Review: Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness Package

Ah, the holidays. 'Tis the season for the exchange of all kinds of unnecessary trinkets. Christmas came early at Rugged Innovations; a well-meaning relative bought me a Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness Package - Steel/ Lava L . This morning I went out into the patio arctic wilderness armed with nothing but a cup of tea, a camera, and a bundle of climbing goodies. I've opened it up, took some pictures, and wrote some words. I'm sure yule love it.

The entire Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness Package comes in an impossibly-small mesh bag. It comes with a harness, ATC with locking biner, chalk bag, and chalk ball. I don't know what dark sorcery the BD guys used to pack this mesh baggie. It's like Pandora's box; once opened, its contents are impossible to contain... Seriously, I can't get them back in. The mug of tea doesn't come included, but I highly recommend it for afternoons spent in a snowy backyard desolate wasteland.

Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness Package

"Let's crack this open!", said Pandora like an idiot. The first item I pulled out of the non-Euclidean hell bag was a Black Diamond ATC Belay Device , which came attached to a Black Diamond Rocklock Screwgate.

Black Diamond ATC belay/rappel device and RockLock screwgate carabiner

Throughout my climbing career I think I've bought a dozen of these Black Diamond Rocklock Screwgate. They've all been this Brown/Bronze/Silver color combination. Apparently they come in different colors, but I've never seen them in anything other than brown. These things are my workhorses. They're cheap, strong, and simple. I use them for everything. You can buy them individually for about ten bucks.

Unfortunately, the ATC is not among my favorites. I think my climbing partner, Bryce, has an old one sitting around somewhere. We may have used it once... maybe. Don't get me wrong; the construction is sturdy and it performs its duty admirably. The problem is it doesn't have a guide hole for belaying from an anchor. This is a design decision I cannot understand. If you only ever climb sport or indoors such a loop is unnecessary weight. That is obvious. However, sport and indoor belayers get very little benefit from stripping down features to save weight. The multipitch and big wall climbers are the ones who benefit the most from weight-saving techniques... and the ones who will need to belay from an anchor, rendering this dinky little ATC redundant. I realize this is a sport package for new climbers and will end my kvetching there.

I personally would choose a Black Diamond ATC Guide Belay Device or a Petzl Reverso 4 Belay Rappel Device. I slightly prefer the Petzl Reverso 4, but the difference is minor. Both are excellent products that I have used extensively and the weight difference between these two items and the aforementioned stripped-down Black Diamond ATC is totally negligible.

Black Diamond chalk bag and White Gold chalk ball

Next up: the chalk bag! Pretty standard, really. It's grey and black. I like that it has a firm plastic ring around the mouth of the chalk opening that stays put even when the drawstring is cinched shut. Some chalk bags are all floppy and... I guess it's a minor inconvenience. The chalk bag comes with a pathetic little waist cord that made me angry for no reason.

Chalk is included; I thought it was a nice touch. It's a chalk ball, which some people absolutely hate. As an extremely clumsy guy, I love chalk balls. I usually use standard loose chalk, but I end up sitting on, spilling, or otherwise making a huge mess of it nearly every time I climb. The chalk balls are a bit more expensive per ounce of chalk, but I like them. It's really just preference.

Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness

Here you see the Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness wrapped up like a butterfly chrysalis, ready to unfurl into a fully-grown mature harness and fly away. The cold, unfeeling hand of natural selection promotes successful traits and stifles unsuccessful ones. This harness has both. Let's talk about them.

First off, let's call this what it is. It's a lightweight, stripped-down harness. It's extremely light. It's strong, durable, and cheap. I've actually climbed in two different versions of this harness. Their older grey-and-black version of this harness was my bread and butter harness for about a year. The previous iteration has never let me down, and this model has a few improvements.

Most notably, the leg loops have speed adjust buckles that are surprisingly nice. I usually dislike adjustable leg loops because they add weight and slow down your setup time, but these have plastic speed adjust buckles that really simplify the process and allow you to tighten your leg loops one-handed. The buckles are plastic which makes me wonder how much abuse they can really take. In any case, the leg loops are designed such that even if the speed adjust buckles completely break off, the strength of the leg loops is not compromised.

The belay loop looks and feels a bit flimsier than the previous years' model's loop, but I know BD rigorously tests their equipment and that they would not create a faulty product. The foam that comprises the waist and leg loops feels a bit stiffer than the other harnesses I have; it almost feels like memory foam. It does not detract from the feel of the harness on short climbs, but I wonder if it would form to your leg and waist during long, drawn-out project sessions and start to hurt or cut off circulation. I have yet to spend any time hangdogging on it, so I'll reserve judgement on its long-climb comfort until such a point.

Overall, I think the Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness Package is great for new climbers. If you're indoor and sport climbing, it has everything minus shoes and a rope. The price is hard to beat; Black Diamond really made this an affordable product. As someone who trad climbs often, I couldn't help but feel that some of the features were a bit gumby. The biggest improvement to this product would be replacing the ATC with an Black Diamond ATC Guide Belay Device so a new climber doesn't have to go out and buy a new belay device when they want to start trying multipitch climbs.

The Black Diamond Momentum SA Harness Package - Steel/ Lava L starts at $99.00

Stay safe.

by Ariel Castro