I had a customer ask me if they could use a climbing harness for de-power. I could not figure out a reason why not. Does anyone have a reason why this would not work?

can you add a spreader bar w/ hook to the climbing harness he/she wants to buy.

i cant see a captive pulley system working well with a chicken loop. however with the creative people on this forum, they will come up with something.

From what i've heard it really rides up on ya in the crotch area.... I can imagine so cuz the kite is lifting you up and forward when you are climbing you are mainly leaning back so that usually isn't a problem? Iono, that's what i've heard.

it works. a friend of mine used to use one with his 6m Blade.

you just need to have a good climbing quality carabiner on the harness to clip your chickenloop on to.

I think climbing harnesses are a little more awkward to run in and probably have less padding then a kiting harness. but if its all you've got I think it should work fine until you get something better.

I remember reading someone said it pulled sideways on them in the buggy, and bruised their ribs ...
Right tool for the job :dunno: I wouldn't use kite line to go climbing, why are they messing about with a climbing harness for kites?

Mine worked satisfactorily when I connected the crotch/leg loop to the waist loop with a caribiner between the leg loop and the D ring. That kept it from crowding things. In the end, you still don't have a spreader bar. My Ozone access xc has all the comfort of a climbing harness but comes with a spreader bar and doesn't do any crushing down there.

Everybody I know who has tried a climbing harness, except for maybe KiteDog, has caved and bought a kite harness, but I'm not sure I can point out a common reason. Might be because a climbing harness is built for strain from pretty much straight up and in front, where a kite harness has to distribute load from all over the wind window, often to the side of course.
That said, the Ozone XC harness, essentially a climbing harness, offers a center D-ring option without the spreader bar. So far the only person I have heard that prefers the D-ring option is female. Coincidence?

I really like my climbing harness for the bug. It's really light and doesn't bind. I use a wichard and holt pulley block with handles or just clip the wichard straight to the chicken loop. Even though serious pros like Glen Butcher (check out his videos) like it for landboarding, I wasn't really fond of it due to the binding and whatnot. I prefer a waist harness for boarding.

I started with a climbing harness and Wichard release setup. Nothing wrong with it IMO but you lose the ability to hook/unhook at will.

I LOVE my Ozone XC!!! I like Kitedog's setup, but I like to hook and unhook easily...

Thanks all. The guy is going on a expedition and needs to pack as light as possible. So the climbing harness will be able to do double duty. He will be using it on a de-power with a chicken loop so hooking in and out is not an issue ... and no need for the shackels and blocks. Just a good carabiner I figured is all he needs and if he is going to be using the harness for climbing he should all ready have that.
I will recommend he tries it and if things don't fit right (the jewels) than he will have to try something different.

Climbing harness will be ok if your not freestyling, they do not have the padding the Ozone harness has and starts to bite after a while.

I prefer the Ozone harness, use a carabiner, flying depower kites.

Luke S.

Maybe just get some gel cushion pads to pad the straps more?

even if the load on the climbing harness is pulling up, like its designed, its so uncomfortable to wear for a full kiting session. kiting sessions are almost always longer than climbing sessions...a belay down something doesn't usually take that long. climbing harnesses are also designed to keep them unrestrictive, which makes them really uncomfortable cause the straps are thin. ive used one and my crotch was raw at the end of my session. they work just fine but just be ready for a little chafeage.