness, even among the lady designs and yet I am not fully satisfied. As you explain in the video, female versions have smaller waist loop and bigger leg loops, however, they do not match very well from my experience. It happens that my sizes are 61cm on the wais perimeter and 56cm on the legs perimeter, which I don't think are so weird sizes, and most of the harnesses starts from 65cm or 70cm in the waist loop, including small sizes of women harnesses (Petzl, Mammut, Black Diamond...) !! However, there are a few brands in which the XS size might start in 60cm (Camp), but the leg loops are just too small for me, making my nightmare continue. At the end I bought a lady harness from Ocun that had a wide range for adjustability in both loops and I thought I was happy until it arrived to my place and surprise surprise.... THE ELASTICS YOU TOLD ABOUT IN THIS VIDEO WERE JUST TOO SHORT!! I also wondered why they were there until I had this experience and I understood. As you said, we women wear the waist loop a little bit higher than men due to our anatomy, therefore these elastics should also be longer as the distance between both loops is greater, but in this case they were not! And I do not want to tell here what part of my female anatomy gets too much pressure when hanging on the harness... if you know what I mean. Thanks for the videos again!!
My girlfriend had a similar problem, and ended up buying a black diamond harness that had two buckles on the waist band (one each side of the belay loop). This gave more adjustment for her small waist. She hasn't mentioned any issues with the elastics and seems pretty happy with it.
You are absolutely right! my perimeters are around 5cm more than yours on both my waist and legs, so I could fit into standardized harnesses, but only if I adjust my waist loop at the tightest and leg loops at the loosest.
I found out today that my harness hasn't been safe to climb with for... well, years. I already knew somewhat, but buying a new one is psychological torture. My leg/hip ratio seems to be baffling for harness creators as well, while my sollution would be to make the leg straps adjustable.
You are a legend, thanks for sharing! I was hoping you would do a bonus round of which harness is suitable fr highliners too, since we have the exact same options as climbers :) thank you once again BEN!
Thanks! And... I suck at Highlinening :D So would not be the best person to listen for advices :D And yes I don't think that there are Harnesses specifically designed for Highlinening... it's to small for manufacturers... So you have to pick what suits your needs out of what exists for other sports... But as falls go, the only difference I see that in Highlines you take way more inverted falls compared to sport climbing falls. So I would not go with super skinny waist loop, that might not be the most comfy.
@@HardIsEasy hope to see you highlining soon, feel free to connect with us if you plan to make a trip to India to climb and highline, would be happy to help you out in every way possible for me! We usually prefer for padded harnesses like black diamond big gun or momentum, but I always wonder if there are any other factors that go into it. This topic would make for a good cross over episode with Ryan ;) i love it when you'll are in each others videos. Cheers!
As a beginner climber getting back into it after...a LONG time (20+ yrs), your videos are AMAZINGLY informative. I love the depth of information and approach you take. Thank you very much for your incredible videos!
Part about doing my business blew my mind! I have this feature in my harness but had no idea! My life is so much better now. Tbh I can't wait to use it so much that I think I'll wear it at the moment and try. Thank you!!!!!
Nice video about the harnesses, I really like it. Just a few comment: 1. If you are planning to do Alpine or Winter climbing choose that where it contains some extra ice screw clipper. 2. Worn out: after long crack or chimney climbing always check the back of the harness!
I think you should add the importance of checking that the buckle of the harness are properly locked (strap goes one way and then back ). I have witness some near misses for people not knowing this and harness opening for not locking them properly.
The leg loop straps were a mystery to me until one day I was climbing on a rental harness and it didn't have them. The leg loops kept falling down behind my knees and you can't move your legs properly when your leg loops are caught on your knees... Lesson learned.
I wear a female Edelrid harness. It's neon green, yellow, and a bright blue, which I actually like the color. I had a men's Edelrid and it was not comfortable enough. I sat in my harness while I was watching a friend set up an anchor and clean just to make sure he was okay. I saw up there for at least 20 minutes it felt like. It was very uncomfortable. One day one of our friends at the gym walked out with this female version, bright colors and all. He's sponsored so sometimes he just gets products sent to him and I've never seen that specific one at any of the stores I shopped at for gear. I asked him, "Bro where did you get that harness?" "We have it here now, it's a female harness" I walked towards the back to go find it, "I'm getting it". Bought it and never regretted it. Knowing that the female harnesses do have bigger leg straps as I'm bulkier guy compared to the average climber. Bigger hamstrings and quads. It's probably the most comfortable harness I've owned so far. If it's comfortable wear it. Obviously this goes with climbing shoes too as I've seen guys wear ladies shoes and some ladies where guys shoes (because they're usually wider). Since my "old" harness was still very new (about a month or so), I gave it to one of our other climbing friends. He's had his harness since he started climbing (older gentleman). I said we had talked about him getting a new harness, so now he can have my old one and not have to buy a new one.
Hello! Just wanted to say that your video about physics of falling showed up in my recommendations and I really loved your energy even though I'm not a climber. Subscribed just because I think you deserve recognition for being so good at explaining things!
Thank you for making this series, I always find your videos interesting and helpful. On the subject of this video I was wondering if an additional chest harness is something that is commonly used or if it's used only in some particular cases, does it provide extra safety?
Thank You! Chest harnesses are almost never used in Sport Climbing. If you can't make your harness stay above your hip bones to not slip down - then chest harness could help... You might find this set up for little kids.
Chest harnesses are used in a few cases. For example in alpine climbing, if the climbers need to take a heavy backpack. In this case their center of gravity moves up so that with the sport climbing harness alone they tend to flick back. A chest harness prevents this. Another case is for very young children, like below 7 years.
When carrying a backpack your center of mass is shifted to almost above the belly button. You inevitably tip backwards when sitting in your harness and falling with such a heavy mass you hurt your back pretty badly. A chest harness solves these problems. Basically they are safer when carrying a backpack and overall more conveniet
Šaunuolis , Benai!!! man patinka žiūrėti tavo klipus, dar ir su vertimu į rusų kalbą išvis gaunasi gerai plius mokausi anglų 😁😁. Kokioj šalį dabar esi?
Just binged the entire series in a day! This is an AMAZING resource, regardless of how long someone has climbed/how experienced they are. I'm definitely donating to the cause. Now, I need more in the series! Can't wait for the next one!
Great video as usual. Detachable leg elastics,…hmmm 🤔. A side discussion that won’t be off-channel is winter use of harnesses. I have a slightly bulkier set-up for ski-touring and ice-climbing.
Packing volume is also a very important to consider when choosing a harness. It's always better to have more space in your backpack. :) Great series anyway, thanks!
I bought my first harness a few weeks ago but I've been in lock down ever since so haven't climbed on it yet. I was wondering what the tiny loop on the back was for! So far I just use it to hang up my harness
Very good video with lots of usefull information, albeit a little to late for me as I've already bought mine ;) The biggest broblem I had was finding a model that was big enough for my body size as I am 187cm (6'2") tall and weigh in at 125kg (275lbs). I needed a harness to fit my waist 115cm (44") and thighs 70cm (27.5") and the only one I managed to find was Black Diamond's Momentum Harness Moonstone 2XL =)
quick question, quite often you (and other climbers) will say the word "retire" when it come to gear that you shouldn't use anymore. But i always wondered what then? Do you just bin it? are there recycling plants you can give them to? Just recently I had to cut my rope because of damage and the guy at the gym said I could still use the slightly damaged rope for static protection, and could cut it up and turn it into other useful gear (i.e. slings). Would you consider doing a video about what to do with retired gear (if there's much else you can do besides bin it)? Thanks!
I use my old harness for training at gym, instead of the classic gym belts to load more weight in some exercises (ie pull ups). Carabiniers became very useful for everyday life: key rings, replacement parts for dog's collar ecc. Ropes became standard ropes. You can use all of your fantasy, but don't use for climb anymore.
in addtion to the lanyard ( I got Petzl Scorpio Vertigo Lanyard) what type of harness did you use, I'm looking at some ultralightweight type like "Petzl TOUR Harness - Lightweight Harness for Glacier Travel and Ski Touring" Would it be sufficient for via Ferrata, or do I need a full climbing harness. I'm planning on using it for Alta Via 2 route, its not technically sports climbing?.
I am a real nube to this and have near to no climbing experience but maybe a new passion: in the woods newly discovered that my husband and I love climbing trees. Your videos help getting an overview on how to do that safely. Thanks! As a medical practitioner I do feel it's important to state: the leg loops must be kept as loose as you said because when you hang after falling, and they are too tight, dangerous things can happen: your blood-circulation can be compromised, blood rushes to your legs and doesn't get back to your heart and head which can make you lose consciousness and in very extrem causes even lead to death. The legs can also be cut-off from blood circulation. This can cause long-term damage. Also a sudden re-circulation after a long cut-off can cause a heart- malfunction by the sudden gush of blood. These things can happen within 20 Minutes. Don't want to scare you off, but as far as we learned in med-school: keeping leg-loopes "loose-ish" is not just for more leg-movement... ❤
hey, tnks for the video. A question: what sender harness size can you recommending for me? Beacuse my waist is for buy S but my leg size is on the limite of S, but wais M could be big :CC (sorry for my english, i write/speak little)
Useful - although I was expecting to see your opinions on single tie-in point harnesses (eg Petzl Pandion, DMM Centre, etc). Have you covered that in any videos?
Thanks for the video. Its really interesting. But , could you please test the called unisex harness? I am afraid that they are just male harness. It's a pity women have less Sport material adapted. Thanks again, yogur videos are very usefull
Hi there! On a new harness I have wrapped paracord lines around belaying loop and the tie-in points, in order to prevent chaffing. I'm going to use this harness only on Via Ferrata. Bad/ good ideea?
No need for removable leg straps to do your business ladies! Just push them aside. Never been an issue for me with any harness - i.e. I have never taken my harness off to do any such business 😆. It just requires a little clothing wiggle at the end but no biggie
I just clicked on the Mammut link for the Sender harness and bought one. Awesome intel and I hope it helps you make more informative videos. A great series for sure
Love your videos, really well explained with practical application scenarios and especially stuff a normal climber was always wondering about: what🤨, how😱 and why🤔.
Any chance you could do a video on suspension trauma, I had someone with considerable experience tell me that sitting for more than 7 minutes in a harness is bad for you. What are the best ways to avoid trauma if you are in a situation where you have to stay suspended for an extended period of time?
Thank you for the videos of the series so far! My harness is already pretty dirty just from using it the last couple of months outside. Do you know if it's possible to wash the harness?
You should check out your manufacturer recommendations on it to be safe. However, mine says that it is safe to wash with gentle soap. I use Dr. Bronner's pure castille soap personally. Just a plain soap with no additives. I hand wash in a clean Rubbermaid container that I know hasn't had any cleaning chemicals in it. I don't do it in the sink because there could be residual cleaning chemicals in it from the last time I cleaned it. Then I rinse it really well and let it air dry on a drying rack (not hanging). It worked really well! Looked like new. But again, I would refer to your harness manufacturer recs. You can just Google for it easily.
It’s a good and well explained video about harness. However, I am a little bit sad to not have seen any full body harness presented. I feel like there are so little reliable information about these. But I think they still deserve to be talked about since they are also used by climberd for many reasons.
Yes. I understand that the main focus is on sport climbing, but I feel that your videos would be also useful for other applications, for alpine climbers, industrial rope access climbers, firefighters, and so on. The basics are the same, but I would gladly watch a separate series for any other style of climbing
@@ffoska I mean, that requires the person to know about those things. I don't think he should be talking about those if he doesn't have experience with them. This is a sport climbing channel after all. Also, algorithm. Creators need to create things that stay "on brand" for their youtube channels otherwise the algorithm stops suggesting their channel to their audience. Many channels die while trying to "diversify".
@@wlthr yeah you might be right. But still the quality of this content is very good, and it might be his expirience, but also the presentation. Maybe get the experts on his show? And yeah chances are, there are chanels dedicated to other areas
I'd argue that there is almost no amateur use for a full body harness, and therefore there is no space for a "masterclass" for professionnals on youtube. If you are talking about shoulder straps for caving for example then yes it would have been interesting to talk about those things ! Cheers
Thank you, and yes these videos are mostly targeted for Sport Climbers. Covering all types of climbing, especially professional work industry, would make videos insanely long / broad and very hard to produce requiring to understand all different areas and safety requirements.
Are you climbing without trousers sometimes? 🤔 Hopefully you wear a long shirt or something else. Or is there a new climbing style, like naked point? 😏
I recently purchased a DMM Vixen harness, i measured up my waist and got the appropriate size, but I find that the fabric band round the waist doesn't overlap or touch, as suggested in a number of videos. Theres a couple of cm of daylight between, despite definitely being in the right measurement range. Is this still okay or is it worth needing to bin it in for a larger harness?
As long as it's not uncomfortable, there is no reason why the padding needs to touch or overlap, there are many harnesses that are set up that way, where the padding is not going across the front all the way.
@@raphaelbeinhauer9242 Thanks for the reply, It does seem that maybe it's not built for overlap, but I've seen so many videos mentioning it I was wondering if I was going to have a problem. Thanks for the advice
I have the same one. Thinking I take a M in the viper so the vixen should be the same. But the viper is unisex and the vixen is 'female'. What I will say is it takes so much effort to get over my hips (is fine on the waist, but it's like they didn't factor in hips) that there is no way I'm falling out of it even if I do flip upside down.
He mentioned double adjustable harnesses for if your planning on putting on some size. For experiment I’ve now put on 70lbs. I was 150 lbs, climbed regular enough that I could onsite 11+ trad. Now 25 years later I am 220 lbs (same weight as Mike Tyson), I climb mostly at the gym now twice a week with my wife. I lead climb mostly and climb 11- on days I didn’t stuff my self with Twinkies, I will now stop eating yummy food, opps I mean yucky bad for you food that tricks you into thinking you like it by tasting so, so good. , start keto( I think this was started in concentration camp.) Once I’m back to 150 lbs and if my calculations are correct I will be climbing 13-
I do not remember you speaking about it in the Sling episode. -The belay loop is often used to put slings or lanyard. Is this an OK behavior or should it be avoided? I do not feel confortable to thread my stuff through the small space around the belay loop to get the two "tie in loops". (And I do know that if you put them on belay loop, they should be removed to avoid wear) -second question: during an abseil, should you put both belay device & third hand on the belay loop? is it considered as redundant? Thanks for the quality of you videos, much appreciated ! :-)
My opinion here: 1- if you put your lanyard/sling on the belay loop, when anchored it would be same as having the rope tied to the belay loop, it probably won't kill you, but it might get uncomfortable or harder to position yourself, one can argue on redundancy of having the sling on two loops, and I personally found way easier to manage the gear on different places, but it is just how I've learned, metal on the belay loop, softies on the tie in haha 2- I use a multi chain so I can still have redundancy when abseiling, having the device on one loop and the third hand on the harness., I've seen people using the leg loop to attach the third hand, but it looks very sketchy, wouldn't recommend, and honestly the third hand is supposed to backup your hands as the name suggest, and not the device so I personally don't have problems on not having redundancy between those two, if that's the case. But again it's only how I learned. What's your personal on those questions you've asked?
#1 I talked about that in Sling episode towards the end... #2 Not sure if I understand your question, but you might want to look up for extended rappel - maybe that answers your question.
@@HardIsEasy @Hard Is Easy 2- I do extend my ATC with a sling which is attached to my belay loop. And I put my prusik below it but also clipped to my belay loop. Thus I'm wondering if it is considered not safe or "it's super good enough" like and other RU-vidr would say. Or maybe as Heitor mentioned, it's my ATC that should be extended but attached to the tie in.
@@HeitorxD1 thanks for your answer ! I'm too new to have a lot of stuff going on my harness I guess. Because since I have only the rope attached on the tie in, it feels natural to put the lanyard on the belay loop when leading. So I do have 1 or 2 of them on it. (For sure always loaded and not above the anchor point)
Thank you very much for your videos. Can you please explain a little more about the Mammut Indicator technology? I actually bought a set of Mammut Indicator Quickdraws when I was climbing in Andalusia and realised I didn't have enough Quickdraws, but now I can't find any more information about the technology. And just a small detail, you mainly talked about "ultralight" harnesses for sport climbing. It's a bit pity that you didn't cover other types of harnesses, such as those for climbing, full body, ski alpinism or big wall. It would be interesting for me, and I hope for the others too, but I understand that the video can take hours.
Loving your lessons! I winged it and bought a black diamond momentum not for climbing, but just for navigating steep slopes LOL! Hope it's a good harness for rappelling! Hmm, climbing with no pants? seems like a bad idea lol!
When will Ep.6 come back? I just spend like half an hour looking for your belay techniques video and then saw the videos go from 5 to 7, so I probably need the 6th one. I guess it was removed because of the PBUS misinterpretation?
What do you think about that Black Diamond Solution Harness? (The green one) Can i use it also for via ferrata or alpin? or just for sport climbing? Thank you!
I love the way you explain things not just saying what you are suposed to do acording to theory but allso explaning what happends when you do things in uncorrect ways. I don´t know if you´ll ever see this coment but I have a question. What´s the problem with you tying yourself to the harnes with a carabiner if you do it in the belay loop (so it won´t load in a triaxial way) and you do it with a belay carabiner which would avoid cross load. I´ve seen you tie yourself with 2 carabiners with the gates facing away of each other and I understand it would be something similar. It would not be to use it in sport climbing, but in small first or second grade step ups allong a mountaineering route for an extra safety but trying to save time as it would be a repeated process. I apologize for the huge text but it´s something I have not found discused in youtube.
They're haul loops made for hauling as you said. Like rope, rucksack. The Black Diamond doesn't have one. The 0 Newton applies to the hook meant for the elasticated adjustment straps.
I just took a class to get Belay certified for my 11 year old twins yesterday. The class was 2 hours including practice and was good but there was still a lot I didn't know. Your videos have been wonderfully informative. I like how you explain why you do things a certain way, what happens if you don't do things the correct way and options to keep safe. My kids just love climbing and being informed will help me keep them safe. Thanks for your wonderful videos!
I always find it funny when people pay significantly more because something is a little bit lighter, while having a poop before climbing will make a much bigger weight difference. Still not as extreme as the fat guys on 'professional' bicycles who say lights are too heavy but still.
Tremendous fan of the Mammut Sender in the emergency orange, only major qualm is the elastic tensioner for the leg loops adjusts too easily due to the quick adjust slide. Had to trim this all off and sew the elastic to itself to maintain the desired tension. Also, wish there was a version with strictly the nylon gear loops instead of the larger coated ones. The nylon loops are much lower profile, which when I am projecting I would far rather.
Don't test whether the harness fits tight enough by tugging the gear loops! They might easiy break as they are not designed for this (or at east so I've been told; topic for another mythbusting videa?)
On my harness the load-bearing straps wore down quickest. Around the buckles they got really furry which made me retire the harness. Also the leg loops suffered from a lot of abrasion because of walking around in the harness.
Another fact about durability is that some brands put a warning color in the inside of your belay loop and/ or tying loops. When you see that color, often red or orange, you know its time to change your gear
0KN haul loop are used because (I was told) if your haul bag at the anchor were to fall while attached to you, the loop will break and there is less chance of you pulling your gear out and fall to your death.
Hie there, I noticed that this video is not in your belay master class playlist as well, Can you please add it in as well? Thank you and love all your videos and appreciate your detailed introduction and explanations
