Petzl 8003 - Full Body Pregnancy Harness Review
I would have to say the hardest thing so far in this pregnancy, other than having morning sickness 70% of the day in the first trimester, is trying to get my hands on a darned climbing harness!
I consulted my good friend google to see what options I had in terms of a full body climbing harness. Spoiler alert… there aren’t many. Firstly, I saw an old blog post from a while back mentioning an Edelrid pregnancy harness that looked comfortable and secure but after reaching out to them, getting no response and not seeing the harness on their website, I concluded that it was no longer available. Next I reached out to my friend at Evolve to see if they had anything… Nada. Then it was Mad Rock. Their pregnancy harness didn’t look super comfortable but beggars can’t be choosers and I had seen their harness floating around online forums. After reaching out to Mad Rock in instagram I learned that they were in between designs and didn’t have anything to offer me… another goose egg.
Petzl’s 8003 Men’s full body harness was my last hope. After scouring the interwebs, I started to become discouraged when I didn’t see the harness on their website but luckily there were a couple online retailers that came to the rescue!
Fit/Form/Function
Petzl’s 8003 Full Body Harness comes in two sizes: Petzl 1 (23”-37” waist) and Petzl 2 (29”-41” waist). I wear a size 1. Measure your waist at what used to be your most narrow part. My fellow preggo ladies out there, you know what I’m talking about. Made of webbing and a few pieces of metal, this harness is about as bare bones as it gets.
Fully adjustable shoulder and leg loops for a secure fit
Two gear loops
Wide/Flexible webbing
I made my transition to the full body climbing harness around 17 weeks when my belly no longer fit in my standard harness. I have climbed both indoors and outdoors a multitude of times and found the Petzl’s 8003 Full body harness to be very secure. While climbing and getting lowered, I felt incredibly supported though the harness isn’t the most comfortable thing to wear. As a joke, I have told a few of my male climbing friends that I think I’m beginning to understand what it feels like for a guy to wear a climbing harness. Petzl’s pregnancy harness is not the most forgiving on the lady parts.
With so many loops everywhere, the harness can seem a little confusing right out of the bag. Step into both leg loops and pull the shoulder loops on like you are putting on a jacket with the front being wide open. Belay loops sit right above the ever growing belly and is cinched closed when you
Tie in with your figure 8 to climb
Clip in your belay device or…
Securing them together with your PAS (when climbing outside
When climbing, I do notice that I am constantly adjusting my leg loops and pulling on the excess webbing tabs. They don’t get in the way, it’s just not the most comfortable feeling.
Belaying with the pregnancy harness is pretty simple. Instead of belaying at your hips, you are now belaying just above your belly which doesn’t take very long to get used to.
If I were to make any adjustments to the Petzl 8003 Full Body Harness, I would add some padding to the leg loops to make it more comfortable, but with no other options in the market, the Petzl 8003 Full body harness gets the job done!
