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Climbing/Rappelling harnesses


possum
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Hi,

 

After some info on the use of climbing and rapelling harnesses used by the US Army. Tried doing some research, but have found pretty much nothing.

Most interested in makes (Yates seems to come up a lot) and models of those used by special forces in the late 80's/early 90's.

 

Know this is a long shot, but someone has to know something. Anything would be rice!

 

Thanks,

 

Possum

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Finding a copy of a"TC on Rappelling" could help. [Training Circular]

 

You might also try contacting Yates directly to see if they will be able to provide details of what they made back then or be able to provide further research info.

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Misanthropic_Gods

A lot of these are civilian climbing harnesses. Everybody knew how to use Swiss Seats, but the civvy rigs are SO much more comfortable (no nut crunching). Black Diamond is very popular

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Guys, wow! Thanks for the feedback! Really didn't think I was going to get anything. VERY interesting to know about the use of Black Diamond gear as I'm working on a project for PJ's in the 80's/90's and was wondering what sort of rig to put to try and purchase. Black Diamond is one of the few manufacturers easily avaialable here in the UK.

 

I'd love to try and get a copy of that manual, but fear it may have to wait as I'm broke at the mo!

 

Does anyone here happen to know about the use of other basic gear. Would fig 8's be carried in a situation where the harness was being worn?

Pretty sure all karabiners would have been the standard D/oval ones that same as ones from the Vietnam war, but again, any feedabck would be nice.

 

Thanks again.

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Misanthropic_Gods
Guys, wow! Thanks for the feedback! Really didn't think I was going to get anything. VERY interesting to know about the use of Black Diamond gear as I'm working on a project for PJ's in the 80's/90's and was wondering what sort of rig to put to try and purchase. Black Diamond is one of the few manufacturers easily avaialable here in the UK.

 

I'd love to try and get a copy of that manual, but fear it may have to wait as I'm broke at the mo!

 

Does anyone here happen to know about the use of other basic gear. Would fig 8's be carried in a situation where the harness was being worn?

Pretty sure all karabiners would have been the standard D/oval ones that same as ones from the Vietnam war, but again, any feedabck would be nice.

 

Thanks again.

 

It would all depend on personal preference, if there was going to be any rappelling, its quite likely there would be Figure 8's in use. Also, the issue snap links are okay I guess, but they dont lock. Lots of guys would buy commercial locking snap links

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I did alot of rappeling, both Aussie and regular, and climbing in the mid to late 80's in the army as part of the 10th Mountain division. The only harnesses we ever used were swiss seats made from sling ropes and the standard D-ring. I saw one guy plummet to the ground during a helicopter rappel when the d-ring caribiner pulled apart. A few guys bought some of the locking civilian versions but I think their use was frowned on. Figure 8 rappeling rigs were alot slower going down and I never personally used one in training but they were used by other units, I think mostly SF and maybe Ranger. I think the Rangers fast roped from helicopters as a rule instead of rappeling(no harness needed). There was a national guard unit from Vermont we trained with out in California that was part of the First Army that also became authorised to wear a mountain tab about that time. They used a bunch of civilian gear, harnesses and helmets as well as Kernmantle rope (like 550 parachute cord with the outer sheath and inner stranded core). The only manufactured harness I ever wore was the standard STABO rig for helicopter extractions. I hope this helps.

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Misanthropic_Gods
I did alot of rappeling, both Aussie and regular, and climbing in the mid to late 80's in the army as part of the 10th Mountain division. The only harnesses we ever used were swiss seats made from sling ropes and the standard D-ring. I saw one guy plummet to the ground during a helicopter rappel when the d-ring caribiner pulled apart. A few guys bought some of the locking civilian versions but I think their use was frowned on. Figure 8 rappeling rigs were alot slower going down and I never personally used one in training but they were used by other units, I think mostly SF and maybe Ranger. I think the Rangers fast roped from helicopters as a rule instead of rappeling(no harness needed). There was a national guard unit from Vermont we trained with out in California that was part of the First Army that also became authorised to wear a mountain tab about that time. They used a bunch of civilian gear, harnesses and helmets as well as Kernmantle rope (like 550 parachute cord with the outer sheath and inner stranded core). The only manufactured harness I ever wore was the standard STABO rig for helicopter extractions. I hope this helps.

 

 

GREAT info!

 

I think the civvy harnesses came into more use in the 90's..nothing beats the feeling of a good ol swiss seat though....Ifit aint broke, dont fix it I guess :P

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Hi,

 

After some info on the use of climbing and rapelling harnesses used by the US Army. Tried doing some research, but have found pretty much nothing.

Most interested in makes (Yates seems to come up a lot) and models of those used by special forces in the late 80's/early 90's.

 

Know this is a long shot, but someone has to know something. Anything would be rice!

 

Thanks,

 

Possum

Do a google search for SOFME (Special operations forces mountaineering equipment) and you can find a bit more info. We use both the full body harness and the lower body harness, I will have to take a look the maker of the harness next time we do a demonstration and let you know.

 

Travis

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Sorry - now see that your focus in late 80s/early 90s, so BH and others came a bit later. I agree with Jim C., having done lots of rappelling back then, including Air Assault School and time at an SF training camp for rappelling and climbing. Never used anything other than a self-made rope Swiss seat/wrap for various techniques (regular or Aussie).

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GREAT info!

 

I think the civvy harnesses came into more use in the 90's..nothing beats the feeling of a good ol swiss seat though....Ifit aint broke, dont fix it I guess :P

 

WOW! I second that! Thanks for all the feedback chaps. :thumbsup: This has far passed anything I could have hoped for!

 

Know I'm pushing my luck, but I have one final question! A close friend told me that during some operations where tactical loadout was carried, as well as wearing ALICE gear/LBV's etc, the harness was also worn, as part of personal equipment. (I'm guessing either civvy, or Swiss Seat) The thought being that if you had to make a quick exit, rather than having to pause and pull harness from pack and put the gear on (potentially under fire), you simply had to set a rope up (or in the case of helo extraction, wait for one to be dropped to you), clip up and go. Anyone who has ever put on a climbing harness will tell you this makes sense! Could anyone verify if they know of this happening?

I know this was the whole point of the STABO rig, but he clearly mentioned a separate climbing harness.

 

Many thanks again guys, you're on fire!

 

Possum

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craig_pickrall

STABO was intended to be able to hook up and fly away while hands free to handle weapons, etc. It wasn't really a rappelling harness.

 

Here is an early vest with a harness built in.

 

post-5-1299693882.jpg

post-5-1299693987.jpg

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Hi Craig,

 

WICKED vest! That's a really neat bit of kit. What sort of era is it from? Looks 80's to me, but I may be well off the mark...

 

Ref STABO, that was a moment of clouded thinking in my typing. Forgot that it was an extraction rig, not a rappelling harness. God only know's why, been doing enough research on it lately :)

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craig_pickrall

It has Fastex SR1 buckles but it was before they started dating them. I know LOWE was using this same buckle in 1984 so it is around that time frame. It is a QRV vest.

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Here are some STABO rigs being worn on a deployment to Eglin AFB, in Florida, August '87. These weren't worn all the time (not hard to see why) ;)

post-6395-1299777439.jpg

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As I recall the issue harness in SOFME came from a company named Camp and was a full body harness rather than just a sit harness. The QRV was manufactured by a Florida-based company named Elevated urban Operations and were used by some of the Rangers during the Grenada invasion. Old Lowe Alpine LOCO packs had an integrated rappelling harness that served as the waist belt with stowable leg straps and could be detached from the pack bag by the removal of two flat pins. A lot of SF guys would use that harness for rappelling even after the packs had worn out.

 

Most of my time in the Army we used Swiss seats tied from a length of issue climbing rope. I even conducted a STABO with a Swiss seat and a safety line secured by a bowline around the chest with a prusik knot around the rope coming down from the helo. This was in Germany in 1990 while in 3ID LRS.

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