Being somewhat acrophobia I have a Brion Toss designed riggers harness. It
is very comfortable and you can't fall out of it but it ain't cheap. Also a
pair of Petzl ascenders. The right hand one is hooked to one of the harness
chest D-rings and the other to some webbing for the feet. So far I have
only used it to replace the halyard on my 60' flag pole but I was able to
make it to the top by myself using the "inch worm" technique without getting
totally exhausted and worked comfortably and did a little sight seeing up
there for a while. That rig is going to have a special place on Rutu.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach at gmail dotcom wrote in message
...
Well, up the mast, anyway!

This has probably been covered to death, but I think I recall discussions
in this space before about improvements on the typical bosun chair to the
effect of good mountain climbing gear.

Looking at climbing harnesses on REI, a frequently mentioned retailer of
such stuff, the harnesses I see don't look the least bit like I'd have
expected.

Are there any here with experience in this sort of gear? What should we
look for for up-the-mast use (in place of the bosun chair, of which I have
a fine one, but this is supposed to be far superior in comfort and
safety)?

Thanks.

L8R

Skip and Lydia, off to the boat on Friday to work during the holiday week

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Being a former vertical caver, I use a system of prusik knots to ascend
my mast. The advantages of prusiks is that they are inexpensive and
nearly foolproof. You must have a seat harness which you can tie from
a piece of 1" webbing as a so-called "diaper sling". You must also
have a chest harness attached to the seat harness. You have a prusik
on each foot and one on your chest. You sit relaxed hanging from the
chest loop, raise each foot prusik in sequence then stand up while
sliding the chest prusik. Sounds complicated but I have climbed out of
a 1000' pit this way.
I personally do not like mechanical ascendars because they allow
foolish people to get in trouble. They seem too easy to use and I have
seen people make serious mistakes with them.
Remember, you MUST have both a chest and seat harness and they MUST be
attached to each other at the front, otherwise you can end up hanging
by your feet.

Skip Gundlach wrote:
Well, up the mast, anyway!

This has probably been covered to death, but I think I recall discussions in
this space before about improvements on the typical bosun chair to the
effect of good mountain climbing gear.

Looking at climbing harnesses on REI, a frequently mentioned retailer of
such stuff, the harnesses I see don't look the least bit like I'd have
expected.

Are there any here with experience in this sort of gear? What should we look
for for up-the-mast use (in place of the bosun chair, of which I have a fine
one, but this is supposed to be far superior in comfort and safety)?

Thanks.

L8R

Skip and Lydia, off to the boat on Friday to work during the holiday week


If you want a climbing harness get one designed for big wall climbing.
Misty Mountains Cadillac model is nice
http://www.mistymountain.com/harness.htm

Black Diamond makes nice harnesses as well
http://www.bdel.com/gear/harnesses_overview.php

Make your prusiks from 5/16" nylon braid or stiff 3-stranded nylon. Do
not use webbing material, it slips.
You might try Intermountain Sports (or maybe its Inner Mountain sports)
as they seem to be the latest caver supply place. The place to buy
cave stuff used to be Bob & Bob but I have no idea if they still exist.
You could sew your own, I did and it has been in and out of the deepest
pits in the world under gawdawful conditions. Use one of those sewing
awl things with a bobbin in it (Brand Name is "The Speedy Stitcher").
BE CAREFUL and dont be a dead macho moron.

wrote:
Make your prusiks from 5/16" nylon braid or stiff 3-stranded nylon. Do
not use webbing material, it slips.
You might try Intermountain Sports (or maybe its Inner Mountain sports)
as they seem to be the latest caver supply place. The place to buy
cave stuff used to be Bob & Bob but I have no idea if they still exist.
You could sew your own, I did and it has been in and out of the deepest
pits in the world under gawdawful conditions. Use one of those sewing
awl things with a bobbin in it (Brand Name is "The Speedy Stitcher").
BE CAREFUL and dont be a dead macho moron.

If you use webbing it's a different knot.
Check out:
http://www.chockstone.org/TechTips/prusik.htm

Gaz
Who would rather use ascenders.

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 13:14:53 -0500, "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach at
gmail dotcom wrote:

Well, up the mast, anyway!

This has probably been covered to death, but I think I recall discussions in
this space before about improvements on the typical bosun chair to the
effect of good mountain climbing gear.

Looking at climbing harnesses on REI, a frequently mentioned retailer of
such stuff, the harnesses I see don't look the least bit like I'd have
expected.

Are there any here with experience in this sort of gear? What should we look
for for up-the-mast use (in place of the bosun chair, of which I have a fine
one, but this is supposed to be far superior in comfort and safety)?

Thanks.

L8R

I just picked up Hal Roth's "How to Sail Around the World" and while
there's a fair bit of repetition from his earlier books, it's a good
solid compendium. I noticed that all his boats had and have pretty
solid-looking mast steps. I would say this is the way to go for a
cruiser unless there's a compelling reason not to just resort to an
ATN Climber or some similar piece of mountaineering kit.

R.

I've tried that Bachman knot, they say it slips on icy rope, I know
from experience it also slips on muddy rope.

wrote:
I've tried that Bachman knot, they say it slips on icy rope, I know
from experience it also slips on muddy rope.

Of course we rarely have to worry about muddy rope when climbing the
mast although we may have to climb icy rope.

It is nice to know the other knot.

Well, this thread seems to have finally petered out from exhaustion caused
by all the climbing.

So, back to the original, and appreciating all the responses as informative,
even if not responsive to the question, and raising other questions:

What would be the preferred MAST TOP harness (never mind how you get there)?
Various climbing harnesses seemed to me the best in terms of non-dumpability
(no upside-down adventures), but there seemed to be some question about
comfort, long term.

Looking forward to those with far more suspended experience than I...

L8R

Skip, in rehab, inching closer to climbing (pardon the expression) aboard

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Skip Gundlach wrote:
Well, this thread seems to have finally petered out from exhaustion caused
by all the climbing.

So, back to the original, and appreciating all the responses as informative,
even if not responsive to the question, and raising other questions:

What would be the preferred MAST TOP harness (never mind how you get there)?
Various climbing harnesses seemed to me the best in terms of non-dumpability
(no upside-down adventures), but there seemed to be some question about
comfort, long term.

Looking forward to those with far more suspended experience than I...

L8R

Skip, in rehab, inching closer to climbing (pardon the expression) aboard

Most climbing stores have a spot where you can try them on and hang from
the ceiling. Go try some.

Gaz