Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

double ropes 4-Mar-2003 At 9:19:59 AM Estey

Message

Now that this thread is active again here is another idea.

I climb on double ropes on wondering routes and climbs where double rope raps are required. I use a 10mm and a 8.8mm rope. I think this has a few advantages.

1) the fatter rope can be clipped to any placements that may take a large fall for increased security. For example a 10mm rope will be less likely to sever if it is loaded over a sharp edge.

2) the fatter rope can be used to protect moves close to the belay or ledges which lessons the chance of hitting something because it will stretch less.

3) when rigging abseils I arrange it so I pull on the fat rope. This way the thin rope is sliding through the anchor when you pull the ropes. As the thin rope is lighter and has a smaller surface area there is less friction making rope retrieval slightly easier.

4) You can still use the single 10mm rope to climb straight up and down single pitch stuff.

The only disadvantages I can think of are

1) cost (slightly more expensive than double 9mm ropes)

2) weight ( heavier than double 9mm ropes). This is only really a problem on long pitches. You can minimise it with careful management of rope drag by extending runners when necessary. Also you could probably lighten your load by using a 9.5mm/8.5mm combination which would still give you the advantage of having one rope that is still rated for single use.

3) It might not be a good idea to use ropes of different diameters when climbing on a twin rope system (ie clipping both ropes into every piece of pro). This is because when they are loaded the difference in stretch would be great, resulting in the ropes rubbing against each other, possibly reducing the life of the ropes. I've never come across a rock route where twin ropes are necessary. In my experience either a double rope system or climbing on a single rope is adequate.

Hope this is useful.

Estey