Getting my first harness

I’m looking into getting my first harness to do some top rope at my gym I was looking at the Blue Ice Choucas Pro Harness had some good reviews is that a good one to start with or should I try another one out also should at this point start buying like a rope, belay device etc or should I wait (I’ve only started climbing this year so I’m not in a hurry to do any big walls outdoors lol) 

Hey Jason, the Choucas Pro is an ultralight harness which fits specific needs - when you're just starting out and will primarily be doing gym climbing, that's not a harness I would suggest. If you like Blue Ice, something like the Cuesta would be a better choice and definitely more comfortable than the Choucas. For gym and recreational climbing, you don't need an ultralight harness that prioritizes weight so highly over comfort.

It's worth trying on harnesses to see what fits well and feels good but a few suggestions for you to consider are the Blue Ice Cuesta mentioned above, the Petzl Adjama, Petzl Aquila, Black Diamond Momentum, and Black Diamond Solution.

That's not an all encompassing list, there's tons more options out there but that's a handful to check out that are easy to find in store usually. Be mindful of how padded they are, if the leg loops are adjustable, how big/small the gear loops are, and of course read the reviews. Some of these attributes won't matter much for gym climbing, but if/when you transition to outdoor climbing you may want bigger gear loops for example to hold your quickdraws.

hey Cosmic thanks for the info!! Yeah I definitely wouldn’t have guessed that I think I was on a mountaineering page when I saw that harness lol I’ll take a look at the ones you said the nearest store with harnesses to me are a couple hours away so I’ll make that drive out and start trying some on I appreciate the help

Cosmic Hotdog wrote:

Hey Jason, the Choucas Pro is an ultralight harness which fits specific needs - when you're just starting out and will primarily be doing gym climbing, that's not a harness I would suggest. If you like Blue Ice, something like the Cuesta would be a better choice and definitely more comfortable than the Choucas. For gym and recreational climbing, you don't need an ultralight harness that prioritizes weight so highly over comfort.

It's worth trying on harnesses to see what fits well and feels good but a few suggestions for you to consider are the Blue Ice Cuesta mentioned above, the Petzl Adjama, Petzl Aquila, Black Diamond Momentum, and Black Diamond Solution.

That's not an all encompassing list, there's tons more options out there but that's a handful to check out that are easy to find in store usually. Be mindful of how padded they are, if the leg loops are adjustable, how big/small the gear loops are, and of course read the reviews. Some of these attributes won't matter much for gym climbing, but if/when you transition to outdoor climbing you may want bigger gear loops for example to hold your quickdraws.