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Misty Mountain Intrepid, Basic Review

Original Post
Richard Randall · · Santa Cruz · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0

I've had this harness for 4 months so this isn't a super in-depth review, but when I was considering buying this harness I could find almost no reviews online, so wanted to throw a quick one out here. After using it this summer for gym climbing, limit outdoor sport climbing, and multipitch trad of various difficulties, I'm very happy with it and would recommend it as a 'do everything' harness that leans a bit more towards trad than sport.

My Intrepid is quite comfy, with the caveat that I've used it at crummy stances but not at long hanging belays. I think the Intrepid is meant to sacrifice some of the Cadillac's comfort for loooooong hanging belays in order to get a better 'all-round' harness that doesn't feel too heavy to try hard in. It feels to me like they succeeded. It's bigger than a pure sport climbing harness, but doesn't feel annoyingly large or heavy to me. The gear loops are spacious and feel pretty sturdy. The leg loops have full 'double-back' style buckles that can come all the way undone, which are good for some things but take a while to adjust (see below). It feels like it's durable and will last a while, though time will tell.

I think my only quibble is that to loosen the harness enough to put on, I have to pull both the leg and hip tightening straps out of the little 2-inch-long fabric "tunnels" that are meant to keep them out of the way, then thread them back through after tightening. This makes the harness slow to put on compared to other harnesses I've had (those with quick-adjust leg loops and/or "bands" instead of "tunnels" to hold the tails of straps out of the way). The tunnels also fray a bit where I have to stuff my fat fingers in to re-thread the webbing. This is a relatively minor issue and may not exist for all combos of leg/waist size.

I haven't had tons of harnesses, so hard to claim this harness is better or worse than anything else. I like my Intrepid better for all-around use than the two Edelrid Jay's that I've had for the previous several years, but other than that I can't really compare it to other companies' current offerings. My quick try-ons of BD's and Petzl's in the store when I bought this harness didn't reveal much. It's too bad that Outdoor Gear Lab doesn't include Misty Mountain harnesses in their comparison reviews.

Billcoe · · Pacific Northwet · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 936

Love Misty Mountain. My first experience with Misty was trying a Sonic on in a local gear store. They had a set up so you could free hang on it and swing around, which of course I did. I tried on an identical appearing (to my eye) Black Diamond, and the difference was stunning. BD uncomfortable, Misty not uncomfortable. I went on to own another Sonic and a Cadillac that were my daily drivers for years until my climbing partner, sick of waiting for me to unclusterF** it at the base of climbs, went and bought me a Petzl Adjuma. When the Adjuma got old, recently, I went and looked at a MM replacement and was stunned at how much they were going for. So I passed and bought some random Mammut sale harness which is Meh at best,.....but it was cheap.

Currently the Cadillac with quick release buckles is $179.95 which is @ a hundred bucks more than my price point. The Mammut was under $50. I'm not familiar with the Intrepid, and it's a more reasonable $109.95, which if you amortize it out the price to the years of enjoyment, seems reasonable given how awesome their products are. Thanks for the review Richard!

 https://mistymountain.com/pages/recreation

Richard Randall · · Santa Cruz · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0

Oh yeah, thanks Billcoe, forgot to mention price. The Cadillac is expensive, and I don't need its big wall / route-setting comfort features, so it didn't make sense. The Intrepid felt like a good compromise between that and the $50 harnesses, esp. because Misty is a good company that I'd like to support.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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