Welcome to a master class
about climbing harnesses. In this video I'm gonna explain the
anatomy of the climbing harness. Including some little things like what is this loop for
on the back of the harness or this one on this harness
it even says zero kilonewtons. Or why there is these elastic straps
on the back of the harness. And some of them are even detachable. So all of that plus my recommendations
on how to choose a climbing harness. Correct Fit of a Harness A typical climbing harness will have
a waist loop and two leg loops. So put it in like you're
putting your pants. Make sure that your waist loop is
above your hip bones. Boom! You don't need to be crazy
when tightening your waist belt. It only needs to be tight enough
so it would be not possible to pull down the waist loop
through your hip bones. And that's in case you flip upside down you won't slide out of your harness. Whoa! It's not comfortable to hang upside down. And also put the tail of the waist belt to its designed place
every harness has a one. It prevents the buckle
from undoing itself. And also you don't need stuff dangling
around you when you're climbing. So put it in its place. And that's it. Since my harness has only
one adjustable buckle I'm ready to climb. While other harnesses might have
multiple buckles on a waist belt. So you tighten both of them. And this is useful in case you're
planning to put on some size That's when you're climbing
in colder conditions and you need many layers of clothing. So two buckles allow you to adjust the center of the harness a little bit better than one. And same goes for the leg loops. Harnesses that are designed
more for alpine situations where you might want to put
multiple layers of clothing will have adjustable leg loops. But since I do mostly sport climbing and I wear only single layer of pants or sometimes no pants. I don't need all of that adjustability
and single buckle is enough. And it also saves
some weight on the harness. So the fit of the harness. For leg loops they shouldn't be loose. But they shouldn't be very tight as well. You should be able to put a hand or two between your leg and the harness. Because you will be moving
your legs a lot. And you don't want your harness
to limit your movement. Now for the waist as i said not too tight but you should
not be able to pull it down your waist. If you pull the waist belt all the way and there is no more to pull, your harness is too big for you. The ideal sizing would be when
waist belt paddings (these things) gently touch each other
or slightly overlap. And you still have some room to pull more in case you lost some layers. Belay loop. This is the strongest point
on your harness. It's required to be at least
15 kilonewtons strong. But most manufacturers
will make it even stronger. So used properly it's impossible to break. However if you're doing
something you shouldn't you might get surprises. And I've talked already about that story in this video about slings.
So if you're curious watch that. As the name suggests, the belay loop is used for
attaching your belay device. And in general most of the metal climbing
equipment will go to your belay loop. So carabiners - belay loop. Tie-in loops. Again as the name suggests
they are used for tying in your rope. And also for attaching your
soft climbing equipment like slings. Tie-in points usually will have extra
protection, especially the bottom one. Because that sees a lot of rope friction. And that point will
wear down the quickest. For example this is
my old climbing harness. And the bottom tie-in point,
as you can see, is completely worn down to the point where
I can see the orange inside. So this is really not good
to climb anymore with. I really like what Mammut did here
by putting this extra plastic. It should greatly extend
the lifespan of this harness. Gear loops. That's where you are gonna
carry your quickdraws and other climbing equipment. I like to store my quickdraws
from short to long front to back. So if i need a long quickdraw,
I'm reaching on the back. If i need a short quickdraw,
I'm reaching on the front. Gear loops are not load bearing meaning you should not attach
yourself to the gear loop. On some harnesses
they might hold only five kilograms. So don't do this. In such case it's better to grab
the person through entire waist loop. Like so. Haul Loop The little loop
on the back of your harness is called the haul loop or haul loop. I don't know how to pronounce it. Basically it's used to carrying extra rope or some other extra load. And on some of the harnesses it can be
stronger than gear loops. For example on this Mammut harness
it's rated for 2 kilonewtons. While on this Black Diamond
harness it says 0 kilonewtons. So I don't know
what it's supposed to mean. Probably do not attach anything
significantly heavy. In any case this is
rarely used in sport climbing. But you can use it as an extra gear loop and just attach something that
you're not planning to use very often. Because it's going to be
at the back of your harness. And this little guy is just
an extra feature on this harness where you can clip your chalk bag. Elastic Straps.
And why you Need to Adjust them! OK, so what about these elastics
at the back of your harness? Most of the people
actually ignore these straps. But what they do is that
they allow you to adjust how high your leg loops
sit on your leg. So if i would loosen up
those straps completely, now this lets the leg loops
to fall lower on the legs, now if I hang on my harness
I'm actually being pulled backwards much more than before. And that's simply because the leg loops
are lower on the leg. And it's pulling the legs like this. I would adjust my leg loops
to the position where I like them, and then adjust the elastic strap to keep
the leg loops in that position, and try to hang. Now I'm sitting way more straight
and this is much more comfortable. So by adjusting
these straps on the back, you can drastically change the way
you sit in your harness. I'm actually surprised
how comfortable this harness is. And it's not because Mammut
is sponsoring this video, which is true. It's actually very comfortable.
I like it. Now on some of the harnesses
you can completely detach this. And that's for you ladies. If you want to do your business, and you don't want to remove your harness, now you can. How to Choose a Harness? Good! So how do you choose a harness? When there is so many different brands
and types and models and whatever. Actually if you know what
type of climbing you're gonna do choosing a harness is pretty easy. Let's say I'm looking for
a sport harness for myself. My favorite method is
to go to a climbing shop and ask: What harnesses do you have
for sport climbing? And suddenly out of huge amount
of harnesses in the climbing shop you will get maybe five to try. So you dismiss the ones that
look ugly to you, and try the rest. Any decent climbing shop will have a place where you can hang
in your harness to test it. And that's actually
the best way to understand if this harness is actually
comfortable for your body. Harnesses that are designed
for sport climbing typically will be a bit lower profile, they will have a bit less padding,
but they will be lighter. However manufacturers try really hard to make even such harnesses
as comfortable as possible. So as long as you're not planning to sit
in your harness for really really long, it should be good for
any type of climbing you're gonna do. So single pitches, multi pitches,
all of that should be totally fine. Now if you are planning to be hanging
in your harness for really really long, hen you should look for
a harness with a bit higher profile and a bit more padding. And that should make
sitting in that harness a little bit more comfortable. So once you identify the harnesses
that are comfortable for you, then you can look into other features. For example, how do you like the
closing mechanism, does it go smooth for you. Сompare that with another harness. Okay that was not intended but that's how it is. I don't know why,
what the fuck is happening. Or which shape of
the gear loops you prefer. For example on this harness it's
angled a little bit towards the front. So when you clip your gear
it kind of falls forward, as if it would be feeding
the quickdraws for you as you climb. While most of the climbing harnesses will have at least four gear loops, some of them might have just two.
This saves weight. And it's mostly designed
for single pitch sport climbing. And now, a lot of companies started
to come up with a hybrid solution where you have two very big
sturdy gear loops for your quickdraws, but then you have extra thin gear loops for any extra gear you might want
to carry, for example, on a multi-pitch. I think this is really cool and smart. You save a little bit of weight
but you don't lose functionality. If you are a hardcore elite climber, maybe you want to check
the weight of the harness. Maybe these few grams are gonna
change something for you. And then any other extra features
that the harness might have like indicator technology which shows you when you
wear down your belay loop or tie-in points too much or extra protection on the tie-in point. And then in the end just consult
with your wallet. And it's easy. You have a harness. Can You Wear Opposite Gender Harness? Now a bonus question. Can you wear the opposite gender harness? The short answer is yes. Typically a harness designed for females will have a little bit bigger leg loops and a little bit narrower waist loop. And the waist loop will be sitting
slightly higher compared to male version. If that fits your body, enjoy. Some harnesses like this one
is designed to be unisex. So there is no difference at all. Lifespan of a Harness Normally a harness should last you
between two and five years, maybe seven years,
if you don't use it very often. While manufacturers will say that
if you buy a harness and never use it and
put it in ideal conditions in your closet, you should still retire it after 10 years. And as mentioned before the tie-in points
on the harness tend to wear down quickest, and then maybe the belay loop. So it's a good idea to keep an eye on
these parts of the harness specifically, but also the rest of your harness. All right, I hope that
was helpful for you. If you are planning to buy a harness, I will put some recommendations,
in the description, but keep in mind that all manufacturers are competing really hard
to make even better harness. So whatever you choose is
probably gonna be fine. And also really big thank you for Mammut. And for everyone who is supporting me
to produce these videos. It makes a huge difference. And if you want to contribute
here is a link. And if not then see you in the next video. And enjoy climbing!
