Belay seat or butt bag?

[Rainier_Wolfscastle]

Going to try a 6 pitch free climb that has all hanging belays. Wondering if a fabric butt bag or hauling a plywood belay seat would be better? The butt bag seems better as it folds up into pocket, but I've also heard they are not much more comfortable than hanging in a harness? Any suggestions? Thanks, Mike.

[freeclimb9]

A fabric belay seat should be fine for the amount of time you'll be hanging. You're doing a freeclimb, right? And they stuff into a pocket, eaily. A bosun's seat only comes into its own when you're sitting all day at a belay.

[dberdinka]

I own an old Black Diamond butt bag. It is buried in the bottom of a gear box somewhere. Basically, I never thought it increased my comfort level at hanging belays. It took some of the pressure off the leg loops, but created additional pressure points by smashing anything on my harness against my body. Carabiners, nut tools, etc. don't feel very good digging into your hip.

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: dberdinka ]

[willstrickland]

What are they putting in the water up there in B-ham? If it's a pain, UNCLIP it from your harness, geez. 6 pitches, free...butt bag. You'll move fast enough that it won't eb a big deal and you won't have to carry or haul the bosun's.

Here's the dealie-o though, on a long aid route, especially when you're hauling a bag but no portaledge, use the bosun's as a "frame" for backpacking your haulbag. I think TNF/A5 makes a haulbag/bosun's combo that is designed to fit together like this, but a retro-job on your bag with a cheap piece of plywood will accomplish the same thing for a fraction of the price. I don't care for A5 stuff (although I do have a tiny A5 subbag I got for $25 for the pin rack or the days' food and water, it's a flimsy made piece of shit).

WS

[IceIceBaby]

Try Yates harnesses either Big wall or Shield kind of pricey ($110) but very comfortable and u don’t have to bring extra piece of hardware…but personally I probably will endure the little discomfort after all its climbing isn't it

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: IceIceBaby ]

[Lambone]

You probably wont want to drag a seat up with you. I'd opt for the butt bag on a free route. the smaller ones can stuff up inside a helmet (ecrin roc or something similar). Seats are the only way to fly for aid though...

[Dru]

You need padding for your harness... i recommend the human body fat kind. Eat a few dozen bags of chips and a dozen cheesecakes or so as training for your ascent.

[Matt_Anderson]

But bags are more comfy than just a harness, especially if you have a skinny harness. They should be plenty comfortable for a six pitch climb.

You can avoid pressure points from gear by just lifting whatever is hanging from your gear loops over the bag and letting it hang outside the bag.

It may be overkill (although if you were considering bringing a plank of plywood for a free climb, you apparently aren't worried about overkill.), but if you want to make it all more comfy still, bring something to pad your knees: It's way more comfortable to just cram your nees against the rock than to use your feet to balance yourself.

Just in case you care, I had REI make three from me and two partners (At the time that I wanted one, I couldn't find one commercially available). Aside from the fact that I wish It was made with less bulky fabric, its great. It took some sweet talking to convince them to do it. They would refuse to make it if I hadn't convinced them that I would never rely on it for security, only comfort.

Let me know if you want a description of the rough pattern I gave them. . .

matt

[Dru]

OnSight makes em (butt bags)and you can get them for $25 CDn at MEC.

[freeclimb9]

It's pretty easy to make your own belay seat with a length of heavy seam ribbon and a rectangle of ripstop nylon (material cost about $1.50). It only has to hold a couple hundred pounds, and it will fit in your pants pocket. I've found that they're more comfortable if you DON'T tie knots in the webbing. Without the knots, you can shift around. Also, clipping the seat to your daisy chain, or to a long sling, lets you have more room to swing for added leg comfort. BTW, there used to be three-point versions of the belay seat around --totally bogus if you value your gonads.

[Dru]

I made a DIY belay seat in Zion by weaving together 2 short daisy chains with a bunch of spare webbing. It worked about 1% better than just hanging in my harness. The girls on the tour bus liked it though.

[crazyjizzy]

Good God, what a stupid wussy question. I dropped my belay seat on each of my first three El Cap routes, each time wearing a Whillians. A belay seat ( also known as a butt bag) will be fine for anything up to Mescalito. What you refer to as a belay seat is really a bosuns' chair, and is almost always not needed. What would the late Batso say.