Black Diamond Chaos Harness Review

I’ve been wearing Black Diamond harnesses for years. I think I happened to stumble upon them early in my climbing days, and I always liked the fit. I do remember, however, seeing those fancy Arc’teryx harnesses come out and thinking they were pretty damn nifty. Too expensive though for me at the time, and it’s not like a few ounces of weight savings really means a whole lot when you’re already carrying a triple set of cams.

Fast forward to 2009. Black Diamond has entered the realm of the super slick harness with three new offerings: the Chaos, Aura, and Ozone.  The Chaos is their all-around harness, and has been redesigned using the revolutionary Kinetic Core Construction. That’s a simple name for some fancy technology (it’s also used in NASA space suits), and while I didn’t understand all the techno-jargon I read about it, suffice it to say it serves to reduce bulk and weight while maintaining a high strength and comfort level, which of course is perfect for climbing.

I got my hands on the Chaos before our recent trip to Red Rocks in March, and spent a week putting it through the motions. My very first impression upon handling it was that this is a beautiful harness. Clean and elegant lines, and very simple. A prethreaded buckle, four gear loops, haul loop and belay loop.  The rear elastic risers are adjustable via a system I’ve never seen before but it seemed to work really well.

We were climbing over 1000′ each day, and I was comfortable the entire time in this harness, which I suppose is thanks in part to the Soft Edge construction used in its design. Basically this translates to a better fit and less “digging in” to your sides that you get with some harnesses. It fits me well and as such I had no complaints about any rubbing or hot spots. The gear loops are stiff, making it easy to get gear on and off quickly. This is also my first time with a prethreaded buckle, and it’s a nice safety feature for sure. The harness appears to be pretty durable, we’ll check back in once we’ve had a couple months of hard use on it and let you know how it’s holding up.

Bottom line, this is a fantastic harness, and the only thing that is going to make people think twice about buying it is the sticker price. At $124.95, it’s substantially more expensive then their other all-around offerings. I did really enjoy it on those long climbs though, so if you spend a lot of time off the deck, it may worth a little extra cash to kick down and rock it in style and comfort all day long. Plus it’ll give all the parties you pass something to talk about as you whiz by using your new speed climbing techniques!

Buy the Black Diamond Chaos at Backcountry.com