UKC

Evening all!

Does anyone have any recommendations for a harness and helmet that would be suitable for taking novice friends climbing? I'm thinking something basic and with a wide size range to accommodate a wide variety of friends. This probably puts me into the realms of centre type harnesses: does anyone have any particular favourites from personal experience? Any ideas about helmet fit?

In reply to jwa: Dmm centre harness because it's size range is massive and the petzl eccrin because it's tough and adjustable.

In reply to jwa:

I have a Bod for a spare, but there are times when I've had to borrow a DMM centre harness: these certainly have a huge range and can cope with the whole range from relatively small children (0kg) up to large adults.
If I was getting another, that would be my pick.

In reply to jwa: Having used DMM Centre Alpines and DMM Brenins on a regular basis I think they are hard to adjust and a real pain. The Petzl Pandion is better the DMM Centre Alpine but is still useless for proper climbing and belaying as it lacks a belay loop. The DMM Brenin has a proper belay loop but that is about all it has going for it.

The best option is a widely-adjustable proper climbing harness with double waist buckles. That basically means either a Petzl Corax or a Mammut Ophir Rental both of which are superb fully featured harnesses.

As regards helmets I'd probably go for a BD Half-Dome or one of the DMM ones, but I can't argue against a Petzl Ecrins Rock fitting the bill in terms of being durable and adjustable albeit on the heavy side.