New Climbers Gear Question

Hello Everyone,

My son and I are very new to climbing. We just recently received our gear from new tribe with the basic saddles. After reading some comments here we are concerned that our saddles might be too big. We particularly keyed into the comments that the loops on the belt should not overlap much.

My son is not having any problems climbing and no discomfort with his belt. One problem I'm having is I'm having trouble sitting upright in the saddle. That is, when I'm climbing in the saddle I find myself taking on a more reclined posture rather than sitting upright.

I have ordered the chest harness from new tribe thinking it will help me with the reclining issue.

Here are two images of our saddles. The first is my son's and the second image is mine. Any thoughts and comments on whether the saddles are too big (I should note my son measures right at the beginning of the large size with a 36 inch size) and on my "reclining" issue would be greatly appreciated.





Thanks so much,

Keith F. Saylor
Alpena, MI

Hi, Keith--

Welcome to climbing!

In my opinion, your saddle is too large. I base this on MY experience (as they say, your mileage my vary) as mentioned in LINK posted on 6-7-04 at 18:01.

Best luck--

Welcome!
I am an armature also but it has been my experience that. . .
Expect it to take a while to get comfortable climbing.
Once you get on-rope, pull the leg pads down toward the backs of your knees to present a better sitting posture.

The belt & leg pads are interchangeable. Sometimes a large belt with medium leg pads (or vise versa) are the answer. I have a medium set of leg pads I can send you but what you probably need is a medium belt which I do not have. I have a complete small here which may work for your Son if he is a youth size.

A New Tribe saddle is not everyone’s answer to comfortable climbing. After you get some experience, you may very well switch to a Buckingham, Petzl, or any number of other styles.

Perhaps New Tribe can send you a medium belt to try with your large leg pads. Give em’ a call.

The Tree Climbing Basics video will help a lot. The best 20 bucks a new climber can spend. Also, all the training examples are done in a New Tribe saddle.
Click this link:

https://www.treeclimbing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

Hope my 2 cents worth helps
Keep us posted!
Electrojake

Any climber will recline if they relax. Those that have top heavy weight above the waste will flop back even faster. The chest harness will help you to relax with less stomach muscle power. Staying upright is like doing a continious setup. But gravity rules in this tree climbing game. The more weight you have, the more you will have to expend in energy to get it aloft.

New Tribe will most likely swap your saddle sizes. You do not want a tight fit! A couple of inches of overlap is fine.

Pay attention to your buckling. Pass it through the buckle 3 times, not two as you have pictured. Back thread it. That will keep your buckle locked- it is not locked as shown.

This style of climbing takes some getting used to. It is not automatic. But it is fun and certainly a full body workout. The surroundings is much better than a stale aired gym too. Good luck and feel free to come here again with your questions. We are a friendly community of people.

Hello Keith, I agree with Peter. ( well he has more experience after all) but regardles of that... I think your harness are the appropriate size. On tipping over backwards you may be "top heavy" ie have a large chest. This naturally makes you tip backwards but as you climb more your legs compensate for this problem. You may need to use the Chest attachment to move the atttachment point higher up in from of your chest and that will solve the problem.

Originally posted by Treeman


Pay attention to your buckling. Pass it through the buckle 3 times, not two as you have pictured. Back thread it. That will keep your buckle locked- it is not locked as shown.

Uhoh! I think I've been buckling incorrectly for the last two years! Peter, you wouldn't happen to have a picture of a correctly closed buckle? I must say, though, that I have never had the buckle slip open much. As a matter of fact, I usually have to struggle to loosen it up when I take off the saddle.

The delta you are using was too small for my liking. I recommend a large Pear screw link that will give you more room to connect all the rope and carabiners during a change-over. It will also give you almost enough room to connect a personal lanyard without cussing.

Just pass the tail of the buckle strap in the opposite direction and put it in the gaping buckle hole. In the picture above go to the right.

The extra wrap makes it bomb proof, where two wraps sometimes loosen a little.

Thanks Peter. I actually figured it out on my own the next time I put my saddle on after posting that. I guess I just had to be looking at it from a more familiar angle!