Maternity clothing maker Mountain Mama Inc. has introduced a rock-climbing harness. The full-body harness, developed in collaboration with Mad Rock Climbing, provides an open belly area for the “big with child” region and loops at the sternum for tying in with a rope.
Ostensibly made for top-roping, not lead climbing, the Mountain Mama harness has an X-strap design on back as seen on harnesses made for kids. (My children, ages 5 and 7, have used similar harness designs while at the crag.)
The company cites the harness as “supporting and cradling the torso” in the event of a fall. It uses a wide webbing and has the requisite buckles and adjustments for a range of fit throughout a pregnancy.
This “world’s first harness for pregnant climbers,” as the company puts it, debuted last month at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show. It was “designed by women, for women,” the company notes. (We’d hope so!)
Cites the brand: “The open design through the midsection accommodates a growing belly without bunching or squeezing.”
The harness — official name: Mountain Mama by Mad Rock harness — got substantial buzz in the climbing world and at the trade show, including positive and negative reaction from climbers, pregnant and not. (See one spicy thread on the SuperTopo forum here.)
It will be available in early 2013 for $120. Readers, what do you think? Women can obviously be active while pregnant. But is getting vertical with a big belly and a “baby on board” a good idea or not?
—Stephen Regenold is the founder of GearJunkie.
