Chip66

Hi, I had a go at recreational tree climbing yesterday for the first time. I used a Petzl AVAO harness and really struggled. Firstly I found the harness really uncomfortable as it was pulling very hard on my sides but secondly (and the bigger problem) I had to pull quite hard on the rope to stay upright. If I relaxed my body it just wanted to go horizontal! I'm 5'-9" and 13 stone, so a couple of stone overweight. I am shorter legged and longer in the body than average but not massively so. I tried tightening and loosening both the harness and leg straps but it made no difference and the harness was the correct size for me. The guy who set it up has been climbing for years and so there was nothing wrong with the set up I was using (DRT with prussik and a single pulley that the harness was attached to -sorry for the lack of technical knowledge). I've tried a rock climbing harness before with exactly the same results. Has anyone else experienced this and how did you get over it? Thanks in advance for any help you can give as other than the harness problem I absolutely loved it and would really like to continue with this. Regards Chip Hampshire UK