UKH

A top quality, superlight and quite expensive winter-specific harness.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=5228

In reply to UKC Gear: I was looking for a harness like this for a long time, but for the life of me I dont know why they didnt put 2 more gear loops on it. I am looking for a harness with 4 gear loops and another gear loop (proper Gear Loop) on the back. Also I am not interested in having Adjustable leg loops. Anyone have any idea.

In reply to Aigen:

I use an older version of M270, which is pretty similar apart from the apparent abundance of clipper slots on this new one. I've yet to have a problem with the gear loops being too full; they are bigger than most, and through a combination of using clipper slots for screws and cunning racking have always managed to fit nuts, hexes, quickdraws, bulldogs and loose krabs.
Each to their own in terms of winter rack, of course, but for the (admittedly modest) amount of routes I've done in it, I've not wished for another two loops.
The Petzl Hirundos seems to be the in-vogue alternative, so that might be worth a look.

In reply to Aigen: The racking is a bit odd, although I was mixed climbing in the M270 last weekend and took I think four screws and a hook plus a set of nuts, six or eight quickdraws and a set of cams with doubles in the mid-range and it all fitted on.

I was a bit suspicious about the back gear loop as well but it holds plenty of stuff, is low profile and light and not really any harder to get things on and off than a plastic coated one.

I notice though on their summer harnesses - the R300 and and the 275 they don't have a back rack at all. I've never really understood why N. Americans haven't also worked out how nice having a separate rack for your belay device, prussiks and other non-runner bits and bobs is?

Wild Country and DMM have updated harnesses ranges coming out - it might be one of their fixed leg versions suits your needs?

In reply to TobyA:

Any idea when the new harnesses are coming out? I need a new harness and liked the look of the new renegade in the recent UKC video

In reply to TobyA:
Perhaps they understand that they aren't really necessary. I've never owned a harness with more than four gear loops and have never felt constrained by the amount of space I have for racking.

I normally carry:

Front Left loop:
3-4 Quickdraws
3 racking krabs with wires one

Front Right loop:
3-4 Quickdraws
7-9 Cams each on their own biner

Back Left loop
3-4 Quickdraws.
Belay plate
Nut key (on a proper krab)
Extra screwgate
RPs
Camera case on a screwed up screwgate.

Back Right Loop
3-4 quickdraws
2-6 cams

In addition to this I might carry 2 120cm and 2 60cm slings over my shoulder.

I really don't see the need for a fifth gear loop. It useful to have some thing to clip your trainers to. But I prefer my second to carry them or to walk off in rock shoes if it is remotely hard.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: I suspect a lot of it is just getting used to what you've got. And of course the actual size of the racks on a harness makes a big difference - the racks on the M270 are rather big. I like the seven little-ish ones on the Renegade, I can grab what I want more easily because you can split the rack more, but of course I survived quite happily 15 years of climbing before that with 4 or 5 loops.

Some people don't like big bunches of nuts on one krab for instance but I've always been happy with 1-10 on a single krab.

In reply to Slarti B: I've only seen those videos too, but I guess sometime this spring or summer? I'll ask UKC Sarah to look into it if no one from DMM sees this thread.

In reply to Aigen:

I've got one of these Black Diamond Chaos http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/climb/harnesses/chaos-harne...

I got it when I couldn't source an Arc'teryx R300 in the UK without waiting for 8 weeks .

Its pretty good , it does pick up dirt easily though & there were reports of the plastic covers on the gear loops breaking intially ( not the actual loops ) but I've loaded all 4 loops with lots of gear many , many times & no sign of cracking , it has a 12k rated haul loop which is useful too . Worth looking at if you don't mind a slightly garish colour scheme .

In reply to UKC Gear:

I like your reviews Toby, but out of three photos two of them are general ice climbing shots which don't really show the harness in any detail. The 4th Arc catalogue shot is fine but they're staged and you can find them anywhere. I like to see up closer how an item fits on a real person and how the bits - new or good or bad or whatever - fit together and look in real life. Ideally they would show up close the features, or lack thereof, that you mention in the text.

In reply to Damo: Fair cop. I know space is limited because I upload more photos than the editor choose to use, but I know some close ups are helpful.

There's nothing fantastic, but here are some more pics of the harness http://bitsandbobsandoddsandsods.blogspot.fi/2013/03/additional-m270-photos... if you right click on any of them you get much higher res versions so you can zoom in on the harness to some degree.

In reply to LaMentalist: Flicking through the BD website it seems the BD Focus is close to what I am after but it has no ice clipper slots. I currently have a Petzl Hurendus and I sewed an extra gear loop on the back. I want this back gear loop for Prusiks and belay plate etc. I often climb in a place that requires a massive rack. 40-60 metre pitches and multi pitch to boot. The rack is often 2 sets of cams and 2 sets of nuts plus 14 draws, hence needing lots of racking space.

In reply to Aigen: For big racks I really do rate the DMM renegade, and they do a non-adjustable leg version as well. Some don't like the racks, and the new version has different ones, but I really love my now very well used one. http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=1333

In reply to Aigen:

Yes can appreciate those requirements the BD Chaos wasn't my number one choice to be honest , looked at the DMM Renegade but saw that people were having trouble with sizing & a couple of other niggles , always try to buy British & DMM when I can as well . Having said that there are a couple from Edelrids latest range that look good too .

In reply to TobyA: Hi Toby, I only decided not to use a couple more general ice climbing shots, because you were far away in them, so I could see you were having fun but couldn't really see the harness Great job on this review as always but as you say, fair cop that a close up shot or two wearing the harness would have been a useful addition... I reckon a couple of action shots and a couple of close ups is a good number of photos for a regular review.

Sarah

In reply to Aigen:

it could be youd like the BD aspect. rear loop and slots, 4 regular loops.
its got adjustable leg loops, which after years of doing without (using a hirundos) im enjoying having.

hirundos was a great harness, but i found it would loose a bit of integrity when racked heavily (no affect on strength i assume), and i will still use it for summer (a new one), but its nice to have a bit more robustness in winter. i can save grams elsewhere.

In reply to Sarah Stirling - UKC/UKH: Sarah, sorry I didn't mean it anyway as a criticism of your editing. As you well know, I always load up far more pics than I know you are going to need and then just let you decide which you like best and which fits the lay out best.

But I hadn't done any close ups wearing this harness, which is my bad. I kind of thought the pics on the arcteryx website, or their publicity shot you used, show it more clearly than I can BUT Damo's point about seeing how it fits on a normal(-ish!?) person has much value.

In reply to TobyA: No worries Tobes, if you get a front and back shot wearing the harness outside when you get a chance I'll add them so folks can see how dashing you look in it close up. S

In reply to Sarah Stirling - UKC/UKH:

I really suspect the UKC massive could live without those!

In reply to TobyA:

Come on toby, how about one with you in the harness in just your sauna gear?
Something for the ukc calender january page perhaps?

In reply to ice.solo: No thanks. My sauna is normally between 80 and 90 degrees and I worry that might damage the nylon. That's my reason and I'll be sticking to it.

In reply to TobyA:

80-90o C or F? i have a BD label here that cites 70c as the upper limit for harness use, so if we are talking C then your excuse holds.

BUT i cant see why you can cannot have the harness on as you role in snow...according to my data theres a lower limit of -65c, so even the F conversion means your excuse starts to wane.

In reply to ice.solo:

If the sauna is cooler than 80 C, it is generally referred as bastu (ie. swedish sauna).