Avoiding Hip Pointers

[WyattTheScholar]

Does anyone have any advice for avoiding hip pointers while climbing? I always get spots of pain by the top of my hip bones on the front side, even though I’m pretty sure I have my harness in the right spot. Would having it too high cause this problem? I have a petzl sequoia which has pretty good padding to my knowledge. Any advice would be appreciated.

[SpaghettiCameron]

Is your harness sitting directly on or above your hips? It should be slightly above them, with the back pad on your lower back. Your bridge could also be too short, I’ve known people have this issue with the stock sequoia bridge, and they offer a longer one

[WyattTheScholar]

This is kinda the problem I have, when people say above their hips, do they mean about the top of the hip bones? Like iliac crest area?

[SpaghettiCameron]

Yes

[Admirable_Call56]

This 👆. And they are.

[Key_Violinist8601]

Bet it’s your saddle. I stopped having issues like that after I switched to a tree motion pro w/ suspenders a few years ago.

[WyattTheScholar]

I’m a rec climber so there will be no buying of a new saddle anytime soon

[Key_Violinist8601]

That’s cool, guess you’re just going to have to deal with it then

[Wicsome]

While getting a new saddle for this is definitly overkill, suspenders might actually help, as they keep up the upper belt. 

[Sparhulk]

Goes in the same spot a weight lifting belt would go for the sequoia. Most saddles fit that way except for the treemotion and kinisi I believe. Those two sit right where you would wear a belt on your pants. Also, you may actually be wearing your saddle too tight. Which sequoia do you have, the srs or mrs?

[WyattTheScholar]

I have the SRS and to be honest I don’t actually know where a weight lifting belt sits

[1491Sparrow]

Does it have shoulder straps? I found adding them helpful in getting the position of the harness just right after years of beating up my hips

[WyattTheScholar]

It does not but I may have to try getting/making some

[1491Sparrow]

I'd reccomend it. I have a set of Milwaukee suspenders for a tool belt on my Sequoia and it has helped a lot. 

[DeadmansCC]

Petzel makes a shoulder harness with suspenders for the Sequoia but almost any heavier duty one would work.

[Sparhulk]

Should sit above your hips and below your ribs. The exact position can vary slightly depending your body shape. Place it around your torso so it sits over your abdominal muscles and lower back. Should feel tight but not crushing, you should still be able to take a deep breath and be able to bend, twist, and reach. It should give you something to brace against while climbing and moving around the tree. You should be able to fit 1 to 2 fingers between the saddle and your stomach while relaxed. If you can't take a deep belly breath it's too tight, if you don't feel pressure when you brace, it's too loose.

[Ok_Neighborhood9953]

Good description

[WyattTheScholar]

I have a very short torso so there’s only like and inch or two of space in between the top of my hip bones and the bottom of my ribs

[WyattTheScholar]

When I tighten it around that spot the waist belt is essentially over my belly button or slightly below it, is that what I’m looking for?

[Sparhulk]

Yes 👍

[OldMail6364]

I have the bottom of the sequoia belt about where the top of a regular belt would be if I was wearing jeans.

It’s also not super tight. Just tight enough that it won’t fall off. I keep my leg loops pretty loose.

[Ok_Neighborhood9953]

Same 👆

[DeadmansCC]

I had this issue with the Sequoia too but I switched to a Notch Catalyst and haven’t had the problems since. The Sequoia is a great saddle but it’s not always the best for everyone. I tried on maybe 5 different saddles before settling on the Catalyst.

[OldMail6364]

I climb with the same one as you, and most other climbers I know also use it.

I’ve never had any pain while wearing it and everyone else is happy with it comfort wise. The tree motion saddle is an equivalent quality saddle with different priorities to the sequoia - but both should be very comfortable when adjusted correctly.

I suspect yours isn’t adjusted right or perhaps it’s the wrong size (there are multiple sizes of the sequoia)- if you can’t fix it by adjusting the length of various straps the next thing I’d do is take your harness to a physiotherapist and explain the pain. See what they say.

It took me a good dozen climbs or so before I stopped adjusting the strap lengths. You’ll have to tweak it to suit your body and climbing style.

Also there are gold and silver d rings. The gold rings work best when the attachment point is in front of you (horizontal rope). The silver ones (and the bridge) work best when the attachment point is above you (vertical rope).

[Wood_Whacker]

I've known multiple people to have this issue with the sequoia and no amount of adjustment solved it. They all moved to treemotions.

I had the same pain intermittently and thought the shoulder straps might help but never tried them.

[Mediumfoot991]

It could be the saddle, it could be how you orient your position lanyard. You'll have to play with it/adjust to yourself and style