Hello from Belgium

[Teewee]

Hi.
Intrigued by lightweight hiking/camping I found out about the hammock-vs-tent concept maybe 2 years ago, but I was put off by the price. (Student)
Last summer I was going on a climbing trip to the Pyrenees and while browsing through an outdoor shop to make sure I had everything, I stumbled upon This for like 30€. Knowing it was probably crap, I still bought it and used it a couple of nights during the climbing trip on a regular commercial campsite. Bit chilly as I had no specific gear, only the hammock and a sleeping bag. Also, the ridge line was rigged badly so the net lay on my face and I got some mosquito bites on my cheeks...
But I slept better than on the ground and that morning was beautiful, waking to the rising sun in the mountains, I don't think I'll forget that anytime soon.

I went on a winter hike a couple of weeks ago with a regular tent and my back and knees were destroyed by day 3... I've since then vowed not to sleep on the ground again. (only 1 exception, if I ever get the chance to sleep on hay in a farmers stable again, thats definately happening! )

I'm gonna stick with the cheap hammock I have now and try to mod something decent out of it with a DIY UQ and tarp, but in the back of my mind, I want to make my own hammock. And its something very specific. For long, multiday climbing routes, climbers sleep on the wall in suspended tents called portaledges. Looks fun but those things are expensive and bulky, you need to climb the route AND bring along the ledge. I'm thinking a well thought-out DIY hammock could do way better for less than 1/10 of the cost. I don't like the idea that my climbing is bottlenecked by the gear budget...

Enough rambling, here's my hello and introduction and if any other climber reads this, your thoughts please. Am I crazy or genius (or both)?

[Mustardman]

Welcome! As a fellow climber, but not much of a big wall enthusiast, I've definitely heard of folks using hammocks as an alternative to portaledges. They typically use more purpose-built gear, though, rather than DIY-ing it. The so-called "bat hammock" style seems especially popular, because it can be hung from a single SRENE (solid, redundant, equalized, non-extending) anchor, rather than requiring two appropriate anchors to be built roughly fifteen feet apart, and the search for well matched gear placements to pull this off.

That said, hammocks were more common in "old school" times, and seem to have become significantly less popular since the advent of the portaledge. Realize that, unlike hanging between two trees, when you hang from a cliff you are going to be pressed into the wall most of the time. That's gonna make a comfortable diagonal lay impractical, and put a lot of pressure on the shoulder/hip that are facing the wall. As much as we all love hammocks here, they might not be the best choice for big walls. They will, however, work - the many years of people using them is ample evidence.

Mountain Project and Supertopo have both had great discussions in the past on using hammocks on big walls, and Supertopo especially is heavily populated with old school, grizzled big wall veterans who can offer lots of great advice.


As an aside, welcome from Colorado - I've spent a few days in Belgium, and between the food and beer it was pretty much my favorite place on the planet. Very jealous of you!

[HamMike]

Welcome to the forums my Belgian brother! My Great grandparents emigrated fron Belgium in 1921. Ohio here. People always ask me if my name is French and I say "no, it's Belgian!"

[BIG JEFF]

Welcome from SC. We hike in the mountains not to much real climbing . Thank God

[Whiskeyjack]

Welcome from Canada! My favourite beer comes from Belgium. mmmm....beer.....

[Teewee]

Thanks for the welcomes!

That bat hammock is new to me but the concept is exactly what I had in mind. Funny coincidence. The price is too high for me though, and everything I read about it seems to complain about the shoulder comfort. (but then again, big walls are supposed to be rough i guess. )

[m_huber]

Hey, I'm moving to Belgium later this year. Know any good hiking/hanging spots?

[Teewee]

I live around the Leuven area, where are you moving to and where do you come from?
The dutchspeaking part and the northernmost belt of the frenchspeaking part are either densely populated or agricultural. There are some scarce patches of forest where you could hang but I don't think there are any woods large enough for more than one days worth of hiking. Its generally quite sad for outdoors enthusiasts.
However, the southern belt of the frenchspeaking part - the Ardennes - is just beautiful.
That winter hike I mentioned earlier was a part of GR57: from Hodister to Houffalize along the river Ourthe. For more info on the various trails, check http://www.trekkings.be/wandelen.htm Its in dutch, but it should still be a valuable source.

[Mustardman]

Thanks for the welcomes!

That bat hammock is new to me but the concept is exactly what I had in mind. Funny coincidence. The price is too high for me though, and everything I read about it seems to complain about the shoulder comfort. (but then again, big walls are supposed to be rough i guess. )

The shoulder comfort is a lot of why people prefer to haul a pig loaded with the extra 20 pounds of a portaledge compared to using a hammock. Big wallers are all kinds of insane, though, so you never quite understand their rationale completely

There are other alternatives for "bat style" hammocks other than just the Claytor version, but none will be much less expensive. Dream Weaver's net-style and the climbing-focused "womb with a view" both come to mind.