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dual purpose gear sling

Original Post
eli poss · · Durango, CO · Joined May 2014 · Points: 525

how hard do you think it would be to add a mini walky talky to a homemade gear sling? I could see this being quite useful for multi-pitch, especially for full length pitches. here's what i'm thinking:
either 1" or 2" webbing with the walky talky rubberbanded to it. you then sew an enclosure around it and cut out webbing for the buttons. then you put some extra padding where the stitching so the stiching doesn't rub against you, and to protect it from abrasion. why hasn't this been done already? or if it has, why hasn't it been publicized?

Zacks · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 65

they make headsets with throat mics and belt clips for 2 way radios, probably more practical, i'm sure you could home make whatever, but if you're on lead, might be kinda hard to push the send button, some of the mics have a noise threashold to send, so they auto send when you talk. So i doubt any webbing thing would catch on in "the market"

ps i don't climb with a headset and/or radio, so whatever.

webbings cheap go wild!

aikibujin · · Castle Rock, CO · Joined Oct 2014 · Points: 300

Here's my idea of a dual purpose gear sling: I clip the ends of my PAS together, sling it over my shoulder, and use it as a gear sling. It's got individual loops to keep gear organized, if just a tad harder to unclip stuff from compare to a regular gear sling with stiffened loops. I usually do this when I'm doing a multi-pitch where I need to rap off, at the top I just transfer all the gear to my harness (while I'm still belaying my second up the last pitch), then I can use the PAS as my tether for rappelling. Some people hate the PAS with religious fever, but I like it. I don't take it with me on every climb, but in certain situations it makes things more convenient.

Ryan Hill · · Denver, CO · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 30
eli poss wrote:why hasn't this been done already? or if it has, why hasn't it been publicized?
Very few climbers climb with a walkie talkie. So, limited market.

As for how hard it would be? Not very; I rigged a radio holster for my backpack shoulder strap when I worked for a wilderness program. It worked well and took about 20 minutes on a sewing machine using scraps from old Carhart's and some tubular webbing. It was secure enough that I could run without worry of it falling out and it was always within easy reach to talk.
Dallas R · · Traveling the USA · Joined May 2013 · Points: 191

We played with radios for a while. Size, mounting, and wind were the issues. I have mounted UClear snowboard Bluetooth communicators to our climbing helmets. They have wind/noise cancelling qualities superior to radio headphones and work great up to 30mph wind. Down side is they "disconnect" when lead goes out of sight for more than a minute.

Generally we like them because on most climbs we can just talk to each other, no yelling, no misinterpretation from nearby climbers. Like the difference between an ATC and Grigri, doesn't replace understanding and utilizing good climbing technique, just makes it easier in some cases.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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