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Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

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skinniest cord you've used

widewetandslippery

14-Feb-2014
9:51:49 AM

for abseil, single strand. Anyone gone the 5mm?

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Feb-2014
10:01:09 AM

On 14/02/2014 widewetandslippery wrote:
>for abseil, single strand. Anyone gone the 5mm?

Yes.

~> Have even abseiled (& jumared), on ¼" laid nylon confidently, but felt less so on manilla equivalent. Modern kernmantle 5 mm is luxury (lad), by comparison, for body-weight plus a pack; but abrasion issues have to be carefully managed.
What else would you like to know?
Heh, heh, heh.

phillipivan

14-Feb-2014
10:25:29 AM

A comparatively thick 7mm static cord. As the lines get thin you need to be more careful you have adequate friction in your abseil setup.

Rod, did you use regular jumars on the 5mm cord or something more specialised?

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Feb-2014
10:34:46 AM

Something else I have used (doubled), is parachute cord, a braided nylon of approx 3 mm diameter. Once again, strong enough for an 'emergency' abseil, though you need to have your friction method sorted.
I imagine for the kind of use you have in mind, that carrying 40 m of parachute cord is way-light (lighter than 20 m of 5 mm??), and would allow up to 20 m abseils in doubled format, making rope retrieval an easier safer option than single strand on death-no-knots!

As an aside, I have noticed that some stores sell a specialised* high strength, slightly stiffer version of 'parachute cord'-diameter cord. Kind of a static equivalent if you like. It is made especially as starter cord for pull-start motors like on (old style) lawn-mowers, mulchers, chain saws, etc. ~> Much better than venetian blind cord nylon for that application!
(*...beware ~~sol~~ ww&s, ~~oils ain't oils~~ starter cords ain't starter cords!)
If I was to repeat such shenanigans again these days, I'd be going for that, as the abrasion resistance is much greater. It costs more...

@pi
>Rod, did you use regular jumars on the 5mm cord or something more specialised?

Regular early 1970's grey model. They work fine after the rope stretch is taken up.

@ww&s again
A couple of mates of mine bought 200 m of 5 mm kevlar cord from a yacht/ship chandlery store, and used it to access climbs on Buffalo Nth Wall. Way light, way way strong, and it was a long way cheaper (about ⅓ _rd of the going retail at the time) than a 200 m roll of Bluewater static!
One of them told me it was a bit of a mental freakout doing such big drops on such thin cord...

Snacks

14-Feb-2014
10:42:59 AM

Fishing wire ;)

patto

14-Feb-2014
10:57:46 AM

I've tried 2mm accessory cord before as a prussik! :-O

It worked quite well actually and it took my weight without any issues. But given that a loop is only good for 160kg you'd be crazy to put your safety on it.

wombly

14-Feb-2014
11:34:26 AM

5 mm spectra

jdb

14-Feb-2014
11:54:50 AM

On 14/02/2014 patto wrote:
>I've tried 2mm accessory cord before as a prussik! :-O

Thats nothing, when we where lads we used to abseil down our shoe laces.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Feb-2014
12:09:16 PM

On 14/02/2014 jdb wrote:
>On 14/02/2014 patto wrote:
>>I've tried 2mm accessory cord before as a prussik! :-O
>
>Thats nothing, when we where lads we used to abseil down our shoe laces.

We usta dream of doing that!
Why, when I were a lad, we had to get up at 3 in the morning, walk 10 miles in floppies to the caterpillar farm, collect the caterpillars in the freezing cold, in the dark, without a kerosene lamp, and sew their skins together with a rusty nail as a needle, for shoe-laces first!

jrc

14-Feb-2014
12:52:52 PM

you lucky devil M9...you had shoes

skegly

14-Feb-2014
1:03:35 PM

When m9 was a lad there where 'no shoes' only sandals.

widewetandslippery

14-Feb-2014
1:13:48 PM

went the 4mm, 480kg break strain, as long as I dont eat to much tripe or tongues i should be fine.

brendan

14-Feb-2014
1:24:11 PM

I have a 6mm that I've rapped on before, not that fun. I just carry my 7.8mm now if I'm soloing and think I'm gunna need to rap. 4mm would be pretty interesting, what setup are you using? extra biner in belay device? redirect the rope through biner on leg loop?

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Feb-2014
1:34:00 PM

On 14/02/2014 brendan wrote:
>I have a 6mm that I've rapped on before, not that fun. I just carry my
>7.8mm now if I'm soloing and think I'm gunna need to rap. 4mm would be
>pretty interesting, what setup are you using? extra biner in belay device?
>redirect the rope through biner on leg loop?

That would be the minimum I'd expect.
~> Would probably be easier to manage with doubled-brake extra krabs in conjunction with an inline system, and two re-directs, or a loop around thigh if into suffering!
I doubt it would be an issue for ww&s, as 'e is well 'ard...
;-)

At that point, the weight of extra friction gear starts to offset advantages of going lightweight on the cord.

My preferred thin abseil cord these days is a 7 mm.
It doesn't get used much though when I roped solo I sometimes use it as a double for abseiling with my 10.5 lead line.
The 10.5 is a 60 m, and the 7 is only 57 m as unfortunately they had sold the remainder off the spool before I bought it. I have found differential rope stretch evens them up on long drops...

Superstu

14-Feb-2014
1:58:24 PM

Used a 6mm as the second strand to get off moonshine buttress at pioneer hut. Resulted in endless tangles and clearly the weight saving was not worth the extra hassle.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Feb-2014
2:31:14 PM

On 14/02/2014 Superstu wrote:
>Used a 6mm as the second strand to get off moonshine buttress at pioneer
>hut. Resulted in endless tangles and clearly the weight saving was not
>worth the extra hassle.

I can identify with that, in respect of the tangles experienced with a long length of parachute cord can be an interesting exercise as well!
☺

GoUp!

14-Feb-2014
7:10:31 PM

Used to abseil on a garden hose from a sewage pipe crossing a valley when I was in my mid-teens. We then progressed to thin poly rope from the boat shop - but being young plain abseiling wasn't enough so we started doing stupid 'tricks' like pulling up armfuls of slack and then jumping off (we saw some army guys jump out of helicopters so why couldn't we) - this then progressed to pulling up slack and doing somersaults...... kind of glad we all survived this......!

Pat

14-Feb-2014
9:14:48 PM

The only really tricky thing with ultra thin cord 4 or 5 mm (or lesser) is the abrasion and making really sure you redirect the abseil with as many anchors as you need. this is especially crucial if you are going to ascend the same ropes later - as in single rope technique in caving.

vwills

15-Feb-2014
6:26:06 AM

Used 6mm as single strand to abseil on in Patagonia on the 50 deg ice for dave. I then down climbed. You feed it through both sides of the atc and it provides good friction.

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