Climbing harness
As a harness , climbing harness , safety harness or belt is referred to a part of the personal protective equipment (PPE Category III) which, when climbing and mountaineering and at risk of falling is supported in mountain sports activities on the body. When roping up, it creates the connection between people and rope.
The climbing harness is used to absorb the loads that occur when catching a fall and to distribute them to several parts of the body that are stable enough to withstand such effects without injury. In addition, the climbing harness should restrict blood circulation as little as possible when hanging on the rope . Furthermore, it should enable the person wearing it to hang in the most stable possible position of equilibrium , so that the wearer hangs in the belt as painlessly and securely as possible even if he is unable to independently carry out a corresponding exercise due to unconsciousness or an injury To take position.
construction
All types of climbing harnesses are made of strong and highly resilient tape material that, like the load-bearing seams, must withstand loads that are at least twice the forces that occur in practice. This is generally several kilonewtons . The belt material is several centimeters wide at the points where the force is transmitted between the belt and the body, or it is provided with a correspondingly wide padding in order to achieve an even distribution of the force and to avoid cutting into the body.
A climbing harness is usually made up of several loops that are placed around the middle of the body and around the legs and / or arms . These loops are adjustable in their scope and thus adaptable to the body size of the wearer, so that the forces that occur between the body and the climbing harness can be safely transferred and to prevent the wearer from accidentally slipping out of the harness. It also consists of one or more tie-in loops or attachment points, into which the safety rope is either tied in directly or attached with a carabiner . In addition to the safety-related parts, most climbing harnesses have one or more gear loops. These are used to attach items required for climbing or work, such as snap hooks, cord or tools, to the belt to prevent them from falling and to have them quickly at hand.
The harnesses used for climbing and occupational safety are indeed the same in structure and functional principle; however, they differ in some details in order to meet the different requirements and must meet different standards.
Harnesses for climbing and mountaineering
Since completely free hanging is relatively rare in climbing and mountaineering, the upholstery only plays a subordinate role depending on the purpose. Instead, low weight and unrestricted freedom of movement are of great importance. The selection ranges from light, unpadded harnesses for high-altitude tours that weigh less than 300 grams, to well-padded sports climbing harnesses , to complete harnesses with and without padding.
Speleo harnesses are special climbing harnesses for caving . These are usually characterized by reduced weight, and they usually have fewer equipment loops so that they do not get caught on the rock in the sometimes narrow cave passages. Another major difference to the normal climbing harness is the attachment point, which is deeper and very close to the body. This significantly supports the use of single rope technology .
Ropes for mountain sports must comply with the European standard EN 12277.
The standard differentiates between four types of belts, the complete belt (type A), the small body belt (type B), the seat belt (type C) and the chest belt (type D). It stipulates a static load capacity of 15 kN (types A and C) or 10 kN (types B and D), which is determined with the help of a manikin when a rope is attached to the rope points specified in the respective instructions for use.
Safety belts for occupational safety
The belts for occupational safety in industrial climbing (but not the tree climbing ) usually have a second attachment point (loop) on the back, so that the fuse material does not obstruct the wearer when working or optimally position to be able to the support it to his workplace.
Two different requirement profiles can be defined for belts for occupational safety: on the one hand, for belts that are only used for fall protection, and on the other, for those that are used for working in a hanging position. The belts for pure fall protection do not have to be particularly well padded, as here, similar to the belts for climbing, unimpeded work is more important than long hanging. Since rope-supported work usually involves working in a hanging position and an uncontrolled fall into the harness is not possible, harnesses for this purpose have very good and wide padding to enable pain-free hanging over a longer period of time, and various rope points front, back and sides to achieve the most exact positioning possible in the most varied of positions.
The fall protection belts must comply with the European standard EN 361. The standard EN 358 applies to the straps for positioning, retaining straps . Straps that are to be used both as fall protection and for positioning must therefore meet the requirements of both standards. Relevant in this context are EN 362, fasteners, EN 363, fall arrest systems, EN 364, test methods, EN 365, marking, EN 813, seat belts.
The standard prescribes a static load capacity of 15 or 10 kN depending on the type of eyelet. Dynamic performance is tested with a test torso of 100 kg at a height of 4 m.
Harness types for climbing and mountaineering
There are four different types of climbing harnesses according to EN 12277, each with certain advantages and disadvantages and correspondingly different areas of application.
Waist belt
The hip belt or seat belt (EN 12277 type C) consists of two leg loops connected by a bar and a waist belt. These are connected by the securing ring via the lap belt eyelet and the leg loop bridge. Equipment loops are attached to the back and sides of the waist belt, which are intended for stowing carabiners and the like and must not be used for roping up. For roping up when climbing, the rope is tied into the waist belt eyelet and leg loop bridge with a knot or a carabiner so that it lies parallel to the safety ring. Some manufacturers also allow roping in the safety ring in their instructions for use.
With the hip belt, the rope point is in front of the body, roughly at the level of the body's center of gravity of a normally proportioned person. This enables very comfortable hanging in a sitting position with slightly tense abdominal muscles , provided the user is conscious. Another advantage of the seat belt is the greater freedom of movement for the climber, which is advantageous for difficult sport climbing.
In a hip belt, the leg loop web is the main wear part. It must therefore be checked regularly. If you notice significant wear here, the belt should be replaced.
Risk of hip belt?
Soon after the advent of sport climbing and the sole use of the hip belt, a discussion about safety began. While sport climbers completed tens of thousands of uneventful falls, critics publicized their concerns. These concerns culminated in a statement by Dietrich Hasse , which was heavily discussed in the aftermath , with which he accused the sport climbers of negligently risking their lives for fashion reasons by simply using hip belts. If it is not possible to tense the abdominal muscles, for example due to unconsciousness, there is a risk that the unsupported upper body will tip over backwards. Just hanging in this position is extremely painful and potentially dangerous. If, in this position, an impact force is also applied, the body in the lumbar spine area can be seriously damaged. Of the almost two dozen fatal accidents that Helmut Mägdefrau (1989) counted, all occurred in the mountains. In view of hundreds of thousands of sport climbing falls without consequences, Pit Schubert concluded that the risk of short sport climbing falls was low.
In sport climbing , for reasons of greater freedom of movement and also for convenience, nowadays climbing is almost exclusively done with a hip belt, as short and controlled falls generally occur and the risk of unconsciousness is extremely low. Accidents caused by wearing a seat belt alone are probably extremely rare in sport climbing. A study by Hohlrieder et al. , who examined the risk of fall-related injuries with regard to the type of belt, could not see any differences. The researchers concluded that the type of harness did not affect the type or severity of fall-related injuries and that wearing a seat harness alone did not cause any additional risks.
If, on the other hand, there is a risk of very long or unexpected falls, as is mainly the case today in (classic) alpine climbing, the risk of injury with the combination of chest and seat belt is certainly much lower. If a backpack is carried, the center of gravity shifts upwards, which makes the risk of tipping over more likely. At least when carrying heavy backpacks, the additional use of a chest strap can be safer.
Before puberty, children have weak hips, so the hip loop can slide down over the hips and then no longer fit properly. Furthermore, if the child falls overhead, the child could slip out of the belt, so that a small body belt or a combination of chest and hip belt can also be attached here.
Complete belt
The complete or combination belt (EN 12277 Type A) surrounds the upper part of the body and the thighs. For this purpose, it has both arm and leg loops and two relatively high rope loops in the chest area. Complete harnesses are easy to put on and take off, the two rope loops are connected to the rope to tie in.
The arrangement of the leg loops and the very high rope point roughly in the middle of the chest cause a very upright hanging position, even when unconscious. In this position, however, it is difficult to move your legs and thus maintain blood circulation in the legs, which leads to trauma when hanging for a long time . For this reason, complete harnesses are not suitable for activities that require prolonged hanging.
Due to their easy handling, complete harnesses are often worn by children, beginners or inexperienced people and are used, among other things, in professional adventure and leisure areas ( high ropes course ). They are also used on via ferratas in conjunction with a via ferrata set .
Small body harness
The small body belt (EN 12277 type B) is a special form of the complete belt (type A), but for people weighing up to 40 kg who have an undeveloped or not pronounced waist; these are especially younger children.
Chest strap
The chest strap (EN 12277 type D) is not a standalone climbing harness and should only be used in combination with a hip belt (type C).
We strongly advise against using only a chest strap securing device, as the entire body weight is transferred to the armpits when hanging. This leads to hanging trauma with serious effects on the cardiovascular system and, in the long term, death. In addition, the chest strap causes severe pain in this situation. It is impossible for a person hanging only in a chest strap to free themselves from their position. A chest band made from a rope is used by the fire brigade in emergencies.
The variant of the chest strap commonly used today consists of a piece of tape material sewn into the shape of a horizontal figure 8 (∞). The two "holes" of the 8 form two arm loops. To put on the chest strap, the arms are put through the arm loops so that the intersection of the strap is on the back. A rope loop is sewn into each arm loop on the front so that the material used for tying it in cannot slip along the arm loops. The rope loops are connected by a rope end or a piece of hose tape when tied in .
An older, nowadays no longer standard, shape resembles a brassiere . It consists of rope laid in loops, the rope loops being sewn next to each other, so that there is an approximately 5 cm wide belt with an eye at each end. This belt is placed around the chest and closed at the front by the end of the rope or hose band through the eyes. Two straps are attached to this chest ring, which are placed over the shoulders and secure the chest ring against slipping. In the event of a fall, the load on the chest strap is only absorbed by the chest ring.
The current shape of the chest strap offers more safety in the event of a fall, as the entire strap is made of resilient material and thus the load is distributed over a larger area on the upper part of the chest than the old shape.
Combination hip and chest belt
A combination of hip and chest belt is currently considered the safest way to rope up when climbing. It is sometimes also referred to as a combination belt, but this can easily lead to confusion with the complete belt.
For a combination of hip and chest belt (outside of the SKT ) both are connected with a piece of tubular tape. The tubular tape is placed once between the hip and chest belt in a sack stitch or figure eight knot , passed through the securing loops of the chest belt and closed above the chest belt loops by means of a ribbon loop knot . The central loop of the hip belt is no longer used as the rope point, but the former knot above the hip belt. This technique creates a rope point at the lower edge of the chest, which is required when carrying a backpack. Furthermore, the upper body is straightened and supported so that it is possible to hang in an upright position even if you are unconscious. Due to the better distribution of the load, the chest-hip belt combination also reduces the risk of injuries in the hip area.
The combination of chest and hip belt should be used wherever long and / or unexpected falls (e.g. fall into crevasses ) are to be expected, and whenever a backpack is carried. In sport climbing, however, they are rarely used, as putting on and taking off the harness is more complicated and the tie-in point is so high that if you fall you would hit the wall in an uncontrolled manner and could not catch yourself with your hands and feet.
Connection with the rope
When roping up (or synonymously tying in), make sure that straps that are used for activities where there is a risk of falling (when climbing, for example, when leading the way ), are always connected to the rope with a knot . If the connection were to be made with a snap hook , the snap hook could break, especially if it slipped due to rope movements and is loaded transversely. Another danger is the possibility that movements can cause the rope to unhook from the carabiner. Even a redundant system with two Safebiners (particularly secure screw carabiners) does not meet the security requirements.
The situation is different with top rope climbing, as there can be no long falls here. Redundant roping up with two screw carabiners attached in opposite directions or a Safebiner is sufficient here.
In mountaineering and rescue services, the figure eight knot is very often used to rope up. The decisive advantage is that it can be checked optically for faultless execution. Also suitable are double Bulin and Bulin 1.5 , which can be solved better by stress.
Because of possible ring loading, a bowline (simple bulin) must never be used. This could come loose and lead to the climber falling.
Only dynamic, elastic ropes according to EN 892 that have been specially developed for climbing may be used as safety ropes . They brake the fall and convert the fall energy into stretch. A fall would be dangerous if the climber were stopped too suddenly by a static rope. This does not apply to the SKT, as the (semi-static) tension rope is used for climbing.
Sources of error
Material failure
When used as intended, a failure of climbing harnesses is almost impossible. Material failure can only occur if there is already previous damage due to wear and tear or aged material. To avoid failure due to wear and tear , it is recommended that you regularly inspect the belt for chafing and damaged seams . For this purpose, the sewing thread of the supporting seams has a striking color that contrasts with the background. Chafing is the quickest part of the web that connects the two leg loops.
Handling error
However, the absolute majority of harness-related accidents are due to human error or mishandling. The accident is usually preceded by the fact that the person wearing the belt was distracted when putting on or tying in and did not carry out such important handling steps. The most common causes of accidents are here (order without rating):
- Not or incompletely closed buckles on the belt,
- Roping on a material loop which, due to its dimensions, tears when the body weight of the climber is loaded,
- an incorrectly or incompletely executed rope knot that opens again under load.
All these sources of error can be avoided by careful handling, but at least the first two are or were favored by some belt models:
- Some manufacturers use seat belt buckles that need to be looped back i.e. H. the webbing, after it has been passed through the buckle, must be looped back around one of the webs of the buckle and under the other web. If this is not done, the belt will withstand a cursory load test, but the belt strap can slip out of the buckle if it is subjected to a fall or if it has been hanging for a long time. Although this design is known to be prone to failure and incidents that only ended by luck without an accident are reported again and again, belts with this locking system are still manufactured and sold. However, the belt manufacturers try to point out the danger points by means of markings or lettering in signal color , which are only covered when the belt strap is correctly inserted.
- In addition to the buckle, some belts have a Velcro fastener on the hip ring , which is supposed to make it easier to put on by keeping the hip ring closed in position while the buckle that actually supports is closed. If you forget to close the load-bearing buckle due to inattention, the Velcro fastener alone is not able to absorb the load caused by a fall or even the body weight of the user.
- In the early days of hip belts, equipment loops were attached to the side of the belt for reasons of easy access. After several accidents in which the equipment loop was inadvertently roped to the material loop, these were moved further back from the vicinity of the rope loop so that they can no longer easily be confused with the rope loop. There are also belts in which the equipment loops are dimensioned so that they can absorb a fall load. These harnesses are mainly used for climbing courses; otherwise they are rarely used because of the uncomfortable handling of the material loops.
literature
- Pit Schubert: Standard testing of harnesses . In: Mountaineering . No. 1 , 2006, p. 72–77 ( bergundstieg.at [PDF; 6.2 MB ]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chris Semmel: Climbing - Safety, Equipment. Alpine curriculum 5 . 3. Edition. BLV Buchverlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8354-1120-3 , p. 191 .
- ↑ a b c d e f EN 12277: 2015 Mountaineering equipment - Rope harness - Safety requirements and test methods . Beuth Verlag , Berlin 2015, p. 19 .
- ↑ EN 361: 2002 Personal protective equipment against falls from a height - full body harnesses . Beuth Verlag, Berlin 2002, p. 13 .
- ↑ Michael Hofmann: On the ropes, set, go! In: Climb! , 1, 2008, p. 53.
- ^ Dietrich Hasse : Climbing scene and fashion death . In: The mountaineer . No. 2 , 1984, p. 5-6 .
- ↑ Helmut Mägdefrau: The loads on the human body when falling into a rope and their consequences . Dissertation, Munich 1989, Ludwig Maximilian University.
- ^ Pit Schubert: Safety and risk in rock and ice . Volume 2. Rother, Munich 2002, p. 313.
- ↑ M Hohlrieder et al .: Pattern of injury after rock-climbing falls is not determined by harness type . In: Wilderness and Environmental Medicine , 2007 Spring, 18 (1), pp. 30-35, PMID 17447711 .
- ↑ M. Roeggla et al .: Cardiorespiratory response to free suspension simulating the situation between fall and rescue in a rock climbing accident . In: Wilderness and Environmental Medicine . No. 7 (2) , May 1996, pp. 109-114 , PMID 11990103 .