A rock climbing harness is an extremely important part of your climbing equipment and can significantly affect not only your safety but also your overall climbing performance. Therefore, it's very important to find harness that fits your climbing needs, style and experience level.
As you know rock climbing is considered a pretty dangerous sport, especially when safety standards are neglected. If you care about safety, as you should, first thing to check when buying a harness is whether it is approved by either Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme or European Committee for Standardization. These organizations provide safety tests for various types of equipment, including climbing gear. If you purchase your climbing harness from a respected store there is 99% chance your gear will have all the necessary safety certification. However, double checking won't hurt.
Just like when buying climbing shoes you need to decide where you are going to climb and what's your climbing style. This will help you buy a climbing harness that fits your individual needs.
Gym climbing:
These harnesses are specifically designed for gym climbing. While they meet all safety requirements you can easily and quickly get them on and off. These harnesses are really light and since you don't carry up a lot of supplemental climbing gear while climbing in the gym they often have only two gear loops allowing you to carry everything you need for gym climbing.
Traditional climbing:
This type of climbing usually requires carrying a substantial amount of climbing gear. Therefore, harnesses for traditional climbing often have 4 gear loops so you can take everything you need on the wall with you. In addition, these harnesses feature adjustable leg loops so you can fit them perfectly and tightly on your legs. Since you will be spending a lot of time on the wall, a good fit is very important and can help avoid traumas.
Ice climbing
These harnesses are relatively similar to those used for the traditional climbing but the materials as well as the design are adjusted for winter conditions. They will have ample space for additional gear and will easily fit over your winter clothes.
Once you've identified what type of harness you need, you need to try it on. Ideally you will need a small climbing wall to fully test it and the majority of specialized climbing shops will offer you this opportunity. Put the harness on and make sure the waistbelt fits comfortably and doesn't move to much. Also, pay attention to pressure points. You shouldn't feel any excessive pressure while hanging on belay, otherwise look for a different harness. Try readjusting the rise and the leg loops. It might solve some of the pressure problems. Remember, there is a huge variety of climbing harnesses. Try several ones before you find what you really need.
As you know rock climbing is considered a pretty dangerous sport, especially when safety standards are neglected. If you care about safety, as you should, first thing to check when buying a harness is whether it is approved by either Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme or European Committee for Standardization. These organizations provide safety tests for various types of equipment, including climbing gear. If you purchase your climbing harness from a respected store there is 99% chance your gear will have all the necessary safety certification. However, double checking won't hurt.
Just like when buying climbing shoes you need to decide where you are going to climb and what's your climbing style. This will help you buy a climbing harness that fits your individual needs.
Gym climbing:
These harnesses are specifically designed for gym climbing. While they meet all safety requirements you can easily and quickly get them on and off. These harnesses are really light and since you don't carry up a lot of supplemental climbing gear while climbing in the gym they often have only two gear loops allowing you to carry everything you need for gym climbing.
Traditional climbing:
This type of climbing usually requires carrying a substantial amount of climbing gear. Therefore, harnesses for traditional climbing often have 4 gear loops so you can take everything you need on the wall with you. In addition, these harnesses feature adjustable leg loops so you can fit them perfectly and tightly on your legs. Since you will be spending a lot of time on the wall, a good fit is very important and can help avoid traumas.
Ice climbing
These harnesses are relatively similar to those used for the traditional climbing but the materials as well as the design are adjusted for winter conditions. They will have ample space for additional gear and will easily fit over your winter clothes.
Once you've identified what type of harness you need, you need to try it on. Ideally you will need a small climbing wall to fully test it and the majority of specialized climbing shops will offer you this opportunity. Put the harness on and make sure the waistbelt fits comfortably and doesn't move to much. Also, pay attention to pressure points. You shouldn't feel any excessive pressure while hanging on belay, otherwise look for a different harness. Try readjusting the rise and the leg loops. It might solve some of the pressure problems. Remember, there is a huge variety of climbing harnesses. Try several ones before you find what you really need.
