Racking on a gear sling or harness?

I know this has been discussed before, but wondering what people think now - rack trad gear on harness, or gear slings like these?

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/climbing/gear-sling/metolius-adjustable-gear-sling

https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/product/padded-gear-sling/

Whichever you prefer.  It's simply personal preference. 

FrankPSwrote:

Whichever you prefer.  It's simply personal preference. 

I think he knows that. He’s asking what that preference is and why.

OP: for me it always has been a gear sling; don’t like all that weight on my harness. 

Harness. If I'm racking up for a wide crack I'll put a regular sling around my shoulder and rack on that.

The more off vertical, I.e. if it is overhanging or slabby, I like racking on my harness. On steep stuff the sling just puts the weight too high on my body. I’m short, so on slabs the gear on the sling tends to end up at my feet. For things that   are closer to vertical, I don’t mind a gear sling. I tend to use a gear sling when trading pitches on multi pitch climbs.

Ever seen Tom Randall, Pete Whittaker, Brittany Goris, Tommy Caldwell, Babsi Zangrel, or any other person crushing traditional routes with a sling on?? Harnesses are comfy now and stay in place when racked full. Do yourself a favor and donate that money to the Access Fund instead of buying a gear sling. 

Harness unless in an offwidth or following on a multipitch (it's easier to sort gear out when putting cleaned gear on a sling) 

I use to always use a gear sling until I started climbing with others that didn’t. Now I mainly rack on my harness. 

It blows my mind when people rack up on a harness. I regularly climb with a double rack to 6 with a full set of nuts, tricams, 12 slings etc. how do you put up with that weight hanging on your harness? Not to mention having to wait for climbers to move all their crap from one loop to another because they're in a dihedral instead of simply flipping it.

Is this because people learn to clip bolts first? You do you, but I personally don't get it.

FWIW I use the "D" sling which keeps the loop tight on the body and avoids the chandelier problem on overhangs.

I'll occasionally use a gear sling on a long multipitch, but generally I carry the rack on my harness. If I need to bring some extra big pieces, I might use a sling over the shoulder. These days, I'm typically climbing single pitch stuff or short multipitches and carry a route specific rack that fits comfortably on a harness.

The answer to the question is yes.

Trad Manwrote:

It blows my mind when people rack up on a harness. I regularly climb with a double rack to 6 with a full set of nuts, tricams, 12 slings etc. how do you put up with that weight hanging on your harness? Not to mention having to wait for climbers to move all their crap from one loop to another because they're in a dihedral instead of simply flipping it.

Is this because people learn to clip bolts first? You do you, but I personally don't get it.

FWIW I use the "D" sling which keeps the loop tight on the body and avoids the chandelier problem on overhangs.

What single pitch trad route requires you to carry that much crap?  I think your aid climbing and don't know it.

I used to rack on a sling but found that it started to get in my way.  IT became more of a hindrance than a help.  I also got more comfortable running out sections of easier climbing, so I was able to ditch some weight along the way.

Dave K wrote:

If you do get a sling, don't get the type with individual loops. 

Well, I find it actually rather convenient to keep my gear sorted and know where each piece sit in a "critical moment". However, as I'm very much against "single-use" gear, I don't suggest to buy one of those. Instead, I make double-use of my PAS. As it is girth hitched to the front of the harness, I just throw it over the shoulder and clip it to the haul loop at the back. Works nicely as a gear sling and it keeps my gear sorted at all times.

Kevin Mokracekwrote:

What single pitch trad route requires you to carry that much crap?  I think your aid climbing and don't know it.

I didn't know this was relegated to single pitch climbs where you know what gear to bring

Trad Manwrote:

I didn't know this was relegated to single pitch climbs where you know what gear to bring

You can only climb one pitch at a time even on a big wall.  You don’t have to carry all your gear on every pitch. 

I can easily fit a double rack to 4 on my harness.   I haven't climbed all over, but I've climbed a fair bit in Utah and surrounding states.

 I've only seen a couple people racking on a gear sling in 5 years of climbing. Cragging, multipitch, and alpine included.   

I tried it and hated it. Didn’t like the weight distribution, and in certain positions I couldn’t access the pieces I wanted. I’m sure most of this can be resolved with proper organization, but I just didn’t think there was any benefit for the sort of climbing I do (rarely even rack full doubles). If your partner doesn’t like using a sling, that also negates one of the main advantages of using one. 

Harness all day. I find the only benefit to having a sling is the ease of trading off gear when switching leads. But to me this doesn’t outweigh the cons. If I have to take an extra 30 seconds to rack on my harness at the belay, then that’s fine.

I generally only take what I need for a climb, so I haven’t ever felt that I couldn’t fit it all. Second, on anything low angle the gear along hangs down. On anything steep it hangs behind you possible out of reach. The only time it’s convenient is something dead vertical. When I started climbing I used a sling, but once I started racking on a harness I never went back. The one exception is doing aid.

Dave K wrote:

It's interesting that some people say they can't reach gear when it's on a sling, since I find one of the advantages is that you can just move the entire sling. If it's hanging behind you, pull it around to the front and you can see everything. If gear is getting crushed between your back and a chimney wall, you can move it around a bit.

If course that's one of the disadvantages, it moves around by itself and often never feels quite right. You have to get used to that.

Now that I think about it though, probably one of the reasons I often just bring the sling is because the gear is already on the sling. For s single pitch climb that uses a "standard rack" you can just grab the sling, maybe take few pieces off that you know you won't need, and you're mostly ready to go. Works well in single pitch trad areas like JTree.

Have you ever done a Gunks roof?

But if it works for you, then great!

I wonder if some of the preference could come from your upper body/arm length and your waist size?  This will change where you reach for your gear and how far around your back the gear loops sit on your harness.
for sport routes I always rack draws on my harness, but my second set of loops is in an awkward position behind me, so everything goes on the first set of loops. I do a lot more beyond-vertical sport routes than gear routes, and having draws on the harness is ergonomically easier For multipitch moderates, I always use gear slings, one for gear the other for draws. There’s too much stuff to rack on a harness for me personally. For single pitch routes, it depends on the situation, but the time the gear sling is problematic is on overhanging terrain. Try different systems and see what feels good to you.