Nutcracker Harness Question: New Zealand Related

[uglymoney]

I've been reading about the harness or belts that people use with a nutcracker and it seems to me that a belt that I own for waterskiing might work. I'm not a climber, so I don't own a climbing harness.

Can the nutcracker attach to the quick release mechanism attached to this harness or will this otherwise work? I hooked up the grey ski rope just to demonstrate how the clip works. Yank on the pink rope and the mechanism opens up releasing the rope. Usually we have a metal clip attached to the (gray) rope when we use these.

[cj001f]

it might, the problem with waistbelts only is they ride up and the force will be directly on your back (not comfortable for me). Most ski field will rent/loan you a similar belt and nutcracker for cheap.

You can buy a cheap climbing harness like a Black Diamond Alpine Bod for $25

a short length of rope and you are good to go:

[uglymoney]

Gotcha. Thanks for the rare pic of a nutcracker. It looks to me like my belt would work fine, even if I had to attach a little piece of rope to it like you do with a climbing harness - but a climbing harness is more comfortable because of the uphill pull.

Thanks for clearing this up for me...

[Idris]

I agree with Cj001f - a climbing harness would be better than your wayerski belt. but it will work fine. I used a DMM Alpine harness for a season. I hated short nutcrackers because they were hard to hold shut so I welded up my own just over a foot long....sorry no pics

[G]

A cheap, used climbing harness would probably be a good investment, but your belt will work just fine.

Here's mine:

[skiHOG]

a belt will work, but i found that when you ride some of the steeper tows it will ride up on your back, so a climbing harness is your best option.

[Jonathan S.]

Wondering what mm cord to use for my own rope tow harness mod?

The area where I'm on auxilary patrol still uses these:
http://www.mtgreylockskiclub.com/tow_gripper.htm
(Only about 325' vert on my altimeter watch, but ride is only about a minute!)

I took a couple tow grippers whose belts had been retired, so that the Mrs. and I can modify them to use with our climbing harnesses.

One side of the tow gripper handle has a hole (near the "G" in "GRIPPER" at the url above) so that the rope/cord can go through, then be kept in place by a knot. Maybe just an overhand knot there? (Has to be small so that the handles can fold flush.)

Then maybe a rewoven figure eight, to be clipped into the harness with a biner?

Thanks in advance for any help - despite skiing in NZ back in Aug 92, I visited only the commercial fields, so this is all new to me! (And in case you're wondering how such a lift could possibly be allowed here, it's not, but it got "grandfathered" back in 1976 by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety Recreational Tramway Board.)