Petzl gives a 10-year working life for its products so there’s nothing wrong with using an 8-year-old harness. Keep a harness clean and in the dark and it’ll be safe much longer than that.

*dons 8yr old cycle helmet*
this is only going to go one way….

Jeez. The guy asks for a couple of suggestions and WW3 breaks out. Internet forums…

Harnesses are all broadly the same. Some have different features that make will them more or less suitable for you depending on what you’re doing. Essentially, the only things to worry about at this stage are the fit (and comfort) and the number of gear loops. If you think you’ll get into winter climbing then start worrying about adjustable leg loops and what the thing’s made from.

Go into a shop and see what they say. If you’re anywhere near the Peak District, let me know and I can show you what we’ve got in stock and talk you through various things.

Ps. Chalk is not banned in Font, unless you’re an argumentative Frenchman and stuck in the 1970s.

this may seem a bit of over kill but i use a black diamond ice harness

really only climb at local club and ratho but since im quite a bit guy the additional padding that comes with the ice harness makes it very comfy and not that heavy, only cost me 45 quid if i remember correctly and has lasted me years

8 year old harnesses that LOOKS ok…. Ummmm

You have heard of Todd Skinner havn’t you?

I last climbed in Fontainebleau in the aerly 90s and everyone was still using resin. Maybe there weren’t enough argumentative Frenchmen.

“Jim Hewett, a friend of Skinner, had previously observed that the harness appeared worn.[”

Todd Skinner who died when his heavily and obviously frayed belay loop snapped? Yeah I’ve heard of him thanks.

just got into climbing recently, indoor for now but with the aim of getting outside come spring. and have just gone through the process of buying a harness too.

ended up with a DMM Renegade. supposed to be a good all-rounder so should be suitable for getting into trad, but the one thing that i found appealing was the ‘free floating waistband’. the shop (V12 @ Awesome Walls) told me that after comfort & fit having the loops centralised was the most important thing. i seemed to be in between a large & med which meant that the loops usually tended to be off to one side or another, but this feature allows them to be rotated to fit better.

Brown +1. All harnesses will stop you from dying, there’s no such thing as a ‘bad’ harness. You pay extra for features; extra padding, coated gear loops, and whatever other ‘must haves’ that their marketing team want to convince you that you need this week.

Priority number one for a beginner should be ‘is it comfortable?’ Go to a good climbing shop and get advice from an shop assistant who actually climbs. Try a few on; a good shop will have a roped crab that you can clip into so you can test it under load.

When I bought mine back in the late Jurassic, I ended up with a fully adjustable harness because it was the only way I could get one that fitted; they were relatively rare back then and you paid a premium for it, these days it looks like it’s harder not to find a fully adjustable one. So, the world’s your mollusc really.

I said chalk is banned on some walls and it is, Cougar.

No, you didn’t. You said chalk bags are banned, which is nonsense.

arcteryx A320.

Chalk bags are banned if they contain chalk. Is that better, Cougar? It isn’t nonsense, you can’t use chalk on some walls, simple as. The walls are in sports halls or are next to other facililies that the owners don’t want plastered in chalk (running around on chalk covered flors is dangerous).

The owners of my local wall wanted to ban chalk but after negociation with climbers have agreed to a trial period in which chalk is allowed on a “chalk then climb basis” in the hope that will limit the amount of chalk dust floating around the building.

Do they want to ban all chalk?, or just loose chalk excluding balls?

Chalk bags are banned if they contain chalk. Is that better, Cougar?

Not really. The issue is loose chalk. I’ve never heard of anywhere that bans chalk balls (or bags for that matter).

I’m sure it was just a typo on your part initially, but it was a misleading one, why is why I clarified it. I’ve no wish to argue about it.

There are walls with a ban on all chalk; loose, in balls or however else you can imagine it, clear?

You didn’t know of such bans, now you do.

I’ll just add try to get one that you are somewhere in the middle of the range of adjustment on the waist band (which should sit above your hips).

I got a Black Diamond something or other and got the large which I now have adjusted to the smallest it will go and it is verging on being too big – inexperienced buyer and not very helpful/very busy shop assistant. I’m going to get a new one soon as I’m having a few too many high pitched voice moments after dynamic falls from the harness moving about.

There are walls with a ban on all chalk

In the UK?

If so, then you’re right, I’ve simply not come across it. Could do to know which ones, then I know to avoid visiting them.

This is a new record, even for STW…..we’re actually having an argument about chalk.

🙂

I love this place.

You’re getting desperate now, Cougar.

Well, no, I was asking a question. Though I could perhaps have worded it a little better.

Could you tell where which climbing walls in the UK have an outright ban on chalk? I’d like to know, as I don’t want to waste time visiting a new wall only to find that I can’t climb there.

“My mate was asked to leave the climbing wall in Ft William leisure centre last night for using chalk(ball). The centre’s policy is that due to the health hazard of chalk dust only liquid chalk or an eco-ball may be used.But these are not as effective in what is a small,poorly ventilated room with slippy holds.Are there other walls where such a ban exists?”

There are alternatives so it really isn’t the problem the man that visited Fort William thought it to be. Liquid chalk pens (Edit: which don’t contain chalk but some substitute), resins… . Perhaps other contributors can advise.

BTW that climbing wall in Fort William no longer exists 🙂

My bad. I should’ve qualified my question with “walls that actually exist.”

And it might look like it, but I’m not being deliberately argumentative. I cannot climb without chalk, so if there is somewhere I can’t go then I’d genuinely like to know.

Perhaps other contributors can advise.

Don’t your solid climbing facts cover it?

Someone is really desperate for a bit of aggro today. 😐

You offering, bee-atch?

(-:

You offering, bee-atch?

🙂

I have the strangest boner right now…

You could chalk the chicken?

Get out. 🙂

Thanks for all the comments (yes, all of them! :-)) I’ll certainly go to the climbing shop as they were really helpful when I’ve been in before. I do now feel a bit more informed about things to look for when I go, esp things like checking that adjustable items are in the middle of their range. Other points…I don’t think I’m too much of a big lad (6ft1, 13st) and already have shoes. At the moment I expect to climb indoors only, but wouldn’t want to get something that would limit me to that. Thanks again.

you really don’t need to spend a lot on a harness.

If it’s comfy and has 4 gear loops, there’s no real reason why you couldn’t use it for pretty much everything from being roped up on a sketchy ridge walk in winter, to indoor rock, to ice climbing on the Ben.

The only time i’ve ever felt uncomfy in a harness, is the day my mate taught me how to “hanging belay”. I doubt even the promise of Cheryl Cole kneeling doggy at the top of the pitch would make hanging in your harness for 20 mins any more comfortable 🙂