Added 5th Gear Loop to Harness

SO. Needed a fifth gear loop on my harness for multi-pitch trad—for ancillary gear (cordellete, ATC Guide, lockers, PAS, nut tool), and if I’m not wearing a pack, water bottle, walk-off shoes, rap gloves, windbreaker, Yost 8” cast iron swivel-base bench vise (just in case…), etc. Love my Edelrid Orion (been climbing in it for more than a year; very comfortable—for a harness, that is), but the four gear loops can get crowded, making it difficult to place gear quickly. I tried tying a piece of cord in the back for a fifth loop, which is okay, but not really. Gave a lot of thought to a better solution, and came up with this.

Bought the grommet kit on Amazon for around $8—not bad. (Came with 2,723,009 grommets. Should be enough for the job.) Everything else I bought at Home Depot for $1.86: 12” of 3/32” plastic-coated wire, and then the little do-dads that crimp on the ends of the wire (sorry, can’t remember the actual name of them, but they’re found next to where the rolls of wire are).

The point of no return came when I had to punch the holes in my harness. But following the advise of the Reformation Theologian Martin Luther, “Sin boldly,” I plunged ahead (sorry about the pun; well, not really). Then I placed the grommets, which I considered myself an expert at, as I’d never done it before. Pounded those in place. Huh, whadaya’ know—they actually held. Threaded the wire in place and cut the excess (side cutters and much manly strength).

The crimpy-thingies that go at the end of the wire (that hold the wire in place): had to drill these out a bit, as the plastic coating made the wire too large to fit—easy enough to do, as the crimpy-thingy do-dads are aluminum. Crimped them down on the wire with my vise. (Yup, that’d be the same Yost 8” cast iron swivel-base bench vise mentioned above.) If you don’t have a Yost 8” cast iron swivel-base bench vise (mentioned above), you can just pound the bejesus out of the ends with a hammer on any hard surface, like a concrete curb or any Democrat’s head. (KIDDING. Come on. It’s a joke. Everyone knows Democrats’ heads are soft.) Whole job took about an hour.

Does it work? No. Came apart 400’ off the deck; everything fell off. Kidding again (sorry, sometimes I think I’m funny). Of course it works! Like a charm. Seriously, the loop sticks out when not weighted—a nice feature (TOTALLY planned that one. Yes I did). It’s beefy enough to be substantial, but not so much so that it’s uncomfortable on the inside. In fact, I can’t even feel where the wire threads through on the inside of the harness. All in all, a pretty good garage fix.

BTW, I have 2,723,005 grommets left, so if you’re in town and want a few thousand, hit me up. And if you need help with the job, bring a six pack (of beer). If you’re a hot climber chick, I’ll even let you use my Yost 8” cast iron swivel-base bench vise (mentioned above). But you’ll still need to bring beer.

New 5th gear loop on back of harness

Left side

Right side

Inside of harness rear. Note: the Edelrid Orion has perforations--holes already there, which is where I placed the grommets.
Yost 8" cast iron swivel-base bench vise

Where are the pictures of the Yost 8” cast iron swivel bench vise?!?

I believe they are called ferrules

is it uncomfortable to wear with the metal on the inside?

Matt Carroll wrote:is it uncomfortable to wear with the metal on the inside?

OP said " It’s beefy enough to be substantial, but not so much so that it’s uncomfortable on the inside. In fact, I can’t even feel where the wire threads through on the inside of the harness. All in all, a pretty good garage fix"

I assume it feels fine now, but interested to see if that changes in a few months. but I suspect if its good now it will be for the life of the harness.

Danger-Russ Gordon wrote: OP said " It’s beefy enough to be substantial, but not so much so that it’s uncomfortable on the inside. In fact, I can’t even feel where the wire threads through on the inside of the harness. All in all, a pretty good garage fix" I assume it feels fine now, but interested to see if that changes in a few months. but I suspect if its good now it will be for the life of the harness.

hahaha I need to read better

In your defense Matt, I had typed out the same question, but re-read the wall of text cause I missed it the first time ;)

lol is webbing/cord and thread not burly enough?

David Gibbs wrote:Where are the pictures of the Yost 8” cast iron swivel bench vise?!?

Agreed!! If the OP is gonna flaunt it so many times, we need pictures to appreciate it.

Scott Baird wrote: Agreed!! If the OP is gonna flaunt it so many times, we need pictures to appreciate it.

Ha, have you met scott?

Oh, ye of little faith. See new pic of Yost 8" cast iron swivel-base bench vise (mentioned above).
To NorCalNomad's question: no, a simple cord is flimsy (like Hillary's answers to the Benghazi question or Trump's to the Russia question) and hard to clip gear on to. Plus, you may find yourself wondering if six half-hitches were enough to keep it from untying half way up.

Scott Baird wrote: Now that's 8" of impressive hard iron..........

Um... awkward.

Scott360 wrote:Oh, ye of little faith. See new pic of Yost 8" cast iron swivel-base bench vise (mentioned above). To NorCalNomad's question: no, a simple cord is flimsy (like Hillary's answers to the Benghazi question or Trump's to the Russia question) and hard to clip gear on to. Plus, you may find yourself wondering if six half-hitches were enough to keep it from untying half way up.

BD doesn't seem to think so.