- Product provided by outdoorkit.co.uk for the purpose of review -
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| "CORAX is the multi-purpose harness par excellence. It comes in two sizes, so adapts to all user shapes. Its comfort and ease of use make it suitable for a wide range of users for climbing, mountaineering or via ferrata" |
Skip to the bottom for a quickfire review of the Petzl Corax!
The Corax is a lightweight, reasonably priced harness aimed at a variety of users. Coming in at £60 RRP it's right in the middle of price range for harnesses. Four gear loops and a simple but solid design mean it's great for both outdoor and indoor climbing, other features include: Frame Construction Technology, Waistbelt equipped with two Doubleback buckles, two rigid & two flexible gear loops and to top it all off a bright green belay loop. A total weight of 530g means this is a heavier than average harness. The Corax is available in S-L (60-90cm) and L-XL (75-105cm).
This is a good harness, not exceptional but good. It won't help you climb any grades higher or turn you into Chris Sharma but it will help you stay safe and that's the real goal of a good harness. It's comfortable, well ventilated and breathable; these are all great characteristics for a harness and they help you focus on your climbing whether you're out in the wind getting some solid British trad in or you're tearing up the top-roping indoors, these features are subtle and easily forgotten by manufactures, I'm glad Petzl has made the extra effort to include them where others would focus on weight (not THAT important with a harness).
Straight out the bag it's easy to get this harness set up even though all the buckles are adjustable, the two waist buckles help keep your belay loop central and your gear loops symmetrical. One thing I found odd with the Corax was the huge difference between the waist and leg size, the harness fits my waist with a huge amount of slack spare and could easily fit someone much larger than myself but the legs only have about 3-4 inches left to give - I'd be interested to hear why they've done this and whether they tested it out on anyone of a larger stature!
If you were new to climbing and unfamiliar with the different points of a harness then I guess the bright green belay loop would be beneficial, I'm not completely sold on it and it doesn't really fit in with the blue and black theme of the harness though - purely an aesthetic complaint.
Petzl are a reliable brand with great construction of equipment and the Corax is no exception, there aren't any loose threads or sewing errors to be seen and the harness feels solid.
The 4 gear loops provide plenty of room for gear and the mix of flexible and rigid loops is a nice feature, on the routes I took this harness up I never struggled to find room for gear. The 2 waist buckles helped with trad climbing too by keeping the gear loops symmetrical, knowing exactly where your gear is can be the difference between falling and topping out on a climb.
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| Plenty of room for gear on the Petzl Corax. |
Quickfire review!
Positive points:
- Comfortable, well-thought out harness.
- Four gear loops providing lots of room for trad gear.
- Bright and obvious belay loop (would've preferred bright blue but I'm picky!).
- 2 adjustable waist buckles to keep the belay loop central and gear loops symmetrical.
- Solid Petzl construction.
Not-so-positive points:
- Bright green belay loop!
- Huge difference between waist and leg loop sizing - try before you buy!
Summary:
A good harness, not too expensive and not too cheap. Solid construction and good design help make the Corax what it is and I'd be happy to recommend this harness to a friend.
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Thanks for reading, please share with anyone you know looking for a new harness.
Thanks to outdoorkit.co.uk for providing the Petzl Corax to review, if you're interested in buying the Corax it's currently got 10% off the RRP on their website.
If you want more information about the Corax please don't hesitate to tweet me, @PaulWRickard.
Thanks again,
Paul Rickard
