Easy DIY Belay Seat
Last Updated on: 23rd March 2023, 08:41 am
Hanging belays—belays where there is no ledge for you to stand on so you have to simply hang in your harness—are no fun. Hang there long enough and your legs will go numb. One solution is a belay seat, which is exactly what it sounds like: a seat you sit in at the belay. Fish (at the very bottom of the page), Yates (again, at the bottom of the page), and Black Diamond all make belay seats, but there are a couple of easy ways to make your own.
The first is to simply get a 2×4 piece of lumber, drill some holes in it, and thread cordage through it. You can see an example of that in this video.
The second method is one I’d never thought of before but just read about in this thread on Mountain Project. MP user Gregger Man talks about how he made his belay seat:
Before a wall trip I didn’t leave myself enough time to order one from Yates or Fish, so I cut up a bargain basement camp chair that I had bought for ~$15. Take out the fiberglass rods and thread some webbing or accessory cord through [one of the halves] instead. Works.
The type of camp chair he’s talking about is the Crazy Creek-style chair, and you end up with enough material for two chairs. Pretty clever if you ask me. You’d end up with something like this:
