could anyone recommend a ladies harness to replace my wifes aging beginner bd primrose. she will be following me on trad climbs and all the ladies harnesses at our local shops are sport harnesses so it will be hard to try one on. she wants it to have girly looks and not look like a mans harness. i am just looking for what anyone has and their opinions of it.

I'm not sure what makes a harness a "beginner" harness, if your wife liked the it then there was nothing wrong with it.

Now that being said, I'm not sure if they're making quite the same model. Logic would say you'd find out what she liked/didn't like about her current harness and let us know so we could offer some meaningful suggestions.....but considering you've only given us one criterion I'd say go for the pink one:

http://www.backcountry.com/...elena-harness-womens

http://www.backcountry.com/...djust-harness-womens

I have a singing rock harness, not women specific though. Love it!
Found it more comfortable than many womens. It looks similar to NARA
http://www.singingrock.com/...53&nLanguageID=2

what i meant was the primrose like the mens momentum are the harnesses alot of beginners buy because of the kit they offer with them and the fact there a generic and inexpensive harness. just looking for a comfortable well padded harness that works well with hanging belays and has more than the little gear loops that are on the primrose and sport harnesses. not looking just for pretty colors but she doesnt want a butch looking harness.

I'm not overly impressed with a lot of the harnesses on the market these days. In all honesty the Petzl one I linked to is very popular, as is actually the one I usually wear these days. I find it uncomfortable to hang in for a long time at 140-145lbs, but I've had light people tell me they love it (I'm talking the women's and the equivalent men's).

As for gear loops, I have no idea what harness to suggest to you. I have an old Arc'teryx Isis that I save for gear climbing because I haven't found anything on the market that compares. Frankly, I've been looking at the lower end harnesses more lately liking the looks of their gear loops more.

My husband just got a new BD harness and the gear loops are ridiculous. The Petzl are also pretty small, but serviceable I guess. The Misty Mountain ones are really quite good and I think very comfortable too (though I think the Cadillac is overkill for most situations).

Sorry, I wish I had more suggestions, but there just aren't that many harnesses on the market these days that looks very good to me.

Ouch!

Sometimes we spouses of non-climbers seek more comfortable shoes, harness, tent, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, you name it, in hopes that we can get our so to go climbing more often. May be this is the case and not some sick sexist thing?

The butch part is a little weird, but this isn't the first thread asking for cute gear...

Sounds like you got what you were looking for.

But man, threads like these make me cringe. Out of curiosity, do you handle all of your wife's shopping for her? You choose her pants for her, too? Or does she not wear pants, for the fear that they would make her look too butch?

Who knows.

I cringed for multiple reasons

-- one was the whole "butch" tangent.

-- the other one is my general dislike of people who are picking a functional piece of gear based on color, instead of function. Don't see anything wrong with pretty colors, but putting a cart before the horse is stupid.

-- third is the whole dragging out a passive individual who doesn't want anything to do with climbing. Not my business if the wife is nice enough to go along with an activity that she doesn't much care for, in order to please the guy, or spend more time with him, or whatever. Good for her, in fact, if she is so nice and willing to go along. And obviously, every relationship has some reciprocal give an take in terms of going along with things you don't want to do, for the sake of the partner you care for. But when I see couples like that out climbing, I rarely see the dragged-along individual of either gender have much fun.


This is a lot to read into a simple request for harnesses in pretty colors, I know.

The 2nd and 3rd points might not have been cringe-worthy on their own, but all three together... brrr!

i want to thank everyone that had a helpful comment but apparently this was a sexiest question. i thought the way i originally ask it wasnt but i guess i was wrong. please dont bother with any more answers because i will not bother to look at this thread anymore.

i want to thank everyone that had a helpful comment but apparently this was a sexiest question. i thought the way i originally ask it wasnt but i guess i was wrong. please dont bother with any more answers because i will not bother to look at this thread anymore.

i want to thank everyone that had a helpful comment but apparently this was a sexiest question. i thought the way i originally ask it wasnt but i guess i was wrong. please dont bother with any more answers because i will not bother to look at this thread anymore.

This is a lot to read into a simple request for harnesses in pretty colors, I know.

could anyone recommend a mans harness to replace my husband's aging beginner bd momentum. he will be following me on trad climbs and all the guys harnesses at our local shops are sport harnesses so it will be hard to try one on. he wants it to have manly looks and not look like a girls harness. i am just looking for what anyone has and their opinions of it.

not looking just for manly colors/camo, etc., but he doesnt want a gay looking harness

Wow, Lena! I think you are reading too much into this. I'd be happy if my DH did shopping for me (as long as I liked what he got).

Really, she "loves" climbing... She just can't be bothered to pick her own replacement harness, after she already has one "aging" harness, so presumably she's been at it for several years, and she still has no preferences of her own, other than pretty colors and not looking butch? Anyone seen a real woman climber like that? Seriously?