Gear sling?

Wyatt H wrote:As a new climber, I've always been scared of gear slings because of the horror stories of them getting caught on stuff(like the girl who got strangled when a cam on the sling caught during a fall). Also it seems like a pain to use with a pack. If I were going to do a gear sling, I'd do one of the chest rigs. Seems safer, but obviously negates the whole purpose which is handing a sling over. But I'm still having troube with grasping how just "handing over" a sling makes things faster since both climber's slings will have gear. Is it just so its only one person (the next leader) racking up rather than both climbers fiddling with handing over gear and allowing the second to do something else? Then the leader gives the second their empty sling back?

If you're swapping leads the gear left on the leaders harness, which is hopefully not much or I brought too much, gets clipped onto the rope between me and the anchor in front of where I'm flaking the rope. The second arrives having already been re-racking the gear while cleaning the pitch, picks up the rest of the gear they want in whatever order they want without any hand to hand transfer and takes off.

I'm not seeing why I should get a gear sling. They are always freaking in my way. I can get pieces off my harness without looking at them half the time but never on a sling. Consider me not convinced.

Only exception is extended squeeze climbing where I want to dump the rack to one side or the other due to a switch in body position but that's been really rare and a single nylon shoulder runner does the trick then.

I'm getting a double free rack, 12+ draws, and all the other multipitch crap (jacket, camera, bail/rescue biner) onto 4 BD gear loops. I've never not had space though I once and a while want better organization.

Though I'm a confirmed gear sling user for "regular" rock climbing, I find a sling just gets in my way when alpine climbing and rack to my harness instead. When wearing a pack, I can never get the sling out of my way around my back like when rock climbing. I also tend to carry less gear in the alpine so getting it all on my harness isn't a bit deal. Oh, and I hardly ever sport climbed at all until last summer. :o) I do insist on handing gear off one piece at a time as Dane outlines in his article though and always confirm hand-offs with "got it." Other option I sometimes use when transferring gear is for the person dumping gear to clip it to their or the leader's tie-in and the next-pitch leader can then remove and organize as they please.

I prefer racking on my harness... It is really annoying to me how it swings around while I am climbing and it always seemed to be in the worst spot at the worst times.

I used to put all of my gear on a 24 inch sling but that swings around way too much. I started racking on my harness (2 full sets of cams, set of nuts, set of tricams and 16 draws plus other misc slings, cordalettes) last year and don't see myself going back. I bought a Metolius gear sling and like it because its shorter/tighter around my torso and doesn't swing as much but still struggle to see what I need off of it. Also, I added 2 extra gear loops on the back of my standard BD harness with 4mm cord and they get a lot of use!

i like to have a sling for multi pitch when im tryn to move fast while swapping leads, but just make sure you dont get one with the loops, the separated loops seem like a good idea to keep things organized but end up being a complete nightmare, i like the metolius sling because its sturdy and has the tubing on the webbing so the biners dont snag.

I personally can dig using a gear sling. I don't rack cams on it however, due to the swinging. I like to rack just nuts and alpine quick draws on the sucker. Keeps the crowding down on my harness.

With doubles/slings/trad misc and some C3's, my BD (Chaos) harness is taxed and crowded. That's when the real fun begins reaching for a cam while desperate!

Ice screws are always on the clipper or in my Petzl iceflute.