Overview:
Suitability: ski mountaineering and glacier travel, mountaineering and alpinism, rappels and easy climbing
Usual full price: around $70 USD (at Skimo.co)
Weight: 260g in Medium size (Small, Medium, Large)
Pros: durability, functionality, fit and comfort, low weight
Cons: ease of use could be improved
Bottom Line:
This harness is best for ski mountaineering and glacier travel mainly thanks to its low weight and functionality that allows for putting it on without the need to remove your skis or crampons.
It also performs well for general mountaineering, alpinism and even easy climbing where long vertical falls are not expected. Obviously, this depends on your skill level and judgement.
Review:
We have been using the CAMP Alp Mountain harness for a couple of months now. From glacier travel and ski mountaineering, to alpine mountaineering and even some sports climbing of grades up to 5.10c (6a).
The single most important feature of this harness is that you can put it on and take it off without removing your skis or crampons but let’s discuss beyond this main characteristic.
In general, thanks to its wide webbing and thin padding on the waist, the harness fits well over any type of clothing as it’s easy to adjust the leg loops and waist belt. It is also very comfortable to wear all day long whether in the winter or summer.
The harness comes in 3 sizes so make sure to choose an optimal fit – not too loose, not too tight – and you can use it for a variety of activities too.
While fairly minimalist, the CAMP Alp Mountain harness offers enough gear loops to carry all your necessary crevasse rescue gear, or your climbing gear when you go mountaineering.
Ski mountaineering and glacier travel are the main activities why you might be looking at this harness. It’s light, it packs small, and when you occasionally need it you can quickly put it on without the hassle of removing your skis. We have definitely enjoyed it for this type of use.
While the harness also works well for general mountaineering and easy climbing you need to remember that it’s not well padded – taking a big fall won’t be very comfortable.
For mountaineering, just like for ski mountaineering, you will appreciate its low weight and overall comfort.
We have been also actively using it for sports climbing but the harness didn’t inspire us to push our limit as its lack of padding makes it not very pleasant to take a fall with.
Another great way to test the comfort of the harness was rappelling. Once loaded, it felt as comfortable as fully padded climbing harnesses. Of course, this might be different if we were to rappel a long vertical route but one could still do it.
What We Think Could Be Improved:
There is not much to complain about when you use this harness for its intended purposes. Perhaps, weight could be shaved further with newer materials and a little bit of colour could add some “liveliness” to the somewhat boring grey.
Leave a Reply