Cassin Warden Harness

Cassin (and CAMP) are coming out with some new climbing gear targeting big wall climbers this spring. We’ll focus on their new big wall harness, the Warden, that they showcased at the Winter Trade Show.

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The Warden

Have you ever wondered why Cassin (or CAMP) don’t make a big wall harness? Well, they started wondering that too.

Bent on filling this gap, they started with a few specific goals. It’s no surprise that the first decision they made was to make the harness light and fast.

The other essential requirements were:

• extreme breathability
• minimum of 6 gear loops (some high/low based on main/accessory gear)
• full strength haul loop
• ultra comfy leg loops and swami for prolonged hanging
• double buckle swami allowing a perfectly centered tie-in
• ideal for aid but light and versatile enough for free climbing

For the swami, the requirements were met with an idea stemming from the CAMP Air CR, that has super breathable 3mm foam. Since 3mm wouldn’t be comfortable enough for an extended hang, they increased it to 6mm foam for the Warden.

They tried to use the thicker foam idea for the leg loops too, but it didn’t pass their comfort requirements. So the idea to use the Cassin Laser CR harness style of leg loops was proposed and it worked great because the leg loops are tapered to create a more anatomical, and comfortable, fit.

Creating this harness was a very collaborative process involving the sewers and designers who create all the prototypes in Italy, and the CAMP USA crew who were driving the requirements and ideas from Colorado.

In addition to their list of requirements (many of which are similar to standard big wall harness offerings) they wanted to contribute something completely new. The problem they set out to solve was: how to create superior organization while aid climbing.

They started dreaming of ways to clean up the tie-in area since it can easily turn into a cluster while aid climbing. The concepts that were born over the drawing table, long-distance phone calls, and many nights of brainstorming at the bar, became a reality through a process of prototyping, testing and analyzing.

And, although it’s a disservice to the time that went into the research and design, the tie-in ideas can be summed up like this:

Idea 1: Make an extra big tie-in loop.

Result: Everything slides to the middle.

Idea 2: Make an extra big tie-in loop with fabric separators.

Result: Impossible to sew (at least, economically).

Idea 3: Add daisy loops to the swami.

Result: It works, but if they’re not full strength, it’d be easy to accidentally misuse.

Idea 4: Full strength daisy loops.

Result: Yes! Now time to figure out the best size and placements.

While they were looking at this tie-in problem there was another problem staring them in the face. The daisy chain itself. They created an elegant solution and you can check it out on our post featuring the Daisy Twist.

Check out WeighMyRack to compare the Warden to every other harness on the market, or check out our Warden product page to get more information like the waist and leg dimensions for each size of the Warden.

If you want to see more new CAMP gear check out the X-Light Technical Ice Tool, or see all the new gear from the Winter Trade Show.

And if you have any questions about the Warden harness let us know in the comments and we’ll work to find you the answers!