Mountain Project Logo

Torn Harness

Original Post
Josh Allred · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 161
Torn harness

Tore my harness yesterday in an OW.

Planning on retiring it. Am I overreacting?
Josh Allred · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 161

You can see the padding.

Jamespio Piotrowski · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 5

You might be overreacting, but for $50, I'd overreact, too.

Mark Griffin · · Boulder, CO · Joined Apr 2006 · Points: 95

On the leg loop? I wouldn't worry.

redlude97 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2010 · Points: 5

duct tape will fix that

Max Forbes · · Colorado · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 108

When in doubt retire it, with that being said one leg loop and one belt would hold in theory f that one were to fail... I doubt you'd run into an issue. Anyways, gearx.com has 20% off climbing gear right now if your looking to replace.

Matt N · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 415

That shouldn't kill you - but if you're worried, keep it as a gym or backup use only.

Ryan Nevius · · Perchtoldsdorf, AT · Joined Dec 2010 · Points: 1,837

It's the exterior fabric on a leg loop. Not a problem.

b hof · · Fort Collins, CO · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 456

No way I would retire that, duct tape and its good to go!

Robert Cort · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 800
Josh Allred wrote: Tore my harness yesterday in an OW. Planning on retiring it. Am I overreacting?
Tear is in non-structural component. If you have money to burn, replace it. Otherwise continue climbing. P.S. if you're gonna climb off-widths, and replace every scuffed or minor tear, you're gonna go broke.
mitchy B · · nunya gotdamn business. · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 0

My Misty Mountain harness woulda scratched the rock.

Jonathan Dull · · Boone, NC · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 415
mitchy wrote:My Misty Mountain harness woulda scratched the rock.
Haha, beat me to it! Retire and buy a Misty!
Abram Herman · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined May 2009 · Points: 20

If it's on the leg loop, you're fine. Real o-dubbers use swami belts, anyway. ;-)

Ryan Williams · · London (sort of) · Joined May 2009 · Points: 1,245

Pretty sure I've seen a video of someone falling out of an offwidth in IC and breaking their leploop. They were fine. But I guess if you need a reason to spend money...

Tom-onator · · trollfreesociety · Joined Feb 2010 · Points: 790

Smear a little Shoe Goo or clear silicone over the damaged area. This will keep the material from fraying further.
Aaaaaand...
You won't have have a stringy sticky mess to deal with once the duct tape fabric starts to delaminate from the adhesive.

David Gibbs · · Ottawa, ON · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 2
johnnyrig wrote:Well if its just cosmetic, no worries. Curious though, how other people think if one leg loop breaks the other will hold you... Hows that gona work? Um...
Swami-belts used to hold people with no leg loops.

As I understand it, the waist-belt is the primary part of the harness for actually catching you in a fall. The leg loops do a couple of things, the most important is keeping the waist-belt well position under load -- so it doesn't ride up and crush the rib cage, for example. They also distribute the load while sitting/hanging in the harness, tending to make it more comfortable for hanging or semi-hanging belays.

If one leg loop breaks, the harness will still be kept (mostly) in position by the other leg loop. Of course, it won't be all that comfortable any more.

But, that question is (mostly) irrelevant to this particular question -- the damage to the harness appears to be completely to the cosmetic (non-load-bearing) parts of it, rather than to the actual strength-supplying webbing.

For the OP -- if the damage is, actually (as appears) to just the cosmetic/comfort parts of the harness, rather than the strength-supplying webbing, this doesn't need replacing. It is worth a careful examination (hard for anyone to do across the internet) to make sure that is the case, but it should be obvious what is/is not load-bearing in the harness.
matt c. · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 155

the scrapped up padding is not load bearing. so it's fine.
if you decide to retire it, send it to me. I'll pay the shipping :)

Rockbanned brett · · Plattsburgh, Ny · Joined Dec 2011 · Points: 215

Yer gunna die!!!!

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Climbing Gear Discussion
Post a Reply to "Torn Harness"

Log In to Reply

Join the Community

Create your FREE account today!
Already have an account? Login to close this notice.

Get Started.