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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 24
Author
Beal Double Ropes - Cobra II or Pro Mountain
Justcameron
20-Jan-2011
9:32:09 PM
I am going to buy some double ropes.

Purpose: Multipitching at arapiles. Meandering routes. Bringing two seconds (guiding - scouts and employment) Abseils off watchtower faces and pharos.

Question is do I go for the Cobra II or Pro Mountain.

Beal Cobra II 8.6 mm 48 g/m 16 falls held 5.1 kn impact force 11.5 % static elongation.
Beal Pro Mountain 8.8 mm 47 g/m 10 falls held 5.8 kn impact force 7.8 % static elongation.

I was originally looking at the Cobra II but the Pro Mountain looks appealing:
* Thicker (more friction in belay devices - easier rappelling and easier to catch leader falls)
* Lighter (less to carry)

I am not really worried about the higher impact force (climbing at arapiles so no shortage of good protection.) Should I be??

The only problem is that I can hardly find any reviews on the Pro Mountain anywhere online.. does nobody buy it???
Mike Bee
20-Jan-2011
9:50:23 PM
Looking at those stats, I'm guessing that the Pro Mountain is really aimed for what you described, ie guiding. It obviously has less fall absorbing strands in the core (hence the lighter weight, less stretch and higher impact force), but the sheath would be more durable.

So basically if you aren't going to be falling a lot, but they'll be getting a lot of use, the Pro Mountain would be the better option and will last longer in terms of abrasion/wear and tear.

That said, I've never heard of that model before, it's certainly not one that is imported into Australia.
Justcameron
20-Jan-2011
9:55:50 PM
Thanks for the quick reply Mike.

I would buy online most likely.
Winston Smith
21-Jan-2011
1:32:36 PM
Buy these: http://www.climbinganchors.com.au/products/Tendon-Master-8.5-60m-%252d-Protect-Shield.html

Brilliant: hard-wearing, low kinking, supple handling. $229.95 locally.

salty crag
21-Jan-2011
10:29:25 PM
Ooohh, I like. Been thinking of purchasing doubles after climbing on some recently, these are very tempting.

wallwombat
21-Jan-2011
11:14:28 PM
The Tendon 8.5mm doubles are awesome.
Justcameron
25-Jan-2011
1:13:16 AM
Nah I am going Beal.

After much searching around online (the ropes aren't imported into Australia, or the UK, or the US....) I finally have found a french website that looks like they will ship to Australia and take Paypal.

Now on to length.. I am thinking of getting a 50m and a 60m.
Justification:
Can do 30m abseils (muldoon, alis) with only one rope.
Can belay newbies abseiling 50m (pharos, watchtower faces) (extra 10m of rope is useful for tieing off the ropes and putting in a loop to belay)

But a couple of questions - will the different length ropes cause any problems I haven't thought of?
And would getting 60m doubles instead be useful at any other cliffs? I have only really climbed multipitch at araps.
One Day Hero
25-Jan-2011
1:21:50 AM
Beal ain't the best ropes, try getting Mammuts from U.S. or Canada..........Tendon seems good too

Get your doubles the same length. There's a couple of good reasons, I can't be arsed explaining, but given that it should only cost you about 30 bucks extra......why not?
widewetandslippery
25-Jan-2011
8:30:44 AM
Whats the fasination with Beal? My experience is they are expensive for how poor wearing they are.

Get the same length.
kieranl
25-Jan-2011
8:58:05 AM
On 25/01/2011 Justcameron wrote:
>But a couple of questions - will the different length ropes cause any
>problems I haven't thought of?
Yes. Apart from the risk of picking the short rope on a dark and stormy night the different lengths will be a pain in the proverbial on every pitch.
Most of the time you will use about the same amount of each rope for clipping belays. If one of your ropes is 10 metres longer you're going to have to deal individually with that 10 metres at every belay. And why cut out the option of being able to do a 60m rappel? That could come in very handy sometime.
** post-edit ** Noddy for many years had one 9mm that had a few metres lopped off one end. It was an absolute pain to climb with that paired with another that was actually 50 metres.
Plus, if one rope is longer that's the one you should always thread through the rap anchor. For a multi-abseil descent this doesn't let you use standard practice which is to have one person threading the rope through the next anchor as it is pulled in because the rope being pulled is always the short one.

BoulderBaby
25-Jan-2011
11:22:56 AM
Edelrid is my rope brand of choice. I've found that Mammut ropes sheeths go/come away from the core - and I'm not sure if it's due to the Australian heat!

Buy from your local!
citationx
25-Jan-2011
11:57:56 AM
On 25/01/2011 widewetandslippery wrote:
>Whats the fasination with Beal? My experience is they are expensive for
>how poor wearing they are.
>
>Get the same length.

I've only ever climbed on Beal. My last 9.4mm was used for around 2 years CONSTANTLY. I'm talking no fewer than three weekends a month (and leading in the gym once a week). Sure, it got fluffy but i never had any problems. my 10.2mm that i first started with years ago lasted for around 3 years before I had to finally retire it good and proper. Also have a 9.7mm which is the shortest lasting of them all, around the 1.5 year mark before ends need chopping due to being quite fluffy. I still have it and still use it though now that the ends are gone. Also have beal doubles which i bought c. 2004. I've used them from local to alpine and they're still going, but obviously they're not used as much as the singles.
i don't know what other people do to their beal ropes to claim they're not very long lasting, i think they're great :-P
Justcameron
25-Jan-2011
12:46:18 PM
On 25/01/2011 One Day Hero wrote:
>Get your doubles the same length. There's a couple of good reasons, I
>can't be arsed explaining, but given that it should only cost you about
>30 bucks extra......why not?

I was more thinking about the extra 10m of rope to pull up every pitch, and the extra ~500g of weight to carry for every walk in.
kieranl
25-Jan-2011
12:54:09 PM
On 25/01/2011 Justcameron wrote:
>I was more thinking about the extra 10m of rope to pull up every pitch,
>and the extra ~500g of weight to carry for every walk in.
It's not worth it. Buy 2x50 or 2x60. I would go 2x60, I've just been climbing on some 60m doubles that Norm got given by some US friends, lighter than my old 50m doubles and lovely to climb on.
You can just overthink some of these things when in general the best rule is to keep it simple. You don't want to have to think about which is the long and which is the short because some day you will get it wrong and the odds are that will not be a happy day.
widewetandslippery
25-Jan-2011
3:08:04 PM
On 25/01/2011 kieranl wrote:
>You can just overthink some of these things when in general the best rule
>is to keep it simple. You don't want to have to think about which is the
>long and which is the short because some day you will get it wrong and
>the odds are that will not be a happy day.

good advice.

How far are you planning on walking in where half a kilo is a big deal for an item such as the rope?
Justcameron
25-Jan-2011
4:34:28 PM
widewetandslippery: Well I come from a bushwalking background where weight is pretty crucial. I guess it takes me a bit to get used to the climber mentality of belaying out of the back of your car.

I just don't like to buy something longer than I need. But the advice on keeping it simple is good thanks kieran.
widewetandslippery
25-Jan-2011
8:00:41 PM
me too. Its just the rope is kinda the thing in my mind that warrents weight. Unless you are going to an obsure m9 crag its a few days at best.. If your planning on doing something way out there buy purpose ropes. Just my opinion. Equal lengths of the same rope can prevent cluster f--- and not falling off the end of them or only a little less worse hooking up on the knott of the short one in the dark.
brendan
25-Jan-2011
8:47:50 PM
i think 60m 8-8.5mm are the go, i have never regreted there longer length as it means you can link pitches and make longer raps,

We managed to chop one of our 60's in NZ last year and as the climbing shop in Wanaka didnt have a 60m 8mm we had to climb the rest of the trip with one 48m rope and one 60m rope, totally sucked and its a recipe for confusion and disaster
One Day Hero
25-Jan-2011
11:45:38 PM
I'm not so sure about the linking pitches thing, my doubles are 60's and I don't reckon I've stretched them out on a pitch more than a couple of times. I think I probably would have been better off getting 50's given what they've been used for. (I don't do snow "climbing")

If I were only ever going to use them at araps, I'd get double 40's. That would be kick-arse efficient.......how many pitches at araps are longer than 35m? Not many

Actually, one good route for linking pitches (low rope-drag hassle) is Tony's Route/The Desired. You go from the deck to the Bard terrace in one pitch, super fun all the way, and its proper 60m.
Mike Bee
26-Jan-2011
11:25:19 AM
On 25/01/2011 One Day Hero wrote:
>how many pitches at araps are longer
>than 35m? Not many

Thats the guidebooks thought. The idea of having a longer rope is that you can link a couple of pitches (eg a 30m and a 25m) into a single 55m pitch to save some time. I'm a big fan of 60m half ropes. Just for fun, you can do Syrinx in 3 pitches if you use the ropes well.

Definately get a matched length pair. If you get a 50 and a 60 you'll soon get bloody annoyed with it and by the end of it wish you'd coughed up the extra and got a pair of 60s.

I echo the sentiments of some others in that Beal aren't the most durable ropes going round. I've got a Beal Ice Line (8.1mm half) and it looks like arse after 3 days at Araps and 11 days in the mountains.

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 24
There are 24 messages in this topic.

 

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