Gear and kids
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Hi, I'm new to the forum and to climbing. I've long had a curiosity about climbing but have only recently started. My kids and I have been climbing indoors for a month and having a lot of fun. It just so happens we have a pretty nice crag about 10 minutes from my house with a dozen or more routes with permanent anchors/bolts and the chains for most are easily accessible from the top, so we will be able to top rope a lot before I need to worry about leading or buying much in the way of anchoring gear. |
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C.A.M.P. Harlequin Harness. Cheap. Pretty comfy. Super adjustable. Definitely have the smallest kid try it on to make sure it fits. |
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Regardless of which harness you get or use, remember that it must fit snugly over their hips. If they invert, the fit needs to prevent them from sliding out of their harness. |
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Petzl recommmends a full body harness for children under 10 because of the lack of well defined hips at that age. Children under 12 also tend to be top heavy, which is one more reason for a full body harness. Here's one of their offerings: petzl.com/us/outdoor/vertic… .They make a smaller one ( petzl.com/us/outdoor/vertic…) for smaller kids. |
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Thanks for the thoughts and product suggestions so far. |
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It's not really about age, there are some adults whose body shape would require a full-body harness. The real question is when inverted, will their hips keep them in the harness? If the answer is no, regardless of age, they need a full-body harness or a chest harness in combination with a sit-harness. Finding an adjustable harness that will work for multiple kids or continue to work for them as they grow is great, but don't sacrifice proper fit for it. Harnesses are cheaper than ER visits. |
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The Fraggle is currently the only padded full body harness on the market. They sell them at REI. rei.com/product/847509/edel… |
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My daughter is six and still wears a full body harness. Even thought her climbing skills are quite good it is the best choice for her. I have also let other children try the harness and they all have said they like it much better. |
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I would have to agree with the full body harness. With your kids why not buy the more safe of the two options. There are a lot of companies that make varying styles of full body harnesses. |
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Full body harnesses can be great for kids. If I don't have one available, I will use a sling to make an upper body harness for them. |
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And you can almost always find used full body kid harnesses for dirt cheap that are basically brand new. |
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To play devils advocate on the full body harness idea... The full body harnesses take much longer to adjust the size, when it is one person using the body harness it is more a fit it once and forget it thing. However, if your plan is to have all the kids share the harness it may get tedious spending 5 min changing the fit each time the kids switch who is climbing. Just one more thing to consider. |
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Another thing to consider is just buying a nice seat harness and separate chest harness. You could also learn how to tie a nice chest harness out of webbing that works really well too. |
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CAMP makes really nice kids harnesses. I also quite like the BD Whiz Kid and the Mammut harnesses, too. As was said earlier, make sure they fit well on the smallest kid. As for the full-body, you can add a sling to make your kids harness into a full body. This may overcome some resistance you might get from the 10yo. |
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Thanks for all the info and suggestions. We have been out climbing and the kids are sharing a BD Whiz Kid sit harness. With it snugged properly I've flipped them around in various ways and have found no top-heavy tendencies nor any way to force them to slip out, so I think we're in good shape. They love climbing outdoors and cannot wait for the next outing. |