In reply to BruceM:
Thanks for the Metolius suggestion. I know about them and they are about the only brand I haven't been able to see in the flesh. But, for me, I have pretty much decided against the geographical effort of testing one based on their construction style and a few reviews. They never used to be that comfortable, but were always tiny and light. They seem to have lost the tiny bit along the years.
And yes, womans are subtly different in ratio of rise vs size, but when you try them all on, it is quite subtle. As for colours... My girl says: why do womens things always have to be called womens things and have stupid colours and patterns on them? Harnesses, helmets, shoes, bikes...they should just make shoes or whatever of diff lengths/width/volumes/colours and call them that. But of course, that isn't what marketing is about. We have just bought a new "mens" harness for her
Anyway, after some more testing, I'm now settling on a DMM variant, for the leg loops (which don't hurt me), with the backup plan of replacing the belay loop and waist from another brand if I can't make the DMM's rise/waist work for me.
> Am I mistaken in thinking that in this discussion, a major mitigating factor in shock absorption in this discussion is the body in the harness? By the time the components in the harness fail, there will be some critical/fatal injury caused to the person involved. I think we may be 'overthinking '
Cheers, but I don't think people here are not aware of that. (Except maybe one poster up there at the start. And that person has a good point and is making a good call in not trusting something that he/she doesn't understand and which together is not officially certified via some standard. That's what standards are for...) But yeah, we all know that harness bits are all rated beyond what we could tolerate. I guess I posted this because, these days, doing this sort of modification is now a bit unconventional. Being the most critical bit of the safety system, I thought the concept needs examination by a few more experienced punters other than just me. UKC is a good place to get some good discussion going about systems and techniques. If there is a hole, I'm sure someone will spot it
In summary though it seems there is no real issue with this kind of modification. Long as assembly is correct. Disclaimer: if you don't know what you are doing, don't try this at home!
Thanks all.