First things first. The harness is the first piece of equipment that you need to consider. It is the first piece of gear in a series, that links you to the carabiner to the rope, if you are climbing. It is also the first piece of gear that links you to the carabiner, to the descender (usually a figure eight) to the rope if you are rappelling. The rock climbing harness needs to be fitted properly. Properly fitted, the harness transfers any force from a fall to the hip bones, one of the strongest bones in the body. If it is not properly fitted, they you can damage your internal organs or even fall out of it.

The purpose of the harness is to tie you the climber into the rope system that allows you to climb safely or to belay effectively. When you as the climber falls, the harness shifts the force of the fall to your hips. When you are belaying and the climber falls, the harness shifts the force of his fall to your hips. the other job it does is to give you a rudimentary seat to sit in while being lowered, while rappelling, or while resting.

The sport rock climbing harness has descended from a simple rope around the waist of a climber. As this was found to be ineffective, climbers developed a set of rope wrappings called a swiss seat. This proved to be more effective, but also caused some problems. First off, the rope "seat" was uncomfortable. It also posed some dangers if the knots holding the ropes slipped or your weight shifted.

The next breakthrough was to use a flat piece of high strength nylon that was anywhere from an inch to three inches in width. Now you had a more comfortable seat. You still had problems with the knots and the tension of the seat. It still had to be monitored closely otherwise it could fail. Something else was needed.

Now comes the modern sport climbing harness. This is a specialized piece of equipment. There are two types that a beginner should be interested in. The sport harness and the multipurpose harness. Of the two, the multipurpose harness will be more comfortable and probably the best buy for the true beginner. If you have some experience and know that you are going to get into sport climbing, or are going to stay away from large long term climbbs, then the sport(or gym) harness is for you.

A Sport (or gym) harness is an extremely lightweight, yet strong piece of equipment. It consists of a relatively narrow waistline and similar leg loops all made of high strength nylon. You sacrifice a good deal of padding (comfort and cushion in case of a fall) when you go with these super lightweight harnesses. These harnesses allow you as wide a rangeof movement as possible. There are no bulky pads to bind your movements. The sport harness will give you the freedom of motion to make some pretty incredible reaches.

The multipurpose harness is the best bet for a beginner. It allows the beginner a wide enough range of movement allowing them to climb in nearly any situation. It has wider waist belt and leg loops than the sport harness and they are usually padded much more effectively. This padding is great when you have new stets of sore and tired muscles. the padding is great to have when you are absorbing the your fall or belaying someone else's. Similar to the sport harness, the multipurpose harness has a belay point, but unlike a sport harness, it has several equipment loops.

There are over 100 different kinds of climbing harnesses. So which one is for you? Even with the above advice, there still is a wide selection to choose from. First off, buy new. No matter what the guy says about how his grandmother only used the harness on Sunday to get to church, you do not know for certain what that harness has been through. Even experts can be fooled as to the condition of a used harness. You do not want some small, unnoticed rip turn into a large tear while you are 80 or even 20 feet off the ground. Even worse would be to have your harness fail while belaying someone else's climb.

So how do you pick out the best harness for you? Fit. It has to fit you snugly yet comfortably. It needs to be affordable. Do you wand comfort over weight or a combination of the two? Do you want detachable leg loops (this makes bathroom breaks much easier)? When, where and how much do you plan to climb? all are important question you should ask yourself and answer to the person who is directly helping you pick out a harness. I'll answer those questions in a later blog.

Then try some on. Keep trying them on until you get a good fit. You also need to hang in them. make sure that the waist belt fits around your hip-bone and not on your belly. The harness is designs to transfer any shock and all of the weight of a climber to this, one of the strongest bones in the body. If it is around your belly, the weight will constrict the movement of your diaphragm and reduce your breathing. Not something we want to happen.

So keep trying on harnesses until you find a fit that both a qualified person and yourself find acceptable. Then buy it. Also buy a notebook.

The notebook is for keeping a record of the use that your harness receives. Document any falls and the time that the harness was in use. Later on we will discuss when to retire gear.

A Great source for rock climbing information is from the folks at The Climbing Harness Co.
Another useful guide to climbing can be found here

Two useful web sites are http://www.rockclimbing.com/ and http://climbing.about.com/