More Pregnancy Questions! Specifically Harness-Related

Hey all! I just took Mad Rock’s Mountain Mama Harness for a spin today. It has leg padding and doesn’t give me a front-Melvin like some other full-body harnesses I’ve read about in this forum. Seems comfortable enough. However, I did take a sudden dip while being lowered, due to my belayer’s slippery grigri hand, and the way the harness caught me was pretty uncomfortable. The strap that took the weight was around my high-waist-lower-ribcage area. Does anyone else have experience with this?

I know these harnesses are not intended for taking lead falls and it’s possible (probable) that my leading days are over until I’m flying solo in my body again. I do plan on following some sweet long alpine multi-pitch routes now that I’m in the second trimester and have some energy back. Sometimes with rope stretch, even falling as a follower can include a bit of distance and I don’t want to get in that situation if the harness is going to wrench my back. I can still fit into my regular harness but it is starting to press uncomfortably on my stomach and that tells me I should avoid it. My husband has a larger-sized old harness that I could use if needed. I emailed Mad Rock to get their input but I haven’t heard back yet and I’d love to hear from anyone who has been in this situation.

So, for those who have experience climbing while pregnant, what kind of harness did you use and how did it feel? What kinds of climbs did you do? How long did you keep leading? Did you ever take a lead fall while pregnant? Experiences with or anecdotal knowledge about catching lead falls? Any big surprises about pregnancy and climbing in general?

All I really know is ”Listen to your body” and “Don‘t take any blows to the stomach”. Oh yeah, and the joints thing. So far, climbing has felt great, multi-pitching is fine and everything. I understand that climbing is risky. So is childbirth. Both of these are things I have chosen. I just need knowledge to make the best choices so please share any you have!

Zoe Stone wrote: Hey all! I just took Mad Rock’s Mountain Mama Harness for a spin today. It has leg padding and doesn’t give me a front-Melvin like some other full-body harnesses I’ve read about in this forum. Seems comfortable enough. However, I did take a sudden dip while being lowered, due to my belayer’s slippery grigri hand, and the way the harness caught me was pretty uncomfortable. The strap that took the weight was around my high-waist-lower-ribcage area. Does anyone else have experience with this?

I know these harnesses are not intended for taking lead falls and it’s possible (probable) that my leading days are over until I’m flying solo in my body again. I do plan on following some sweet long alpine multi-pitch routes now that I’m in the second trimester and have some energy back. Sometimes with rope stretch, even falling as a follower can include a bit of distance and I don’t want to get in that situation if the harness is going to wrench my back. I can still fit into my regular harness but it is starting to press uncomfortably on my stomach and that tells me I should avoid it. My husband has a larger-sized old harness that I could use if needed. I emailed Mad Rock to get their input but I haven’t heard back yet and I’d love to hear from anyone who has been in this situation.

So, for those who have experience climbing while pregnant, what kind of harness did you use and how did it feel? What kinds of climbs did you do? How long did you keep leading? Did you ever take a lead fall while pregnant? Experiences with or anecdotal knowledge about catching lead falls? Any big surprises about pregnancy and climbing in general?

All I really know is ”Listen to your body” and “Don‘t take any blows to the stomach”. Oh yeah, and the joints thing. So far, climbing has felt great, multi-pitching is fine and everything. I understand that climbing is risky. So is childbirth. Both of these are things I have chosen. I just need knowledge to make the best choices so please share any you have!

Still climbing and 38 weeks pregnant. Earlier on I found it was still fairly easy to still climb everything even cracks. If I lead anything it was a pitch that was no harder than 5.6 and I haven't done that since end of May so just before 3rd trimester. Just didn't feel it was safe. Basically I climbed things I 100% knew I wouldn't fall on unless it was top rope. I did multi pitch routes no more than 6 pitches up until about 30 weeks and then at most I do 2 right now even though I feel like I can do more I know my bodies releasing more relaxin hormone and I hear pops which makes me think it's just not wise to keep doing to much. The nerve pain has gotten tremendously worse so I'm not sure what more I'll do in the next couple weeks before her arrival maybe some 5.5-5.6. I use the petzl 8003 full body harness and haven't had any issues but again we decided the name of the game was to not fall and not push the grades. 2nd trimester hardest I tried was a 5.9 finger crack. Would love to chat more if you want message me. 

Oh you'll end up needing to pee A LOT more snd want WAY more water I drank 1.5 to 2 liters on 6 pitch routes and was eating constantly. Trying to pee in a full body is entertaining. Not unmanageable but not the easiest either.

I climbed normally through my first trimester and then quit leading and switched to a larger sized regular harness when I started showing a bit around the start of the second trimester. I started wearing the Mountain Mama harness around the third trimester and also stopped lead belaying (other than easy stuff with a trusted partner) at that time. I didn't experiment with catching big lead falls in the pregnancy harness but it seemed like it could result in getting pulled face forward into the rock instead of feet first like a normal harness. I wouldn't recommend doing anything in the Mountain Mama other than a snug toprope personally -- I found just lowering in it to be pretty uncomfortable. Cinching the leg loops super tight seemed to help take some pressure off the chest, but all of the buckles would loosen while I was climbing anyway. The lack of gear loops is also super annoying.

I found climbing while heavily pregnant to be very style-specific. I took a trip to Ten Sleep while 8 months pregnant and had a lot of fun on vertical stuff -- I went from being a 5.12 climber to a 5.11 climber, so not a huge difference all things considered. The car ride there was way more uncomfortable than the climbing!  Overhangs get really hard though...pregnancy has given me a whole new level of respect for the importance of core strength in climbing. I also found hard slab pretty tricky once I could no longer see my feet! 

Steph Evans wrote:

Oh you'll end up needing to pee A LOT more snd want WAY more water I drank 1.5 to 2 liters on 6 pitch routes and was eating constantly. Trying to pee in a full body is entertaining. Not unmanageable but not the easiest either.

Haha! I have been experiencing this. Wearing stretchy pants really helps!

Congratulations Zoe! 

Ira OMC wrote:

Congratulations Zoe! 

Thanks, Ira!