My BD chaos waist belt slipped 1" or so after semi-hanging belays

I did some semi hanging belay last weekend, and noticed the waist belt got loose by less than a couple of inches. In comparison, momentum's buckle is much tighter.

Anyone else also have this issue?

As a chaos harness owner...you should delete your thread. "New chaos buckle issue" implies just that.

I trust BD testing facilities > your sample set = 1.

Or you're a troll like every other thread on here anymore.

mountainproject.com/v/black…

I find that a lot of folks initially put their harness on too low - not at their actual waist, but lower where we're used to having our trousers ride. I also see folks put harnesses on over multiple layers - especially soft shells, and when they lift their arms or with a bit of movement, voila! The layers are now untucked, and the harness is loose without that extra stuffing.

The link that Ray provided is interesting, but not terribly helpful. Black Diamond has tested their harnesses to every standard required, and few more that they have added on themselves. And there are too many opportunities for operator-error for a Customer Service representative to confirm, over a phone, that the issue is warranty or not.

I'm using a current Chaos - have taken numerous falls on it, without incident.

Sean H wrote:As a chaos harness owner...you should delete your thread. "New chaos buckle issue" implies just that. I trust BD testing facilities > your sample set = 1. Or you're a troll like every other thread on here anymore.

He should delete it because it implies that it is a NEW issue?

Once he gets some dirt and chalk in the webbing, it'll stay put.

Zhengmu W. wrote:I did some semi hanging belay last weekend, and noticed the waist belt got loose by less than a couple of inches. In comparison, momentum's buckle is much tighter. Anyone else also have this issue?

No. I've had mine for about a month and have not had any slippage. In fact, quite the opposite - it is noticably more difficult to loosen up the webbing to take off the harness or take a piss. The shape of the d-rings is a little different than my momentum and seems to grip the webbing better.

@nicelegs - It sounds like a statement of fact, as in, I expected a link to a black diamond product recall or something.

As people always post on these things - if you think there's a genuine safety issue with a piece of gear you own, you should contact the manufacturer.

So I suppose conversely, if you want to gather attention for yourself and play armchair engineer, I guess you don't do that, and instead make an MP thread about it.

I have a new BD Chaos, and have found that it's less prone to slippage than any other auto-locking buckle I've had. I've loaded the thing up with tons of gear, gotten on some multipitch climbs with hanging belays, and I haven't had to adjust it outside of removing layers. Love the thing.

Maybe talk to Black Diamond about it for their take instead of posting like this? I hopped into the thread because the title implied there was a more general problem, or recall or something, rather than a question about your experience.

Trolls or jerks, can't we all just get along...

"New" implies the latest version, not that the harness is new.

@Sean H, as a chaos owner, I have every right to keep this thread. Maybe you should stay out of it, instead of being a jerk.

PS: I always wear waist belt at belly button level, if you wonder.

Tyler Scheer wrote:I have a new BD Chaos, and have found that it's less prone to slippage than any other auto-locking buckle I've had. I've loaded the thing up with tons of gear, gotten on some multipitch climbs with hanging belays, and I haven't had to adjust it outside of removing layers. Love the thing. Maybe talk to Black Diamond about it for their take instead of posting like this? I hopped into the thread because the title implied there was a more general problem, or recall or something, rather than a question about your experience.

I didn't notice any slippage when only doing single pitch.

Thank you for your kind words, maybe I should change a title.

Zhengmu W. wrote:I did some semi hanging belay last weekend, and noticed the waist belt got loose by less than a couple of inches.

If it's a quick release/adjust buckle you may have snagged it. Happened to me with a Calidris while climbing. Quite scary. Got rid of it and bought an old style, Safetech.

@Zhengmu - Thanks for changing the title, I think it makes it seem a lot less like there's some product recall or imminent death trap lurking out there.

I'm the guy that started the long thread that Ray put it. I'm no troll and I firmly believe what happened to me was a fluke accident and verified that it has happened to other climbers.

I've seen recent post of people saying there rope coming out of locked biners while belaying with an ATC by very experience (20+ years) climbers. After reading a lot of things on this site, I now believe anything can happen. Climbing is inherently dangerous. Always expect your gear...regarding the chaos harness, I returned it immediately.

Now that you have returned your harness, go buy a Misty. One of my friends has the same thing happen to him from time to time, my rope coming out of his ATC while the biner is locked, weird, it's the damndest thing.

That kind of buckle can loosen in the correct conditions.

I regularly have my Xenos loosen a bit when ice climbing. It's sort of the perfect storm of conditions, though. I have the harness over a bunch of layers and I'm snow slogging. The bouncing, swimming action can loosen the buckle a bit, requiring a quick tug.

This ability to quickly loosen the harness can actually be a good thing. When I adjust my layers at the belay, I can easily and safely release a bit of webbing and cinch it back down again. This is much more difficult to do with a traditional buckle without taking out the double back.

And for the record, my arcteryx does it too. I just don't think it's an issue.

Thanks for everyone's input.

I just came back from Jtree, did some single pitch there. The buckle didn't get loose once. Like what Dobson said, it might be the way I sat/leaned.

About Mistymountain, they don't really fit me. I mean the rise of their harnesses are too short for me.

Syd wrote: If it's a quick release/adjust buckle you may have snagged it. Happened to me with a Calidris while climbing. Quite scary. Got rid of it and bought an old style, Safetech.

+1 I've had the same slippage issue with Petzl Corax self-adjust buckles. I went back to a Black Diamond Momentum with an old school double-it-back-yourself buckle.

Zhengmu W. wrote:Thanks for everyone's input. I just came back from Jtree, did some single pitch there. The buckle didn't get loose once. Like what Dobson said, it might be the way I sat/leaned. About Mistymountain, they don't really fit me. I mean the rise of their harnesses are too short for me.

You can order a longer rise from Misty. Just give them a call to place your order. I did this several years back and was very pleased with the result.