Climbing Related Business Opportunities and Product Ideas

Anna Brownwrote:

Thank you Preetham! Does Kouba distribute through someone in the US or ship here? I can’t tell from their website. They make great looking nut tools! 

I hadn’t come upon the Chalktopus before but this is exactly what I was thinking! I leave my empty chalk sock in my chalk bag with loose chalk all around it and I crab the chalk sock but this is a much better option. The chalk sock doesn’t distribute enough chalk for me. 

Regarding the gear loops: you can switch around the gear loops on Arc harnesses so they cant backwards. Which helps with the cams-over-thighs problem.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a US-based retailer that sells Kouba products. I know Oliunid stocks them, but I'm not sure how the shipping situation is right now. Verticall also has the long nut tool, and I've had good experiences with them recently. 

Mike, can you please explain this? I have two Arc'teryx harnesses and they are the worst offenders of the “trad sag” for me. 

Anna Brownwrote:

Mike, can you please explain this? I have two Arc'teryx harnesses and they are the worst offenders of the “trad sag” for me. 

You can remove them from their socket and flip them around. As seen above (from this thread).

Been able to do this since at least the first WARP harnesses in '07.

Climbing optimized water bottle. Half-liter capacity, metal ring around equator for attaching to harness. The Tahr rings are OK, but with the length they swing a lot.

1.5-lb hooped bivy bag that handles heavy rain well. It sounds like the OR ones don't really cut it these days.

Mike Larson,
Can you please follow me around and solve all of my life frustrations! 

Your protip absolutely worked on my Arc'teryx AR-385a harness. I was able to pull apart the end caps on the gear loop rubber and then pull off the gear loop cover piece. I then reinstalled the gear loop cover pieces so the shorter ends face forward. This should force a double trad rack to hang back instead of forward into my thighs. I have disliked this harness from the first day I wore it outside, so this protip is very appreciated. NOTE: My second Arc'teryx harness, the Skaha, does not allow for this adjustment but it looks like I can add some stitching to the front attachment points to force those to sit higher. I think even an 1/8" higher will help force the gear hang backwards.

Got any ideas for how to make a harness waist belt smaller so it fits better/tighter? I have my medium size harnesses max cinched down and they sag down with a double rack on my waist. There is always a gap at my back instead of them fitting well there to support the weight of the rack.

Anna Brownwrote:

Got any ideas for how to make a harness waist belt smaller so it fits better/tighter? I have my medium size harnesses max cinched down and they sag down with a double rack on my waist. There is always a gap at my back instead of them fitting well there to support the weight of the rack.

Every time I rack up a double rack I swear I'm going to have buttons installed on the front and rear of my harness so I can use a pair of suspenders. Maybe try some clip on suspenders? You'd be so dapper all the cool kids would be jealous!

Or yall could rediscover gear slings for those pesky double racks of gear. 

Anna Brownwrote:

Got any ideas for how to make a harness waist belt smaller so it fits better/tighter? 

Not a pretty solution, but:

Assuming old-school design in which a continuous band of webbing (swami) is encased in padding and bling, carefully de-stitch the non-load-bearing material from the swami, cut this extraneous stuff back an inch or 2 on either side, then re-stitch it.

Cherokee Nuneswrote:

Or yall could rediscover gear slings for those pesky double racks of gear. 

Like double ropes, another thing needlessly on its way to extinction here in the States.

Yeah I have those as well   

Anna potential solution for your chalk bag woes: 

I have 2 of these chalk bags with a big built-in chalk sock sewn to the wall of the bag so it's suspended and you can really quickly chalk up your whole hand from tips to palm with a couple squeezes. It can't fall out and there's nothing so spill. Kinda pricey to import but I haven't found anything as good elsewhere. Especially for crack climbing, it gives much more even chalk coverage and avoids the dreaded caked-chalk-under-fingernails issue I used to have on long trips using loose chalk.

https://www.hanchor.com/products/Chalk%20Bag/BOMB%20X%20chalk%20bag?locale=en

Climbing clothes that aren’t fugly as hell.

There’s a thousand small brands out there printing tacky climbing jokes on tshirts or repurposing old ropes into belts (sorry, there are  ) but not one who can make a cute pair of pants that are neither A: bland earth tones in some billowy ill-fitting cut or B: some horrid mismatch of neon colors in ripstop fabric with weirdly sized zip pockets everywhere

Ally Lwrote:

Climbing clothes that aren’t fugly as hell.

There’s a thousand small brands out there printing tacky climbing jokes on tshirts or repurposing old ropes into belts (sorry, there are  ) but not one who can make a cute pair of pants that are neither A: bland earth tones in some billowy ill-fitting cut or B: some horrid mismatch of neon colors in ripstop fabric with weirdly sized zip pockets everywhere

I've been leaning into the terrible old school tech wear look of MTN hardware stuff from the last gen, my kids hate it

Jeremiah Whitewrote:

I've been leaning into the terrible old school tech wear look of MTN hardware stuff from the last gen, my kids hate it

Jeremiah if you spent $600 on this hideous outfit your kids should absolutely send you to a nursing home. These are not decisions of a sound mind.

Ally Lwrote:

Jeremiah if you spent $600 on this hideous outfit your kids should absolutely send you to a nursing home. These are not decisions of a sound mind.

I'm wearing this to the crag with a popped collar and you can't stop me