Trango Cosmic Harness
By Matt Smith

I jumped at the chance to review the Trango Cosmic harness. While certainly one of the most inexpensive harnesses Trango has come out with, it is perhaps the best suited to canyoneering.

The Cosmic is an attractive harness made of navy blue webbing with yellow stitching. There are no bulky pads to become water logged in potholes and plunge pools. The Cosmic is a simple, straightforward harness and has only the necessities. It is fairly heavy at 434 grams but dries quickly. Most of the "extra" weight can be attributed to the extra webbing that makes the harness fully adjustable. The Cosmic is quite comfortable to wear while hiking. The floating rear risers help keep the leg loops in just the right places. The harness is fully and easily adjustable, which is not uncommon in alpine style harnesses. One unique feature is that the waist belt and both leg loops have elastic retainer loops to keep the tails out of the way. This significantly reduces the chance that one of the tails could become entangled in either the rope or rappel/belay device.

Harness construction is typical Trango quality. I was pleasantly surprised at the durability of the Cosmic Harness. After descending many canyons wearing the Cosmic, I have seen virtually no significant signs of wear. There is no evidence of fraying thread or webbing. The webbing used to construct the harness is surprisingly soft and supple. I noticed the superior quality of the webbing most when rapping in shorts. Even when the harness was on my bare legs, I was completely comfortable. The harness did stiffen-up a bit after a few wet/dry cycles as would be expected, but even still is quite comfortable. Buckles on the harness are bent slightly to fit the curve in your thigh and waist. The leg loop is sewn into somewhat of a curved taper as it comes around your inner thigh. These small details make a big difference when you have to spend most of the day hanging in your harness.

The Cosmic Harness has only one gear loop, located on the right side. As a left hander this was somewhat of an inconvenience. I contacted Trango and was told that should the demand for left handed harness increase, left/right harnesses or harness with gear loops on both sides may become available.

Summary: For canyoneering this harness is one of the highest quality, most comfortable, functional harnesses I have ever worn. At $37.50 it is also one of the most affordable. This harness is in my opinion ideal for almost every situation that might be encountered while canyoneering.

Matt Smith is a canyoneering specialist for GearReview.com.

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