UKH

Just wondered if anyone on here who knows about the infamous buckle can comment on the latest design.... I notice the latest version has gone away from the double-back and back to the speed buckle.

Can anyone comment on if they've designed the original problem back in, or is there some improvement hidden in there?

Ive got the original and having had a scary moment this summer it's gone in the bin so am looking for a replacement. Might just go for the petzl altitude, but at this rate I'll end up as a petzl sales mannequin

I've seen the Blue Ice harness failure video, don't know anything more about it than that.

However, I have one of these

https://www.climbingtechnology.com/en/outdoor-en/harnesses/tami

and my wife one of these

https://www.absolute-snow.co.uk/V/Edelrid_Huascaran_Lightweight_Climbing_Ha...

They are both similar in purpose to the Blue Ice, i.e. ultra light and both have the safer thread back buckle design.

I've got both (the old separating buckle and the new new blue/orange one - there's a version or two in between). The old one I never had a problem with but only ever use it for big alpine stuff so not as much shifting as say mixed. I still thread it back over again though, which is still easier I find than threading the newer one which is much harder to put one/get off with gloves and lots of clothing (it's smaller & the dyneema-metal fit is tight), but only as hard as threading any other speed buckle. The dyneema doesn't give any with use, like nylon does.

The ideal might be if you can find a 2nd gen that has the larger silver/silver non-separating buckle that can't come apart but is also larger (though the harness design isn't as nice as the latest one ie gear loops towards the front etc).

Thanks both, yeah the latest choucas looks great in terms of gear loop, ice screw holders and weight, it's just the damn buckle. I always tied an overhand in the end of the tail, but doing many abs returning back down a route in the summer I must have ended up weighting the belay loop over the buckle and it had slipped right to the end by the time we got to the glacier and I'm not going to risk it in future. Think I'll give the new one a miss, there's enough other stuff to stress about without having to worry about a slipping harness as well.

Thanks for the tip on the CT and edelrid harnesses, they look ideal!

I have the newer Choucas Pro which has the same buckle (although threaded in the opposite direction).  However, on the Pro the belay loop is held in a captive retaining loop and can't reposition itself behind the buckle. I've had no issues whatsoever with it. Before opting for the Choucas Pro I did try the CT Tami harness mentioned by Pec, but I found that, unlike the Pro, the Tami was very uncomfortable to hang in.

Cheers Mark, yes I was looking at the pro and thought did think it wouldn't be a problem as you say. Certainly my issue in the summer was due to the relative position of the buckle and belay loop. 

I was thinking about going for the pro and using it as my do-everything harness, but did wonder if it would be a bit uncomfortable due to lack of padding, how have you got on with it? Presumably it isn't as nice as a padded harness on abseils etc? I am very rarely on a hanging belay and don't do much sport climbing, so dangle-ability isn't a deal-breaker. For me, bit of an uncomfortable abseil in return for a light and low profile harness is a reasonable trade-off. 

The original choucas was certainly a ball crusher for abbing, bit overall worth it

Christ, sorry for the nonsense and typos there. Hopefully you can decipher that

I’ve got the choucas pro and I love it. It’s not one for hanging belays or sport climbing IMO but is very comfortable in day long wear on winter/alpine routes and is fine for the odd abseil. I’ve done a couple of free abs having gone over over-hanging terrain and it’s fine, just wouldn’t want to do multiple long ones like that. The weight and pack ability are incredible.

Just as Phil says, I find it very comfortable and, obviously, incredibly light. Great for long easy routes.  Only concern is that for something that lightweight there's an obvious comprise in terms of durability - which is why I'd not be using it as an everyday harness.