Goodbue cruel buttstrap!

[Stumper]

Goodbye cruel buttstrap!

or....Get thee hence, fell instument of torture!

I climbed today on my new Ness Work Saddle. It is by far the most comfortable saddle I've ever used. I had some doubts about the small Ds and almost ordered the large ones.-I'm glad I didn't. A dbl locking Aluminum snap pops right in ,easy as pie (the little Ds are 'winged' so that they don't fold all the way in). The gear attachment points are a little further back than on my Weaver 1040 (there are also more of them/better spaced). That will require a little getting used to but man, this feels great! .

 

[lhampton]

Never trust anything refered to as "buttstrap".

Louie Hampton

 

[Heath]

They ought to call it a "nut strap" (can I say that) I used a saddle w/ one of those daddys yesterday, and I can't believe anyone buys them anymore. Singin' soprano , and walkin' funny when I got down!

 

[treeman82]

A lot of the neandertal climbers around here use that type of saddle. Either they are neandertals, or they work for somebody who provides them with that kind of saddle.

 

[Heath]

Rocky,
I thought you liked being a "yuppie climber" in your new saddle
I'm still swollen after yesterdays climb. Call me all the names you want. Its all about the Jewells!
Heath

 

[treeman82]

Brian, I am sorry for making such a brash generalization. What I meant was that a lot of the climbers around here who are advancing in their climbing abilities and using more modern techniques are using the leg strap / bosun saddle type saddles as opposed to the butt strap kind. Some of the best (meaning fastest, not safest) climbers I know use the butt strap type saddles. However those guys are still using the taughtline hitch and a good amount of them gaff pruning jobs. So I hope that makes my statement a little bit less generalized, and a bit more easily understood.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Well the only guys I know still using the old saddles are hacks and ROW workers.

 

[treeman82]

I guess that means I should break out my butt strap saddle

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Um i resemble that remark.......

and have fears of feelinglike Bryan.

i've tried the individual leg support before, maybe i jsut didn't like that particular saddle, or maybe that long ago they all were less evolved. i was gonna go modern, but backed out and stayed with wideback bosun, insisting on the skinny legstraps, seems like wider would be sweatier.

29" jeans are a lil'loose on me; might wear saddle lower cuz of that, and being a straight drop from hip to heel........ i don't feel any mobility problem, have tried some modern saddles here and there. i stretch as far as my legs can without saddle restriction, rollover almost 180 side to side, and pick up my legs even further, lean and i'm upside down. A C-note or so more isn't too bad for the right tool; but it can really make you shriek a higher note; if it ain't right to ya for the extra bucks, and it reminds you of it everyday. Been there with rolling D especially.

i rarely 'catch' myself,a nd not very bad, been so long; prolly jinxing myself talking about it!

i think Brian has been pretty open minded, so maybe staying conservative on saddle choice again, as he echoes some of the problems i thought i might find disgruntling. i didn't like the way that a few leg saddles grabbed my legs. They're barely long enough to reach the ground whenst i stand as it is.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

When I was body building I had 28 inch thighs.

 

[Tim Gardner]

I drove by a jobsite of one of the better looking tree services in my area yesterday. They all wear PPE, matching shirts, trucks and equipment all match. The illusion is quickly broken if you watch them work though. One of them was standing in a skid steer bucket with an HT75 stick saw butchering an oak tree. That is what I call hacks.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Originally posted by John Paul Sanborn
When I was body building I had 28 inch thighs.

GULP!

 

[Stumper]

My saddle experience is long but thin. I started with a rope strung harness with individual leg loops (Karl Kuemerling I think) That was an inner thigh (and adjacent organs) pinching outfit. I switched to a buttstrap model without legstraps,but I don't have much of a butt so the sit strap kept winding up around my waist. I sewed on permanent leg loops and used that for a couple of years, Then I got a Bashlin 636(or 637 I don't remember) with leather leg straps. Used with a spreader snap that was actually a comfortable saddle and I used it for a long time. Then I switched to a Weaver 1040 "Mobility" saddle with sliding center D. The Sliding D was okay except that in the buttstrap configuration it makes for horrible hip pinch. The 1040 with its wide padded back is pretty comfortable working off the lanyard but hanging on the climbing line by the center floating D was becoming excruciating. This new Ness is very light and VERY comfortable. I wouldn't mind trying a Butterfly or the Petzl Navajo or the Buckingham Arbormaster series-unfortunately there isn't anywhere close by to sample them. Right now I think that the Ness is the best Saddle investment I've ever made!

 

[Frans]

Check out the new saddle (Austrian) it has both, leg and butt straps. the strap is removable in seconds.
My Ness has been with me for years now and really works well
frans

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

BK is a gear nut and bought a Navajo to try out at the TCI conferance here in MKE. We both fiddled with it for a while and neither liked it. Several uncomfortable spots in it, especialy in certain soft tissue better alluded to then mentioned directly.

 

[TREETX]

Everybody can just save time and get a Butterfly. The best saddle

It was an adjustment for me to go to legstraps from a buttstrap.

That Austrian Duo looks interesting

Right now, I'm not trying to fix what is not broken.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Originally posted by TREETX
Everybody can just save time and get a Butterfly. The best saddle

Agreed.

Done the butt strap, bosun seat, and other hip, leg, and nut torturing devices. The butterfly, and from the looks of it, the ness, petzel, and duo, are the best for what we do.

 

[Frans]

I bought a Butterfly in Mil. at the ISA conference.
I bought it cause I wanted a slightly heavier saddle to sling around a saw during takedowns. I liked the bigger back support. When I bought the Butterfly I instantly modified it and made a shorter strap and at the same time added a Petzl swivel as a main attachment point.
the Duo seems to have what I need re: better support. And I dont need to modify it.
Plus the Duo has the removable shoulder straps, something I've missed since my Brydan days...
Frans

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I like the BryDan, but tried it on and the center of gravity is designed for smaller guys. I'm a bit topheavy and felled like I was going to tip over all the time.

 

[Jumper]

Watching you discuss saddles is like jumpers arguing the relative merits of various parachute harness and container systems, which are not unlike saddles in some respects. What is most excellent for one is like being in a straight jacket/nut cruncher for another. Then there is the guy who remembers the gear he used twenty years ago when he was a lot younger and more limber, not to mention 30 pounds lighter. And the guy who is using a system from the dinosaur ages and refuses to change.
Like most equipment of a personal nature, including the aforementioned and hockey, espcially goalie equipment, you are never going to convince the other guy what you are using is the best, or for that matter is he going to change you either. This and other such threads are neat to watch as they evolve!

Nothing like a agony of a snug Swiss Seat to make you remember where the lower parts of your anatomy are located!