Climbing Harness on Market Without Speed Buckle?

Folks- I don't care much for "speed buckles." Admittedly, I'm way over concerned with the ability of a speed buckle to catch on something and release, so I end up really liking manual double-back buckles. Any recommendations for a comfortable, all-day sort of harness with adjustable leg loops that manually doubles back and is available on the market? Couldn't find any on a quick search. Looking to replace a BD Momentum AL. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Misty Mountain Cadillac. They'll do a custom version of any of their other harnesses with a standard buckle too if I'm not mistaken.

Misty Mountain is probably the best option, if you had the BD Momentum before. I have the Finesse and it's pretty good. Cadillac is better with more gear loops (besides Finesse is for women).

If you want another option, the Metolius Waldo, Safe Tech all around, Safe Tech Deluxe, are still double backed.

I don't think Yates makes climbing harnesses anymore but my yates one was double backed also.

You're right.... except for alpine harnesses all I see all ones with speed buckles. Makes making sure your partner is double backed a pointless activity. I prefer double backed ones also, except it's tougher to tighten and "corset" in my fat. Problem is I have many harnesses trying to find the holy grail of harnesses, so I have to double check which buckle style I'm wearing to make sure I don't assume it's a speed one. Metolius Safe tech say they will hold some weight even if not double backed, probably only safe if you forget in a lowering/toprope situation.

I'm with you, brother. "Quick adjust" harnesses also creep loose. I bought a Misty with the double backing buckles and love it, after a brief adjustment period where I admittedly hated it (it does take getting used to). Never loosens, and I like that you can open it completely (better for storage/cramming into a pack). I've also never even come remotely close to forgetting to double back...seriously, it feels super weird if you don't since you end up with a strap hanging down.

Unless something changed really recently, big gun harnesses are double backed, legs and waist. I'm forever pointing out to new people that my harness does, indeed, need to be checked.

Helen

Keatan wrote:Misty Mountain Cadillac. They'll do a custom version of any of their other harnesses with a standard buckle too if I'm not mistaken.

I bought a harness from them a couple of years ago and special-ordered double back buckle. I assume they will still do that.

Metolius Safe Tech Deluxe uses a double back buckle, and it has a few safety features on the buckle and webbing.

I have a Metolius Safe Tech, and love it. Only harness I could find with adjustable rise and leg loops (I'm a tall gangly bastard), and it fits your need for and old-school buckle.

Black Diamond Big Gun Harness has manual buckles

K. Le Douche wrote:I have a Metolius Safe Tech, and love it. Only harness I could find with adjustable rise and leg loops (I'm a tall gangly bastard), and it fits your need for and old-school buckle.

Same here 6'4" and I love the adjustable rise! This harness is so comfy.

If you're worried about creep on a speed buckle, just tie an overhand knot in the webbing just after the buckle-- this effectively limits how much creep can occur. I sometimes do this when I am doing body-weight hauling.

I think that speed buckles are a great invention.

best,
matt

The question is: why do we need something that is "quick adjusting" in the first place? Harnesses are meant to be worn all day, it's not like your climbing shoes where you'll be ripping them on and off after every pitch.

My Petzl Corax has so much friction cinching down the so-called speed buckle that I doubt it would ever creep loose. I have to jam the webbing in the buckle to tighten it.

Double-back buckles are pretty much gone now, I changed to one when I watched my climbing partners harness fall to his ankles half way up a route because he forgot to double back and we decided we were suffering from old age and senility.
Ocun make a wall harness with double back one side and speed on the other side of the waist loop so you can get the best or worst of both worlds!

Ted Pinson wrote:The question is: why do we need something that is "quick adjusting" in the first place? Harnesses are meant to be worn all day, it's not like your climbing shoes where you'll be ripping them on and off after every pitch.

I thought that the main idea is that the buckle is always correctly double-backed-- there is no opportunity for the user to ever incorrectly attach their harness.

+1 for Big Gun! Great harness

Jonny,

FWIW, I bought a BD Chaos harness for myself for x-mas. It does have a "speed buckle" but I have noticed that to loosen the buckle, I have to seperate the top plate from the bottom plate. Unlike other speed buckles I have used it won't loosen by simply pulling out on the whole buckle assembly.

It sounds like you are pretty set on having a double back buckle, and I won't fault you for that. But if you are just worried about a speed buckle snagging on something, or slowly working it's way loose, the BD buckles seem to eliminate that possibility.

Thanks for the feedback,e veryone. Cyclestupor-- I'll check out the Chaos; thanks for the tips. If I'm not a fan, I'll head over to Misty Mountain or Metolius.

Grammar Police

FWIW double backed means something has two backs.

Doubled back means it has gone back in the direction it came from.

The -ed ending goes on the verb (here the verb is "to double").

Edit: went back and removed some unnecessary hyphens, thanks Jonny d!

Darren in Vegas wrote: FWIW double-backed means something has two backs. Doubled-back means it has gone back in the direction it came from. The -ed ending goes on the verb (here the verb is "to double").

Well-done, Darren. And I like the badge.

mpech wrote: I thought that the main idea is that the buckle is always correctly double-backed-- there is no opportunity for the user to ever incorrectly attach their harness.

Unless you completely un-thread the speed buckle, which is actually pretty easy to do on a couple different brands of harnesses on the market. I like this and consider it a "feature" because it allows me to put the harness on over boots and crampons (alpine), but it does introduce the potential to thread the speed buckle incorrectly. Didn't Black Diamond recall some harnesses because the speed buckle was threaded incorrectly? Luckily it's pretty easy to see an incorrectly threaded speed buckle. As part of my double check with my partner, I always do a quick visual check to make sure their speed buckle is threaded correctly.

Edited to add: found the BD recall.
cpsc.gov/Recalls/2006/Speed…