Climbing harness

Whether you're climbing or mountaineering, the harness is the key to your safety. It's essential to the success of your outing, which is why Alpinstore can help you find the harness best suited to your sport and your expectations.

How to choose a harness

The harness is there to help you evolve safely on a long route in the Vercors, or a glacier or rock climb in the Mont Blanc Massif. For this purpose Camp harnesses or Petzl climbing and mountaineering harnesses

To make the right choice, you need to know : For what purpose? On what terrain? What is my level? What's my body type? In fact, depending on the type of climbing you do, the choice of harness can be based on a number of different criteria.

If you're going to be hanging for a long time, or if you're going to be climbing indoors, you'll want a comfortable climbing harness. If, however, you want to do more ice climbing or long routes, you'll need an adjustable harness for 4-season comfort.

If you're a regular climber, avoid "entry-level" models. These are less comfortable and are intended for occasional use.

Main criteria for selecting a harness

- Comfort: The comfort of a climbing harness is the first criterion to consider. It's only when you're hanging from a belay in the middle of a wall, with your second in command not moving forward, that you realize how important it is to have a comfortable harness.
That's why you need to know about the thickness, padding and width of the straps. The wider the straps, the more comfortable the equipment will be, especially for the back.

- Adjustment: What to choose between adjustable, adjustable and non-adjustable harnesses? It all depends on your climbing style and the features you consider most important.

However, if you intend to use your harness for mixed purposes (cliff climbing in summer and ice climbing in winter), we recommend you opt for an adjustable climbing harness.

Adjustable climbing harness: This harness has two adjustment buckles at the waist, allowing the leg straps to be opened. This model gives you precise adjustment and better centering of the roping point.

Adjustable climbing harness: With a tightening buckle, these harnesses offer a few centimeters of adjustment around the belly and thighs.

Although these two models are heavier than the non-adjustable one, they allow you to climb all year round, whether wearing shorts and a tee-shirt, or winter pants and a jacket. Comfort is THE plus point of these harnesses. Among them, discover the Ophir(men's or women's) or the Corax with a wide choice of colors!

Non-adjustable climbing harness: Here, your thighs are tightened by an elastic strap. The advantages of this type of climbing harness are that it's more practical and lighter. On the other hand, comfort won't be as high as with the other types.

- Gear loops: The number of gear loops will vary according to the type of wall you plan to climb. If you're climbing an artificial wall, two equipment racks will suffice. On the other hand, if you're used to tackling a mountain or a long route, four wide holders will be useful for carabiners, hammer, quickdraws or even quickdraws.

Next, think about their rigidity. The stiffer they are, the easier it is to grip quickdraws. As for the softer ones, they have the advantage of being less awkward if you're carrying a backpack or a piece of clothing on them.

- Weight : an important criterion if you're carrying equipment, and will give you greater freedom of movement. At less than 400 grams, a harness is considered relatively light.

- Technology: brands are brimming with ingenuity and performance, and don't hesitate to enlist the help of the best climbers around. Discover Alex Honnold's pro model from the Black Diamond climbing brand for even more lightness, robustness and comfort.

- Size and shape While many top-of-the-range models are designed for both men and women, more and more manufacturers are developing harnesses specifically for women and children.

You'll find women's models, with a design and construction adapted to the body's morphology for even greater comfort. Practical and ergonomic, some harnesses also follow your child's growth thanks to various adjustment systems: waist, thighs, etc.

Which harness should I choose, depending on my needs?

There are several families of harnesses: for sport climbing, acrobatic work, ice climbing and mountaineering, The various Mammut offers a wide choice. By the time you've decided which model to use, you'll already have made a considerable selection from the wide range of models on offer.

- Indoor climbing: When climbing indoors, you'll need less suspension time in the harness than in other disciplines. Also, you don't need any specific equipment, so the harness is less comfortable, as are the number of gear loops.

- Long route climbing : the harness needs to be thigh-hugging and wider around the pelvis, as the suspension time can be long in belays. There should also be enough gear loops to hold the basic climbing tools.

- Cliff climbing : suspension time will be longer than for indoor climbing, but less than for long routes. The harness must therefore be comfortable and have room on the gear loops.

- Ice climbing: wearing several layers of clothing, the climber needs a practical, adjustable harness for ice climbing. Comfort is equally important!

- Caving : Finally, if you're a caving enthusiast, your harness needs to be well fitted for optimum performance.

Alpinstore offers you a wide choice of harnesses from leading manufacturers: Petzl, Black Diamond, Mammut, CAMP, Kong, Tendon, ...