Recently, I have decided to upgrade some of my older pieces of equipment, and during this process I came to the conclusion that I wanted to upgrade my harness system too. Having used the Mammut Baffin harness for few years now, I came to the understanding that such a bulky harness was not what I wanted to have anymore. Although the Mammut Baffin performed great so far, I looked for less bulky and most of all for lightweight solutions. After extensive research on various harnesses from different high-end companies, I decided to purchase the new lightweight harness from Petzl, the ALTITUDE Harness.

As Petzl claims, the ALTITUDE harness is an ultra-lightweight mountaineering/ski harness, dons with feet on the ground.

What is important to me is that no matter if you use it for summer or winter mountaineering, this alpine harness will always suits my needs. From first look, the ALTITUDE is very compact and on my scale weights 160 grams. The small size and weight of this harness will save space and load on my backpack which means I will be able to fit more items or to move faster on snowy slopes.

Another important feature is that I don’t need to take one foot off the ground when putting this harness on (crampons, skis). Thanks to the Double Back Light buckle, you can use the harness without taking your gloves off.

Gear wise, four lightweight gear loops offer space for carabiners and ice screws. For the latter, Petzl has come up with a sophisticated solution: the leg loops are equipped with additional loops that keep your ice screws from swinging back and fourth on your legs. Though, I have some initial concerns on how those gear loops are placed on the harness. Petzl, decided to place the gear loops vertically and not horizontally as other traditional harnesses. Once I will have used extensively the harness, I will report on this matter.

A feature that has surprised me a lot positively about this harness, is how thin and how comfortable it feels (at first use). I hope it will be as safe as Petzl declares to be, because this harness is indeed “paper thin”.

Prior of purchasing the Petzl ALTITUDE I have tried to get informed from other users. I came across several positive reviews, that seemed more like a product preview rather than a long term use review. Though, I also came across a negative review and I am wondering what my experience will be with this new harness.

Harness Donning and Set Up

It is extremely easy to don the harness and the design is very intuitive. Without even reading the manual, I was able to done the harness in the correct way and this is good from user experience and user point of view. Bellow some photos on how Petzl ALTITUDE looks like on a human body.

Stay tuned on Olympus Mountaineering, because in the coming months I will post a full product review based on extensive use on winter mountaineering activities.

Description

• Ultra-light and compact: 
  – only 150 g (size S/M)
  – minimal bulk, when packed in its bag
• Can be donned while wearing skis or crampons:
  – dons with feet on the ground
  – the DoubleBack Light buckle and tightening strap are easy to operate, even with gloves
• Optimal simplicity and accessorization:
  – four equipment loops totally integrated into the harness to minimize interference when wearing a backpack
  – each leg loop has a keeper with siliconized interior, for positioning an ice screw
  – streamlined design with waistbelt and leg loops using WIREFRAME Technology construction

Specifications

• Material(s): nylon monofilament, polyester, high-modulus polyethylene, aluminum
• Certification(s): CE EN 12277 type C, UIAA