Metro to Mountain Journal

Have you ever dropped and broken a camera? I used to be a professional at it. After breaking a few cameras, I eventually stopped carrying one. I just couldn’t afford to take pictures anymore. I missed capturing a lot of golden opportunities, due to my fumbling fingers of my youth but, years later I found a solution...

I began carrying an over the shoulder camera case. The case itself was padded and the straps adjusted so it did not restrict my movement. Clipping a Black Diamond Jivewire (small, plastic and lightweight) carabiner to the shoulder strap I then secured the camera’s strap to the carabiner. The camera is tethered to the case. Freely, the carabiner can float up or down the strap. I can take pictures or holster the camera without detaching it from the case. When I drop the camera it doesn’t fall to the rocks below, as it is belayed by the tethering system.

Some options:

• You might want to replace the camera strap with a piece of 3mm cord. Tie the cord in a loop with a double fisherman knot. Adjust the length, be sure it is long enough before you cut the cord (if you leave it longer, you can always shorten it later.) Cut the cord and burn the ends to prevent it from unraveling. Girth hitch the loop to the camera. Attach it to the carabiner.
• You could also make the cord a a single strand instead of a loop and attach either end with figure-eight or figure-eight follow through knots. This system would be fractions of an ounce lighter.
• There are other small lightweight carabiners some are even locking for extra security.
• I use the same camera case and system for my gps. The camera and gps sit side by side in the case. Each is tethered to it’s own strap.
• You can always detach the camera from the carabiner and tethering system.

Happy trails.