Kids Climbing Gear: Choosing the Right Harness

Choosing the Right Climbing Harness for your Kid

Let's talk about climbing gear for children! Kids absolutely love climbing. From newbie to veteran, kids are getting more involved in the climbing community. I volunteer at climbing competitions sometimes and I estimate that 90% of the competitors are under the age of 15. Kids are everywhere and they are the future of the sport. Let's make sure they get the right gear so they can stay safe and have fun!

Kids are different from adults with respect to gear in three ways. First -- and most obviously -- they are smaller! One size does not fit all. Second, they have constant growth spurts requiring size changes relatively often. Third, they are much faster learners than us older folk and they are more likely to quickly change between bouldering, sport, trad, and ice climbing (even zip lining, ropes courses, and via ferrata).

Harnesses are one of the most universal pieces of gear, so they're a good place to start. There are some notable decisions to make when buying a harness for a kid. The biggest choice is between a waist harness and a full-body harness. I will describe the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Full-body Harness

Petzl Simba Kids Harness

For very young kids between the ages of 5-10 some people prefer to use a full-body harness like the Simba Kids Harness By Petzl ($59.95 at Amazon). Full-body harnesses have a few advantages. First, the over-the-shoulder straps make it less likely that the kid will squirm his way out of the harness. I have never seen a kid wriggle his way out of a waist harness, but it's a valid concern if your little one is fidgety. Since kids have smaller waist bones, some people claim that a waist harness could slip off their hips.

Another advantage to a full-body harness is that it makes the child less likely to flip over upside down. Kids tend to have a higher center of gravity than adults, making them more likely to flip over when climbing. A full-body harness with shoulder straps would prevent this from causing problems.

There are a variety of great choices for full-body harnesses.

The Petzl Simba is for children between the ages of 5-10 and below 90 lbs (40kg). It's a bit pricey at $59.95, but I can personally vouch for the quality and safety of Petzl products -- I use Petzl harnesses, ropes, and belay devices on a weekly basis. One cool thing about this harness is that the straps are bicolor, with a pattern on the outside and black on the inside. This means you can easily tell if you kiddo's harness is inside-out. Neat feature!

I have two minor issues with the Petzl Simba harness: First, there are no gear loops for quickdraws, chalk bags, shoes, etc. You can clip things onto the loops themselves, but it's not ideal. Second, the straps are not padded. This means it is not ideal for long climbing sessions. An alternative with padded straps is the Edelrid Fraggle Kids Harness ($59.95 at REI). The Edelrid Fraggle also has the advantage of a weight-bearing loop on the back. You could pick up your kid with the back loop and do bicep curls with him/her! Fun for the whole family.

If price is a concern, the cheapest full-body harness made by a respectable company that I could find is the Edelrid Solid Full-Body Harness, which is currently 30% off on Amazon and is going for $46.17.

Waist Harness

The waist harness is used by adult climbers and may be a good choice for slightly older kids. The advantages of the waist harness are many. They are lighter and less restrictive than full-body harnesses, which facilitates more athletic and gymnastic climbing moves. They are more likely to be padded so they tend to be more comfortable for all-day fun. I wouldn't bother with one of those webbing-only waist harnesses (the ones that look like they're made out of seatbelt material); they are really uncomfortable in my experience.

Waist harnesses often come with gear loops around the waist that allow your kid to clip their equipment onto instead of carrying it around. This is more of an outdoor climbing need, but it's still a nice touch. Waist harnesses are simpler in design and therefore leave less margin for error in donning.

Black Diamond Wiz Kid Harness

The model pictured above is the Black Diamond Wiz Kid Harness ($44.95 at Amazon). It is a scaled-down version of Black Diamond's Momentum SA Harness that we have previously reviewed. I have spent countless hours in the adult version of this harness and can personally attest to its comfort and safety. The only difference that I can spot is that the Wiz Kid appears to have one fewer gear loop than the adult version -- hardly an issue unless your kid is doing some major trad climbing or canyoneering. Another factor you can't neglect is that the Wiz Kid is a cool-looking harness. There is a blue one for boys and a pink one for girls. Looking cool is always important to kids, whether you like it or not.

The padding on this harness is almost like memory foam. It's very comfortable and perfect for all-day adventure. The leg loops have speed adjust straps that can be loosened or tightened with one hand and are easy for adults to visually inspect. The harness is appropriate for kids between 35 and 110 lbs., and is said to run a little small in the waist. The only issue I've noticed is that sometimes the leg loops get twisted and flipped over. Always supervise your kid when they're putting on their waist harness.

If price is a consideration, the Black Diamond Kid's A-Bod Harness has excellent reviews. At $39.95 with Free Shipping on Amazon (and Prime eligible), it's the best deal on a kid's waist harness from a reputable company that I can find.

That's all I have for harness reviews and recommendations! There are good products from many different company and this article is just a small sampling of what's available. Hopefully you found this useful and know what to look for. If you have any questions about specific products or companies that are not included in this article, feel free to get in touch!

Be safe.

Ariel Castro
Rugged Innovations

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