minx Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 since all my gear gets to be replaced that includes a gear sling. have any of you used the metolius sling w/the gear loops? i've shyed away from this in the past but it seems like it might work nicely for keeping things a tad more organized. any opinions? Quote
backcountrydog Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 i have one and like it. i dont think i like it any more than my standard gear sling, but its padded nicely and has a bit more of an ergonomic shape to it. i didnt pay full price for it and wouldnt go outta my way to replace it if i lost it...come to think of it, where is that thing Quote
cracked Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 Works much better than a 'normal' gear sling. Quote
fredrogers Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 I have one and I like it much better than a sling without the loops. Â It helps me keep the gear organized, which is nice when you're gripped out and fumbling trying to get a piece off the sling. You can always use a runner for a sling if you're carrying a light rack and don't need the loops. Quote
foraker Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 I used a normal one for a long time and just got the metolius one this year. one word: schweet. Quote
erik Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 i have one and i personally dont like it for general climbing. only when i need to seperate different types of gear, say pins, screw et al... Â sometimes when using it i have found myself accidently clipping gear in between the loops and that creates somewhat of a cluster fuck. also it is kinda pain if you have to switch sides. Â and since people tend to rack per size, i fund that it weighs towards the back(heavier pieces) and shifts then smaller ones higher into your chest. Quote
willstrickland Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 I have one of these that someone gave me for free when I bought his cams. I don't like it all that much. I mostly end up using my regular style one. Â I like to be able to swing all the gear around behind me occasionally and that's hard to do with these. I'll also occasionally switch the rack to my opposite side mid-pitch and if you're using the second piece under the opposite arm it's impossible. Â The padding is nicer (die cut) and if I won't be taking alot of gear up a pitch, or I know the order I want it racked (placement order rather than by size) I like it, otherwise it's like Erik says, if you're carrying doubles from TCU to #3 it shifts to a non-ideal position. Quote
chucK Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 Simple loop with a pad for the shoulder seems pretty good (and cheap). I've not liked the mulitple loop ones, and especially hated one of those double ones. But I didn't really give 'em a chance either. Quote
cracked Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 Whenever I've tried racking on a simple sling, I can never get anything off, or even harder, back on. I like to rack stoppers and draws/slings on my harness, and cams on the metolius sling. Quote
Thinker Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 Will, why don't you send your gear sling to Minx so she can try it out for a couple of climbs? I suspect she might front the postage for the opportunity to try it on. Â Maybe it will even smell good when she gives it back to you.... Quote
minx Posted March 30, 2004 Author Posted March 30, 2004 i think the shipping from AK might be nearly as expensive as buying one  my chest is configured a little differently than erik's and will's. i might not have the exact same type of problem w/the gear shifting up  yeah..it'll smell like a sweaty girl climber instead of sweaty guy climber which so much better Quote
mattp Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 I've got one of those with the little "subloops" on it and I almost never use it because I find a regular one much easier to use. The separate loops would seem to help keep the gear organized, and I suppose that they do to some extent, but they make it harder to shove the whole mess out of the way for a move or pull it forward to rifle through the back stuff when you're looking for something. Â By the way, I liked one of those double slings when my partner had one, but then I bought one and I could never get it adjusted to work well for me. Mine had stiffeners that kept it in a wide arc, making it more difficult to move the gear backwards and forward the way I like. His was simpler. Quote
catbirdseat Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 A disadvantage of the die cut, that is, asymmetrical harnesses is that they are not reversible. If you partner up with a weird person who racks on his left instead of normal people who rack on their right side , then the symmetrical sling can be reversed to keep the small stuff in front and the big stuff in the back. Â Having said that, I like my asymmetrical Metolius harness with the four loops. I seldom use the fourth loop because it is hard to reach. I do use the auxilary sling on the left. It gets tricams and a few hexes. Main loop #1 gets nuts and microcams and the other two main loops get the rest of the cams. Quote
jkrueger Posted March 30, 2004 Posted March 30, 2004 my chest is configured a little differently than erik's and will's. i might not have the exact same type of problem w/the gear shifting up If that's the case, then the problem might be your partner's gear shifting up! Quote
minx Posted March 30, 2004 Author Posted March 30, 2004 my chest is configured a little differently than erik's and will's. i might not have the exact same type of problem w/the gear shifting up If that's the case, then the problem might be your partner's gear shifting up! Â no, he's a good partner, he knows just when to shift gears. Â CBS- do you always rack on the same side? i often switch b/c of the nature of the route. and all normal people rack on the left side anyway...sheesh! didn't think about the reversiblility issue Quote
RuMR Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 simple answer...rack on your harness...its ez and fast... Quote
catbirdseat Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 I always rack on the right side. There are rare instances in which I have racked on the left side such as certain chimneys where I wanted to face right and have the gear on the inside. Â Lots of people prefer to rack on the harness. There are plenty of good reasons to do this, not the least of which is that the weight is lower and more centered. If you are really climbing hard and especially overhanging routes, this would be the preferred way because a sling would hang behind you and where you couldn't reach the gear. Â For weekend gapers like myself, I prefer the sling because I can just hand the whole thing to my partner, thus saving time. Racking on the harness would require that I hand the pieces one by one to my partner. Quote
JoshK Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 I have found my new favorite gear sling...a daisy chain. it's light, simple, has lots of loops and serves a secondary purpose if need be. I use a biner around on my back to size it however I like. It might be unconventional, but I've decided it's my new way to go. Quote
Bill_Simpkins Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 I have one. There are also two little tie points on each end. You tie a piece of cord between them and you have a regular gear loop on one side and the separated loops on the other. Best of both worlds. Sweet! Quote
Nick Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 I don't like the multi looped sling because it spreads the gear out in a big fan that seems to get in the way more. If you are not a large person you may find that the multi looped gear sling gets in the way. When I want to organise gear more compactly I put several peices together on single large keylock biners. This allows you to easily remove gear without removing the biner from the sling, while also allowing the gear to stay in a tidy clump on the sling, easy to throw behind your back (or switch sides). Quote
sk Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 If you like the gear over your shoulder you might like it... I still can't get used to that and tend to prefer to rack on my harness, but I don't climb that much multi pitch trad (ya like I followed 4 times MAYBE) Quote
catbirdseat Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 I don't like the multi looped sling because it spreads the gear out in a big fan that seems to get in the way more. If you are not a large person you may find that the multi looped gear sling gets in the way. When I want to organise gear more compactly I put several peices together on single large keylock biners. This allows you to easily remove gear without removing the biner from the sling, while also allowing the gear to stay in a tidy clump on the sling, easy to throw behind your back (or switch sides). That is a very good point. It is the total number of biners that causes the CF on single loop slings. If you rack multiple pieces per biner then you could probably have only half a dozen there. If you then rack all your slings tripled with two biners you are set when you pull the piece off your rack sans biner. Quote
Greg_W Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 but I don't climb that much multi pitch trad (ya like I followed 4 times MAYBE) Â At least you don't look like a Christmas tree when you get to the belay anymore. Quote
sk Posted March 31, 2004 Posted March 31, 2004 (edited) but I don't climb that much multi pitch trad (ya like I followed 4 times MAYBE) Â At least you don't look like a Christmas tree when you get to the belay anymore. oh you would be suprised, if I am sketched and cleaning I look a mess when I get to the top of a climb I still need way WAY more practice Edited March 31, 2004 by Muffy_The_Wanker_Sprayer Quote
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