Hello. I’ve just started getting into indoor climbing and it’s looking like it might be cost effective to buy a harness rather than renting each time.

What should I be looking out for in a harness, and can anyone recommend anything for a beginner?

The one that’s comfy when you try them on and hang on a rope in the shop, if you can?

Try some on in your climbing wall and see what fits best

As above – try loads on for size in a shop, have a hang on it and make sure it doesn’t make you talk all high pitched, like…

An adjustable one such as Camp make. Then you can wear it on the wall and over winter mountainerring kit too.

Petzl for the win for a basic but comfy harness…

The rental ones I’ve used are DMM’s. They seem OK, but I don’t have anything to compare with. The shop at the wall (reading) are pretty helpful, so I’ll go in and try a few. Is comfort the main feature I should be thinking about?

The one that fits best with enough gear loops when you get in to a bit of trad leading. Personally I always found black Diamond and Petzl were comfiest. If you go in to any decent climbing shop you should be able to hang in the harness to see how it feels. If they don’t let you do that then go somewhere else.

Whatever you do, get one with more than 3 gear loops! If you want to progress to leading trad, you will need 4 minimum.

Try Ukclimbing.com, If you are not aware of it, its the climbing equivalent of STW. You get the same old childish witter, with a sprinkling of useful info.

As above try some on but a simple cheap harness is the DMM centre alpine which I have as well as a renegade pro.

Jesus, you guys might think you know a lot about old Kona’s and how to bleed Juicy 5’s but you have no idea about climbing.

An adjustable one such as Camp? Thats like saying “What car should I buy?…… “Ohh, one that runs on petrol like a Ford.”

WHICH Camp harness? FFS

And Petzl for the win (a basic but comfy harness?????!!!!)

**** me! Petzl do some of the best designed and most feature laden harnesses on the planet? WHICH one ffs?

(Hangs head in shame.)

Stick to arguing about 10 speed vs 9 or 29 vs 26 please.

If you only intend indoor climbing walls then a fully adjustable mountaineering harness is unnecessary IMO. keep it simple.

LOL. Black Diamond Alpine Bod for no-frills functionality.

Go into a shop with a budget and a book. Hang in a couple you like the look of for as long as you can and buy the most comfortable one.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/sama-id_3379049.html

Something like this will be fine for indoor and sport climbing. Anything more complicated is a waste of time and money.

Something like the Black Diamond Momentum AL is a good start. Available for £50

Petzl Corax are good too but I’m not that keen since they changed the style. Probably about £10 more than the BD too.

Wild country & DMM are also okay well I’ve mates who have them and don’t complain about them.

Things to look for: Adjustability is good (waist and leg loops) and I’d want minimum of 4 gear loops in case you fancy the transition to outside/trad. And make sure the colour doesn’t clash wi your t-shirt….

Well simple_simon, at least all the clueless halfwits that posted were able to make a suggestion, which is more than you appear to be capable of.

As above. Get down to somewhere like snow and rock (chosen just because I get a disccount due to being member if climbing centre). Pick the one that fits. I ended up buying a um erm erm grey one cos it felt nice. Can’t reccomend it enough.

I got a DMM Renegade.

It was the model I borrowed when I started climbing, never had any issues with it.

Tried loads when I bought mine, but kept coming back to this one for it’s comfort, adjustability, amount of gear loops and TBH, the fact that I just trusted it.

I have a wild country ziplock, superb.

TBH, look at how you want to progress with your climbing, then tune the harness to suit, loops etc.

Comfort is a big driver, especially if you intend to wear it for day climbs

And you have done better Kenny?

What are you getting into? Do you just climb indoors or do you want to venture outdoors into sport or trad?

If you just climb indoors and have no real desire to go anywhere else, something light and well fitting which gives you a really good range of movement is what you want. You only need a couple of gear loops for dangling a chalkbag, belay and maybe a few clips off.

If you do want to progress more outdoors, then start to look at a heavier harness, with more padding around the rear of the legs, backstrap and crotch. Pay more attention to the comfort of it, how well fitted it is and try it on with clothes on too – something that fits in a pair of thin shorts might not work as well over 3 or 4 layers or when you’re hanging on it for an hour belaying a long pitch. I’ve always used wild country harnesses so would say something like the ziplock sport for indoor and the syncro for more all round use. I use a syncro normally and an old sport harness indoors when I don’t want a load of extra weight.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ these forums might be a good place to look for climbing advice!

Yes. Because I’ve managed not to slag off everyone who’s tried to help the OP, which is better than you did.

Also, not of consideration at present for you. But I specifically buy harnesses with leg loop buckles that can allow the leg loops to be undone completely whilst remaining tied in. Useful for a no.2 when on some face somewhere or other.

You’ve just demonstrated how few indoor walls you’ve climbed on with this, Simon:

“If you just climb indoors and have no real desire to go anywhere else, something light and well fitting which gives you a really good range of movement is what you want. You only need a couple of gear loops for dangling a chalkbag, belay and maybe a few clips off. “

Climbing with a chalk bag indoors is banned on some walls and considered anti-social by regualar climbers on many others. Walls end up plastered in chalk and if you land on the bag you fill the room with a cloud of the stuff. At the walls I’ve used recently the social climber chalks up with a minimum of chalk from the communal basket with a chalk ball in it.

I’ve never come across a wall that has banned chalk. Loose chalk, maybe, but not chalk balls. How do you carry the communal bucket up a 20m route?

As far as harnesses go, if the OP is a relative novice leading mid-grades indoors, then he doesn’t need anything particularly expensive or lightweight.

Comfort and hard-wearing are the main things he should be looking for. And that depends on your size, weight, leg thickness, loads of factors, so your best bet is to try on a few, and hang on them for a minute at a time, shifting weight around to try to spot if they are going to cause discomfort. If he’s a bigger lad, areas to focus on are padding around the back of the harness.

If the OP has any interest in getting outdoors, four or so gear loops will be needed, but most harnesses have at least this many.

Climbing with a chalk bag indoors is banned on some walls and considered anti-social by regualar climbers on many others.

Cobblers.

Loose chalk is frowned upon, but you’re supposed to use chalk balls instead. And you, ah, still need a bag to keep your balls in.

To the OP,

Can we assume you’ve got your own rock shoes? If not, I’d prioritise that over a harness.

Some places do starter sets consisting of harness, screwgate and belay device; might be worth looking out for something like this? Go Outdoors had a decent one last time I was in (could’ve been DMM, can’t remember).

Kenny, my point is that you haven’t suggested what harness to buy….

I suggest you stick to things that you know about, like quoting useless bits of information from movies.(Or ducking into a thread you have no idea about and leaving one or two lines of a comment and then running away again.)

Also, Edukator….. You are quoting me incorrectly. It wasnt me.. it was someone else. (But if you want a comment, then…… “Communal chalk dipping????? Wots that all about then? Wer’e not bloody olympic gymnasts ya know. (or do you live in the states?) Also, chalk bags have never been banned at walls, however loose chalk is often frowned upon. (Thats why you can get some neat little chalk balls to pop in your bag.)

LOVED your opening line also “You’ve just demonstrated how few indoor walls you’ve climbed on with this, Simon:”

I tend to do all my climbing in the like, OUTDOORS! Doh!

Thats what climbing is, isn’t it? An outdoor sport? Trad is where it’s at.

Oh and Kenny, if you want ME to suggest a harness then I would probably go for one from Petzl/Wild Country/DMM/Singing Rock/Black Diamond/Metolius cuz they like have those belay things on them for like clipping in…

Oh, hush.

I bought my harness and shoes from a big Tiso that’s next to one of the places i climb and hires out shoes/climbing gear. I’d also prioritise buying shoes over a harness – hired climbing shoes *boke*. I asked Tiso for advice when buying mine – i said i was a beginner but was wanting to progress to lead climbing/outdoors. Try on a few and see how they feel – Tiso made me clip into a rope and sit down in the harness to see what felt best.

Simon, you into bodybuilding too?

Jeez, chill out, this place is full of useful/useless information which may or may not be correct.

The majority of any indoor ice/rock climbing lessons I’ve taken have been at the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven.

Started with rock, after a few lessons I said to the instructor “which harness would you recommend?” He suggested a few harnesses and told me to try them. I picked the one that was most comfortable. I bought the Petzl Adjama.

When I started ice climbing, I said “which harness would you recommend” and the instructor looked down at my harness and said “are you comfortable in that one?”. I said yes and he said “well, I’d recommend that one” 🙂

That’s much better Simon. Perhaps next time you can just make your suggestions, rather than wade in mocking everyone else who has, then you won’t look such a tit. And here’s another tip – don’t be so foolish as to assume that I don’t climb just because I didn’t add anything to the suggestions already made.

Kenny,

You STILL haven’t recommended a harness…..

Isn’t it time you ran away?

Climbers: The only people who can out-clique fatbikers 😉

This is why I don’t head to UKC much any more…

My current harness is 8 years old, you can’t buy them anymore, so there is no point suggesting it to the OP. (Unless you advocate a beginner buying an old second hand harness?)

Hope never to meet you on a crag, Simon. However, I do apologise for sustituting your name for another. It stuck in my mind for some reason.

I said chalk is banned on some walls and it is, Cougar. Mulhouse University and a wall in Chamonix among others. It’s also banned on some crags where I’ve climbed, in Germany and also some places in France, notably Fontainebleau.

I might mix up ranters’ names but my climbing facts are solid.

Kenny,

Why you climbing on an 8 year old harness?

Ohh and Edukator…. my sentiments entirely, Best summed up with the word Cobblers.

Because there’s nothing wrong with it.