I've been looking at big wall harnesses and I've been noticing that a lot of them come with two belay loops:
I know that it isn't there as a back up. What's the advantage of having two belay loops on your harness when aid climbing?
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what harness is that by the way? Thanks – Dakatine Aug 14 '15 at 6:18
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@Dakatine firstascent.co.uk/climb/ocun-quattro-tech-harness.html apparently – Mr.Wizard Feb 1 '16 at 13:40
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It's simply for organization sake.
Aid climbing on big-walls involves lots of gear, and you'll very quickly realize how much of a mess your perfectly racked gear will become.
With two belay loops you can separate your aid ladders and daisy chains a little, which helps to keep them from wrapping around each other (and keep things a little bit cleaner too).
Couldn't find a good close-up picture for you, but Pete's picture from MP is a good visual indication of exactly how much is going on around your belay loop sometimes when climbing big-walls.
Chris McNamara talks about it a more in his book on big wall climbing also. http://www.supertopo.com/a/How-To-Big-Wall-Climb-Table-of-Contents/a139n.html
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2That's a terrifying picture! My risk management head just keeps picturing a tangle at a critical moment... – Rory Alsop♦ May 12 '15 at 8:30
