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dagawebb
Jun 13, 2004, 6:13 AM
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Hi All,
Just a quick question for you all. What harness do you normally wear when you are sleeping on the portaledge by night on Big Walls.
I normally wear a tapeseat (diaper) harness by night and change into my normal harness in the morning. Just wondering what the rest of you wear.
Have tried to wear a normal harness but is way too uncomfortable
Cheers
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okie_redneck
Jun 13, 2004, 8:38 AM
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That's so funny! There's only sport climbing and bouldering here unless you want to drive three hours. I was in my late teens when I bought my first harness. People around here look at me like I'm crazy when I show them how to put on a diaper :lol: . Honestly, quite comfy. Makes me nastalgic for when I was five years old rappelling off of my treehouse with a biner and an Italian hitch (my brother was fourteen and Mom would've killed him).
I need to move.
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lambone
Jun 13, 2004, 6:56 PM
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I just wear my wall harness, sometimes I undo the leg loops and just go with the swami.
What the heck is a tapeseat diaper harness? I have been climbing for almost 15 years and never heard of one of those...
Do you mean you make a harness out of webbing or something?
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edge
Jun 13, 2004, 7:04 PM
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In reply to: What the heck is a tapeseat diaper harness? I have been climbing for almost 15 years and never heard of one of those... Do you mean you make a harness out of webbing or something?
Take a 10 foot +/- piece of webbing, tied in a loop. Hold it behind your back so that the upper part of the loop is at your waist level and the lower loop is under your butt. Now join the two ends in front of you and hold them with one hand loosely. Now reach between your legs and grab the lower half of the loop and pull it through so that you have three ends all gathered together where a belay loop would be on a regular harness. Clip all three with a locking biner. Obviously, you need to adjust the size of the initial big loop for a good fit in the end. All in all, not a bad trick to know...
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the_alpine
Jun 13, 2004, 8:35 PM
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No harness. Just sleep in a webbing swami made from spare webbing, sling, whatever... When was the last time you heard of someone falling out of their portaledge while sleeping anyways? Not that its impossible.........
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musicman
Jun 13, 2004, 9:35 PM
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it does seem pretty tough to fall out of a porta ledge, not that i've ever even laid in one, but i've seen plenty to know how many straps there are going up all around it, it seems mighty difficult to fall all the way off, maybe having a leg or an arm or even your head hangin off when you wake up is understandable, has anyone ever fallin off here at rc.con??
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lambone
Jun 13, 2004, 10:00 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: What the heck is a tapeseat diaper harness? I have been climbing for almost 15 years and never heard of one of those... Do you mean you make a harness out of webbing or something? Take a 10 foot +/- piece of webbing, tied in a loop. Hold it behind your back so that the upper part of the loop is at your waist level and the lower loop is under your butt. Now join the two ends in front of you and hold them with one hand loosely. Now reach between your legs and grab the lower half of the loop and pull it through so that you have three ends all gathered together where a belay loop would be on a regular harness. Clip all three with a locking biner. Obviously, you need to adjust the size of the initial big loop for a good fit in the end. All in all, not a bad trick to know...
huh, yeah i maybe did that in boy scouts once, and one day when my buddy forgot his harness.
Seems like a big pain in the ass to do in a portaledge though, not to mention trying to switch between that and a regular harness while remaining tied in...
My buddies fell out of their portaledge once, it was a double and it flipped in the middle of the night for some reason.
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coylec
Jun 13, 2004, 11:50 PM
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I'm glad I didn't know that. I had a nightmare where I thought I fell out. Can anyone think of something that would suck more than to take a fall SLEEPING? When do you wake up: mid-fall, when the rope jerks you? it'd turn any route into "brownpoint" or "yellowpoint". Gives me the creeps.
coylec
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dagawebb
Jun 13, 2004, 11:55 PM
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To fit the tape harness I just loosen my normal harness slightly and undoe the leg loops and then put on the tape harness clip the three points with the crab and then take off my normal harness. In the morning It is as simple as doing the reverse.
I cant beleive you havent heard of a tape harness before lambone
Cheers
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wallwombat
Jun 14, 2004, 12:21 AM
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In reply to: My buddies fell out of their portaledge once, it was a double and it flipped in the middle of the night for some reason.
Sounds like they were doing a bit of a vertical leg wrestle. :shock:
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lambone
Jun 14, 2004, 4:09 AM
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In reply to: I cant beleive you havent heard of a tape harness before lambone Cheers
no, I have, actualy my first time ever using a harness, Rappleling in BoyScouts when I was 13...
Just never heard it called a "tapeseat diaper" before... :?
I actually saw my buddy lead WI6 with a harness rigged from BD spectra slings, cause he forgot his harness at home...talk about a reason not to fall :o
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cologman
Jun 14, 2004, 4:39 AM
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Swami Belt out of 1". Ya! Ya! Old school :P
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calamity_chk
Jun 14, 2004, 4:43 AM
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i can hear the yodels from here. ;)
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galf
Jun 14, 2004, 5:01 AM
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From Canadian alpine club journal:
In early August two climbers, Lucie Poirier and Jacques Veillette
fell to their deaths while on a three day big-wall climbing endeavour
on Cap Trinité. They had set up a porta-a-ledge camp at 100m
on the cliff and were on it when their unit failed. Investigators concluded
that the climbers had made two grave errors. They had tied
themselves off to equipment loops on the port-a-ledge itself , and
had neglected to tie themselves off to
the wall directly. When the port-a-ledge
failed due to overloading, they were
pulled down and carried with it to the
bottom of the cliff.
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
.
.
.
Splat!
I have a theory as to how it was overloaded :wink: BUT THEY DIED!!!
TIE YOURSELVES TO THE WALL! Shit happens.
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bigwalling
Jun 14, 2004, 5:08 AM
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Why the hell whould you clip into that stuff?! Those people were not thinking on that one.
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bigwallfun
Jun 14, 2004, 11:46 PM
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The first thing I want to do ( when the ledge is set up) is get out of my harness. After hauling and hanging in it all day it feels real good to take it off. I pretty much always sleep with just a bowline around me with 10' of slack so I can move around in my sleeping bag. unless it's real windy
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bestbefore
Jun 16, 2004, 1:58 PM
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Galf is quite right in the conclusion he draws from the Cap Trinite accident (always tie in to the wall) - but sadly the victims were not even lucky enough to take their final tumble in mid-shag. Separate sleeping bags I'm afraid.
What did do them in was a series of basic mistakes, all of which would have come to nothing had they (as sayeth Galf) tied directly to their anchors. No anchors pulled, no biners broke, nothing failed in its intended use.
What apparently happened is that the unfortunate couple arrived at the anchors in the dark and set up the portaledge. Somehow they attached the ledge not by the reinforced anchor point at the top, but by a loop (loops?) in the riser strap (s). Then they attached themselves, not directly to the rock anchors but to the central daisy under the main anchor point. This set up seems to have held long enough for them to get into sleeping bags, but eventually failed with the inevitable results. All their other gear remained safely attached to the intact anchors.
Now for a comment on the main topic. I agree with Cologman - a 1" swami is the most comfortable. I just carry one double-length 1" sling, and tie it on me when it's time to sleep. Comfy, simple, and serves as a useful piece of tat should one need to leave webbing behind!
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pedro_burrito
Jun 16, 2004, 2:46 PM
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This is from John Long and John Middendorf's Big Walls book:
"My friend Dean "Bullwinkle" Fidelman twice inveigled girlfriends onto big walls, and at night, in a hammock lashed some thousands of feet up a vertical wall, they'd do their private business, buck naked, with the rope tied only around their ankles! Dean's pants got away from him during one of these trysts, and the next day he had to polish off the route wearing only a breechcloth fashioned from his t-shirt."
That would have been a hell of a ride if the hammock had come undone.
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mingleefu
Jun 16, 2004, 3:06 PM
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In reply to: That would have been a hell of a ride if the hammock had come undone. |
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asandh
Jun 16, 2004, 4:14 PM
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:)
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flashsixteen
Jun 16, 2004, 4:29 PM
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Does anyone use a swiss seat? Made of webbing, but different from a tape harness.
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coylec
Jun 16, 2004, 6:00 PM
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In reply to: should I also bring my pajamas and favorite pillow ??? hmmm .... comfort ... bigwall ... comfort ... bigwall ... maybe just stay home on the couch ...
depends how heavy you want to go. there are some would have no problem spending time on the wall ... they'll bring coffee makers, ghettoblasters and even a freakin' shower.
coylec
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ricardol
Jun 16, 2004, 6:18 PM
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maybe next time i'll try tying in with a bowline around my waist ..
up till now every night on the wall i've spent with my bigwall harness on .. undid the legloops though ..
-- ricardo
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iamthewallress
Jun 16, 2004, 8:26 PM
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In reply to: No harness. Just sleep in a webbing swami made from spare webbing, sling, whatever... When was the last time you heard of someone falling out of their portaledge while sleeping anyways? Not that its impossible.........
Sigh...You penis-owners are lucky on walls. We chicks have to bail over the side of the ledge to pee. I use web-o-lette wrapped around my waist no a decent natural ledge, but in a portaledge there are good reasons for me to keep on the harness.
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