climbing harness for safety harness

[gondo]

Anybody just use their rock climbing harness for a tree stand safety harness?

 

[TNDeerGuy]

I just bought the 20 feet up harness, which is a climbing harness, and love it. The only reason why I just didn't use my climbing harness is because the 20ft up model has magnets in the strap and in the harness itself that holds the strap behind me instead of danging in front of me.

 

[Brownie]

I bought the 20 feet up harness as well for this season. I used it Saturday to hang a stand and it is pretty nice. Wish that it had normal lineman's hookups on both side of the harness. This would make using it as a lineman's harness more stable in the tree, however, it is completely safe and works fine. The thing is flat out comfortable and it's nice having the weight off of your legs and more into your lower back.

 

[gondo]

I have a background in rock and alpine climbing and have adapted some of the gear to hunting from trees quite well. However, since I use a Tree Saddle, I don't need a 3rd party safety harness, but if I were going to hunt from conventional tree stands and needed a safety harness, I would use a very simple, alpine type rock climbing harness such as the Black Diamond Alpine Bod.

The safety harnesses designed for hunting are incredibly over designed and over priced. For example, compare sewn slings. Rock climbing slings are generally a half inch and rated to 27Kn (6,000+ lbs). There is no way you could every come anywhere close to generating that kind of force in a tree stand fall, yet hunting slings are generally one to 3 inches. As far as the rock climbing harnesses, I have taken thousands of falls up to 80 feet and even upside down. Granted, a typical tree stand fall will be a static fall, though not more then 2 or 3 feet. Static falls generate a lot force and they are not comfortable. I would probably use a adapt a "screamer" sling that is often used in ice climbing to soften the forces: http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/W ... /Screamers

Basically the sling is designed to rip apart at 200-300 lbs of force, thus reducing the forces on your other equipment and, in the case of a static fall, would reduce the forces on you.

I feel the same way as you about the stuff designed by the hunting industry... IMO it just doesnt make much sense if you have done any rock climbing and are familiar with the gear. What would you use to keep the rope out of the way since it will be attached to the front of your harness... i was thinking just tuck some in to the back of mine but I feel that it may have the tendency to fall out at the wrong time... thoughts poser?

 

[TNDeerGuy]

I have a background in rock and alpine climbing and have adapted some of the gear to hunting from trees quite well. However, since I use a Tree Saddle, I don't need a 3rd party safety harness, but if I were going to hunt from conventional tree stands and needed a safety harness, I would use a very simple, alpine type rock climbing harness such as the Black Diamond Alpine Bod.

The safety harnesses designed for hunting are incredibly over designed and over priced. For example, compare sewn slings. Rock climbing slings are generally a half inch and rated to 27Kn (6,000+ lbs). There is no way you could every come anywhere close to generating that kind of force in a tree stand fall, yet hunting slings are generally one to 3 inches. As far as the rock climbing harnesses, I have taken thousands of falls up to 80 feet and even upside down. Granted, a typical tree stand fall will be a static fall, though not more then 2 or 3 feet. Static falls generate a lot force and they are not comfortable. I would probably use a adapt a "screamer" sling that is often used in ice climbing to soften the forces: http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/W ... /Screamers

Basically the sling is designed to rip apart at 200-300 lbs of force, thus reducing the forces on your other equipment and, in the case of a static fall, would reduce the forces on you.

I feel the same way as you about the stuff designed by the hunting industry... IMO it just doesnt make much sense if you have done any rock climbing and are familiar with the gear. What would you use to keep the rope out of the way since it will be attached to the front of your harness... i was thinking just tuck some in to the back of mine but I feel that it may have the tendency to fall out at the wrong time... thoughts poser?

After looking at my 20 feet up harness and the way the magnets are set in it to hold the strap behind you, you should be able to use a rubber band to tie the rope behind either you left or right hip�wish I would have thought of this a couple of weeks ago.

 

[gondo]

hmm i think the big rubber band is going to work best because if i fall i really want to be caught in the front and it seems to break away as good as anything i can come up with, good idea tndeerguy

 

[TNDeerGuy]

hmm i think the big rubber band is going to work best because if i fall i really want to be caught in the front and it seems to break away as good as anything i can come up with, good idea tndeerguy

I just wish I would have thought of it before I spent $150 on items that I basically have already. LOL