sequoia harness falls down

Brisbane Arborist

Brisbane Arborist

Location
Brisbane, Australia
Hi

I have a petzl sequoia harness that tends to loosen off and nearly fall down. Other than this issue I really like the harness and I don't want to spend the money on the SRT model with the attachment points for a top harness.

Others must have encountered this issue. Is there any work-around to attach a top harness or other chest harness to the original (non-SRT) Sequoia harness, please?
 
Ok, Brisbane Arborist. I'm a relatively new guy to climbing, maybe 2 to 3 years of sporadic climbing. I own an older version of the TreeMotion saddle. I still don't fully understand how some guys are able to fit their harnesses so that they're able to safely go inverted. It took me awhile to figure out how to get my climbing systems configured in a way that kept my attachment to the rope arranged so that it was always above me, and tending to be forced down into the saddle. A few times I had the kind of dangerous slippage out of the harness that you are referring to.

I looked at the suspenders offered by the folks that made the saddle, but it was relatively expensive, and did not get good reviews, if I recall correctly. My harness was not rated to support the weight of a climber inverted on those suspenders, I don't think. They were mostly intended to take weight off the harness and put it onto your shoulders.

To save money, and just because I didn't like the look of the "official" ones, I used a set of work suspenders that were pretty beefy.

They would not hold my full weight from dropping if inverted, but what they do manage is to try to pull the harness towards my backside, so that I pull out of the harness less easily than I used to, on those occasions when I find it necessary to try to stretch and reach downward for some reason. Usually after I right myself I'll grab my side "D's" and pull the saddle back up to make sure I'm seated in it deeply.

My suspenders have a single leg down the backside, and split into a "Y" just above the shoulder blades, I think. I like to bring the two legs of the"Y" up over my shoulders and then cross them in front. This prevents the straps from accidentally rolling off of my shoulders. It squeezes my neck a bit, however, when I'm first loading up with gear, but haven't put all my weight into the climbing systems yet. Once all of the weight of the harness is supported by the climbing systems, pressure on the neck is relieved.

In looking at photographs of your harness on TreeStuff.com, it appears to me that you might have a strong piece of webbing strap passing through the back of your harness, which you could attach to. On the front you have your "D" rings. You might be able to fashion your own suspenders out of webbing strap or even friction hitch cordage. The big question is whether or not you would trust that webbing strap material running through the backside of your harness.

That's all I have for now. Best of luck to you in this endeavor.

Tim
 
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TimBr said:
...

To save money, and just because I didn't like the look of the "official" ones, I used a set of work suspenders that were pretty beefy.

....
Tim
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Thanks for your thoughts, Tim. I appreciate them. I have found some beefy suspenders on ebay that have construction clips. I'm just thinking about whether they will tear up my harness too much. I guess if I do go this route it might help me justify getting a new harness that much sooner.
 
Brisbane Arborist said:
Thanks for your thoughts, Tim. I appreciate them. I have found some beefy suspenders on ebay that have construction clips. I'm just thinking about whether they will tear up my harness too much. I guess if I do go this route it might help me justify getting a new harness that much sooner.
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My posts tend to run too long, so I left that detail out. I used to have the problem you are referring to, wherein whatever you attach a "toothed" suspender clip to would get all torn up. Including my nice leather belts. Even worse is that if you load them up too heavily they can pop right off. Then one day I saw a guy on the jobsite wearing a pair of suspenders unlike any I'd seen before, and asked him about them.

Here's a link to the company's website that explains how their suspenders are different than any others.

http://www.perrysuspenders.com/persus.html

What I did with mine was to use some smaller poly rope passed through the Perry suspenders' patented attachment buckle, or whatever you call them, and tied to my harness rings up front, and to a biner in back.

Perry has a version that is bigger and fatter than the rest, which I'm currently using with my TreeMotion saddle. These suspenders still contain some elastic type of materials, so I do find myself adjusting the length to shorten things up a bit before I climb each time. The fact that you have to buy a USA made good might make it too expensive for you, I don't know. I know Amazon USA sells these suspenders. I'd love to know if Amazon has an Australian version of their website. If they do, it would be really cool if an American climber could recommend a product to an Australian climber and then have it be easy and cheap to acquire, because shipping might be local to you then.

Anyway, I've always been happy with the quality of Perry suspenders, and the fact that their patented clip hooks to a belt makes them the best suspenders ever, in my opinion. Even outside of this harness consideration, if you are the kind of guy who wears suspenders, you really have to try these out.

Best wishes,

Tim
 
Hey, Brisbane Arborist, thanks for asking your question! Because you did, I just found a product of Perry suspenders that may answer my objection about too much stretch in the suspenders. Their original wokman's suspender is made mostly of non-stretch material, except for the section on the back below the "Perry" leather patch, which I assume is there to provide a small amount of strain relief. Here's the link to this product.

http://www.perrysuspenders.com/perconsus2.html

Tim
 
Brisbane Arborist said:
Thanks Tim, that's a very possible solution. They even ship to Australia on Amazon.
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Hey, Brisbane Arborist! The link I gave you in this part I quoted is for the only non-elastic suspender that Perry Suspender sells. Amazon may not carry the non-stretch version. Fortunately, it looks like Perry is set up to sell to Australia directly! I clicked on that item using my handheld computer, which took me to a page with a bigger picture of the item and the option to place it in my basket. Once you place it in your basket, they ask where to ship it to, and there's a drop-down list of countries to choose from, Australia included.

By the time you end up paying all of the import fees, etc., it might be too expensive for your taste. I think you should be able to input all of the address information in order to have them calculate the total fees involved prior to committing to the purchase, though.

Here's hoping that it's not so brutally expensive that there's no way you'd want to buy from them.

Best of luck,

Tim
 
Thanks again for that Tim. It comes to $38.10 total, so the price isn't prohibitive.

I'm still interested to know if anyone has successfully used a chest harness. It would be a better solution as it would be multifunctional. I'm not holding my breath, though.
 
Brisbane - Are you finding that the waist belt becomes loose? I am not familiar with how the waist belt is secured on the Sequoia. I had that issue with my Petzl Avao saddle and someone suggested I tie the belt straps in a half-hitch to keep them from going backwards through the strap hardware ... stop them from loosening. Fortunately, I found I have just enough length to tie those half-hitches, and my waist belt no longer comes loose. On the downside, I spend a bit more time trying to untie the first of the two half-hitches. Now if your saddle is falling down from the weight of your gear, suspenders will help. I got the Petzl suspenders when I bought my Avao because they make a difference when working in positions when I'm not suspend by my rope, such as when I have a larger chainsaw on my belt while blocking down a spar.
 
Hoowasat said:
Brisbane - Are you finding that the waist belt becomes loose?
Click to expand...

I think this is issue. I have enough length over that I could half-hitch the ends, though it seems a little inelegant.

From searching online I found another solution to be to slide some webbing into the buckle to thicken it up, then stitch the webbing.

I guess I was hoping the answer would be to buy some harness that fits the Sequoia saddle (so I'd not have to use a sling as a chest harness), but it looks like I'll have to wait for my saddle upgrade for that. It might be coming soon the way this is going.

So far suspenders look like the way to go, the ones TimBr suggested. I might even try putting them on backwards and attaching a clip to tend my uni.
 
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