Racking on a gear sling or harness?

Brandon Rwrote:

That assumes that the leader places every single piece they take on each pitch, otherwise you still end up re-racking and re-organizing gear. 

climbing team has 12 cams on the gear sling.  

the leader at the top of the belay has placed 5 cams.  

7 cams are being cleaned by the follower.  

follower arrives at belay with 7 cams on his harness.  

leader passes gear sling to follower with 5 cams on it.  

follower racks 7 cams back on gear sling, making it a full 12 cams again.  

the team has “saved” racking 5 cams compared to racking on the harness.

if the leader had placed all 12 cams, the follower would have to re-rack all 12 cams back on the gear sling. 

BryanOCwrote:

climbing team has 12 cams on the gear sling.  

the leader at the top of the belay has placed 5 cams.  

7 cams are being cleaned by the follower.  

follower arrives at belay with 7 cams on his harness.  

leader passes gear sling to follower with 5 cams on it.  

follower racks 7 cams back on gear sling, making it a full 12 cams again.  

the team has “saved” racking 5 cams compared to racking on the harness.

if the leader had placed all 12 cams, the follower would have to re-rack all 12 cams back on the gear sling. 

I’d still rather rack on my harness.   How long does it take you to put rack cams??  I’ve never been benighted because I racked on my harness.   I’ve been slowed down by slow anchor building, stuck gear, slow climber, poor route finding skills but never re-racking 7 cams.  

Kevin Mokracekwrote:

I’d still rather rack on my harness.   How long does it take you to put rack cams??  I’ve never been benighted because I racked on my harness.   I’ve been slowed down by slow anchor building, stuck gear, slow climber, poor route finding skills but never re-racking 7 cams.  

cool story bro.  i was answering the other guys question about not having to re-rack the entire rack.  

when i am cleaning i organize them on my harness and typically don't transfer them to the sling at the belay (unless there is a compelling reason to do so - OW, etc).  doing it this way you can cut transitions to 30 seconds or less pretty easily.

climbing multipitch with harness rackers is definitely a bit annoying for me.  definitely a lot slower, and it adds up on longer routes.  at 3 minutes a transition you are looking at 30 minutes doing nothing but shuffling gear on a 10 pitch route.  

slimwrote:

when i am cleaning i organize them on my harness and typically don't transfer them to the sling at the belay (unless there is a compelling reason to do so - OW, etc).  doing it this way you can cut transitions to 30 seconds or less pretty easily.

climbing multipitch with harness rackers is definitely a bit annoying for me.  definitely a lot slower, and it adds up on longer routes.  at 3 minutes a transition you are looking at 30 minutes doing nothing but shuffling gear on a 10 pitch route.  

Wait, you said harness racking in both scenarios. 

Tbh I use a gear sling more to carry my rack to the crag rather than actually climb with it. If I am doing a really long pitch or going on a multi pitch in the gunks, I might opt to rack on my gear sling with just my quickdraws on my harness, but usually my gear loops on the harness get the action.