UKC

Hi, my wife is about 15 weeks pregnant. At the moment she can still climb in her normal harness, but will need to get a maternity harness soon. Has anyone got some advice on the maternity harnesses available?
Cheers, Andrew

In reply to ARV77:

If you do a couple of searches you will find a lot of threads on this. There is also this article
http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2080
There is also a current thread asking for people to pose, climbing while pregnant, it is one on this page.

In reply to ARV77: I'm using the Petzl full body one and finding it comfy.

In reply to ARV77:
I did see that article, I was wondering if things had moved on since 2009 in terms of harnesses available, and of course, peoples own experiences with different harnesses?

In reply to ARV77:

Hi, I'm 32 weeks and also using a Petzl one. May consider selling it in 8 weeks or so if you haven't got one by then. It's good, but not enough gear loops in sensible places for leading (bit of a faff unhooking gear from your armpits!) but some full body harnesses don't have any gear loops at all!!
The only pregnancy specific harness I know of is by Mountain Mama in the US. Looks very nice, but also pricey.

In reply to ARV77:

I'm using a Peztl one too and love it. It took a bit of time to get it set up right but now it's really comfy. The gear loops are small but I'm not leading bow I'm pregnant so I don't find this an issue. The only feedback I would give to the manufacturer is make the belay loops slightly larger as it's a struggle to fit more than one caribina through it making rethreading at the top of sport routes difficult.

In reply to ARV77:

Also, on a slight aside, if your wife hasn't already done so, tell her to have a look at Beth Rodden's blog about climbing whilst pregnant, it's fantastic. Search 'cragmama' too, it's also worth a read.

In reply to ARV77:

I also used the Petzl one, and basically found it fine. It's hard to see how the problems I did find (eg shoulder straps lying over sore pregnancy boobs) could be improved on without a radical redesign!

In reply to ARV77:
Thanks for the replies and the heads up about the blogs.
So everyone here seems to have used the Petzl 8003 harness. Is that due to the cost, availability, suitability?

Has anyone tried the Rock Mama Harness or this one http://www.rockempire.cz/product/sella-308/

In reply to ARV77:

I chose Petzl because the tie in point seemed high enough. Some full body harnesses have a tie in which would still go at the top of a third trimester bump, which defeats the object. It also has gear loops which others don't (I have dropped grade but not stopped leading). I looked at the Rock Empire harness, and also an Edelrid (I think) but they didn't look as suitable as the Petzl, even though Petzl is pricier. Had I had more money/time/climbing opportunities I would probably have got the Mountain Mama one, but that would have meant being organised, which I'm not!
I'm fairly pleased with my choice, in that it's been fine to ab in as well as climb, but would have liked to try one made specifically for pregnant leaders as well.

In reply to ARV77:

It was simply availability for me - must have bought it 9 years ago, and it was (1) the only one I could easily find out about and (2) ordered for me by Needlesports, so I could pick it up locally.

In reply to ARV77: availability was the main reason I went for the Petzl. I ordered it one day and it arrived two days later. The Mountain Mama one seems to get good reviews - I think the key difference is it is supposed to have lots of comfy padding! The Petzl doesn't have any padding - it is purely functional. I find it comfiest when it is tightly fitted.