Mammut Zephir Altitude Harness vs. BD Couloir

Unfortunately the Alp 95 seems to be sized for people with proportionately thinner legs. IIRC my legs were on the upper end of the XL size, but my waist is on the lower end of the L.

There is a video showing how the Mammut ZEHYR ALTITUDE swami belt easily connects together in about five seconds--so yes it completely comes apart so you don't have to step through. 

I think I will be ordering one but wonder if the  L would be right for me.  I tried on a couple of L Mammuts and they both seemed to fit for their sizing pretty close to spot on.  Hoping that this Mammut Altitude harness fits the same around the waist. 

Anybody have any beta on this for consistency of sizing?

 

I went to purchase the Zephir at Feathered Friends.

In the past (a long time ago) I was pretty turned off by the employees at FF. They seemed more interested in either talking to each other or seemed to be looking down at the customers. I have 5 feathered friends bags, so I do love their products, but was so turned off that I did not go back for many years. The employee I talked to on the phone was great, so I thought maybe things had changed, but the employee who helped me at the store was not of the same cloth. He went on to tell me about a harness recall a long time ago and how he took it to REI for a refund (he implied that he did not buy it there) and then continued that he brought it back so another employee could also get a refund on the same harness. Even though the story did not make sense, it really turned me off. No need to trash the competition and it was just plain dishonest. - I will not be buying anything from them soon.

Back to the harness - It does have drop legs so it will work great with skis. The buckle is a proprietary design and does not require doubling back. Very easy to use and much more comfortable than the BD Couloir and just as light. Size Large fit me with some room to spare (5ft 10 205 lbs and size 35 or 36 waist jeans).

Looking forward to using it next season.

OK-- here is my take on the Mammut::

Just bought one--large--.  bought this size per trying on other mammut for sizing--this worked for me (special ordered by the way from Mammut.

Was initially concerned whether the swami belt continued all the way around the back and to the front for buckleing up.  Scrutinized this for a couple of hours because if this was not the case, I was not going to keep this as there was hardly any stictching at where I thought it might have joined the back piece.  Finally, somebody pointed out to me  their use of webbing split technology (think it is their own invention/manufacturing...): the scoop here is that it is continuous all the way around with no break to be sewn on and  secured in  place!  The "split" has webbing going high on the back  side and  low too.  These join up in still a continuous piece to the buckles (which are can be separated to put the harness on if you wish).  Was quite relieved that the webbing was continuous all the way around.

I've use this Mammut style click together buckle on a much older Mammut and have a lot of confidence in the setup..with lots of falls sport climbing at times.

So I took this harness out to Smith Rock yesterday for some bolt  clipping:  Pretty amazed at how comfortable this harness is for falling on and hanging for a short bit.  Seems like it is  even more comfortable than my old metolious (though glacier travel and long route alpine rock climbing with long approaches is what it is probably intended for,i.e the Mammut ...).  This thing is amazing at how light it is.

By the way, I did not break any of the fastex type buckeles as reported by another using the bd's couliour.  I tried a coulior on in a store and noticed before I put it on that one of the fastex was broken...

The wide back on the mammut is way more comfortable than the bd in my opinion i.e....It is not a very cool looking harness though if that is important...think that would be important for my girl friend
though...what ever ..this just goes along with all my other 'good will' looking attire.