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Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

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what rope to buy?


IdratherbeclimbingM9

19-Jan-2007
4:16:08 PM

>drop your rope into a river when it's -10 outside
(snip)
>120mtrs (that's 2x60mtrs) of frozen rope aint so cool...
Sounds beyond cool to me. More like frozen perhaps?
Presumably your dry treatment worked so it wasn't frozen.

Dry treatment works OK for fixed lines on walls too. Jumaring wet cords is a bugger.

For the average climber who tries to avoid climbing in the rain it is probably uneccessary, though one advantage is that if you do get caught in the rain and fall, a dry rope is stronger than a wet one.

tommy

19-Jan-2007
4:28:30 PM

yeah i think that sounds like a good idea, I’ll definitely go for a 10.5, 60m without the dry treatment. It is only my first rope…


cheesehead

19-Jan-2007
4:41:02 PM

I just checked out the Tasmania on Roca's site:

"...Designed for dangerous routes on which a fall is virtually a luxury...." What the heck does this mean??

Paulie - yup, those Edelrid's of yours are what convinced me! My Livewire 9.4 has now been up some very wet mountain routes and still looks spiffy. My Tasmania continues to be the Thunderchild of my rope collection.

thomasc

19-Jan-2007
4:56:21 PM

I use a mammut revelation rope. Works well for snow and ice, bit cautious on sport climbs as i dont want to lower my fall reserve. Never fallen on it though. but seriously light 9.2mm rope


sticky

19-Jan-2007
5:03:44 PM

FWIW, my 2 cents:

I'm a bit of a rope hussy. So far I have used ropes by Mammut, PMI, Edelrid, Maxim/New England, and Beal, and tried out someone's Roca.

First rope was a Mammut Flash (10.5). I didn't notice it, so I liked it. Great rope. Still use it for gym work when I climb there. I'd think about retiring it but it's in great shape, just a little too short these days. The Edelrids (10.5, now have 2x 8mm) have been fine too, but the 10.5 wasn't super long lasting (the half ropes are new, but being 8mm will not be the longest lasting rope). The Beal (10.2) was a bit of a bungy cord, and wore out quickly - nice soft landings though. Seemed to be hard to clip - almost too floppy.

I still have the Maxim (9.8), this is my main single rope, and it's okay - very smooth handling but gets tangled pretty easily. The PMI (9.8) was okay, nothing fancy and didn't handle as well.

I don't like Rocas. They're the only rope I've tried I wouldn't buy. (Haven't owned one but I've used a few).


shmalec

12-Feb-2007
11:26:51 PM

the main decision you need to make is whether you want a soft one like edelrid or one that keeps its circular shape well like mammut or stirling. I like ones that stay reasonable round, easier to undo knots and don't go all fluffy after the first weekend away.
I think dry treatment is mainly meant for alpine environments and will eventually wear off.
mammut are cool. if you can afford it, just buy one, you won't be disappointed and it will last you ages. Have owned two 10.5 mammut and a 9.9 dry blue water. happy with both.

tommy

13-Feb-2007
8:42:52 AM

I ended up getting a blue water 10.5 non-dry. only used it once but it seems to be pretty good but then it is my first rope so i dont have anything to compare it to. My climbing partners have said it handles quite well so i guess thats a good thing. will probably get more of an idea when i get away and use it for a full weekend

gfdonc

15-Feb-2007
2:30:59 PM

Last year - no wait, 2005 - got a 9.7mm Bluewater and have been happy with it.
Just decided to replace my gym rope which was a 10.5mm Beal "several years old" and bought a 10.2mm Beal.

The difference in handling between the new, thinner, slick rope and the old furry rope was a bit of a wakeup, but no-one hit the deck, y'know? This will get better with some use.

Otherwise have always been happy with Beal - low impact force has got to be a good thing, 7.4kn is about the lowest of them.


muki

15-Feb-2007
11:18:24 PM

My favoutite ropes for many years have been Mamut, everything else wears out and they are still going
strong, plus a very inovative company, having released a rope that can resist a sharp edge, using teflon
coating on internal fibers, the "super safe".
love to get one, but I'll have to wait till my other ropes give up the ghost.


ShinToe Warrior

17-Feb-2007
11:46:58 AM

Hey Tommy,

It could be worth your while if you can hold off buying till the pre-easter sales, I got a Mammut Supersafe 10.2 60mt at a sane price on sale. Very.nice.rope :)

Just keep in mind that your 1st rope may become monteithorised faster than you would like through actually using it. Ropes are easily replacable, but you only get one body. Low price is nice, but Quality is Key.

NeilB

17-Feb-2007
1:31:37 PM

First let me clarify an interest. I'm from Bogong and we sell Roca and other brands. Still I might be able to clear one thing up. Paul has a Roca Roxy it seems. This is their el-cheapo rope, made to a price, and it is not good. We stopped selling them in 2001 for this reason. Other Roca ropes are different all together.

I hope this helps.
Neil


wallwombat

23-Feb-2007
11:14:27 AM

No one seems to have mentioned Edelweiss ropes. I'm on my second Edelweiss Stratos and I think they are great. Before that I always had Edelrid ropes and thought they handled really well. I had a Beal once but it got pinched before I could really decide if I liked it or not.


belayslave

23-Feb-2007
2:54:11 PM

I have a Bluewater 10.5mm Accelerator 50m. I've had that for at least 6 years or more. Most
people would still consider it leadable on, but it's been around the block a bit and seen it's share of
saltwater so has been retired to abseil duties. never had to cut any lenth off it, though now the sheath
is wearing a bit thin in parts. It wasn't the greatest rope for knotting, and it got dirty and held the dirt a
lot! apparently it was a "double dry" rope.

My next and current rope is a 55m (yes it came as a 55m rope, i don't know why!) Edelrid 9.8mm.
Great rope, nice and light, really good 'knotability'. a pleasure to clip and belay with. tends to run
quickly through grigri's though. Great rope.

My GF has a Roca which is a big fat heavy thing. She brought it for the number of Facter falls it could
hold (something about around 16 from memory, more then any other i've seen). I'm not overly
impressed with Roca either as the consensus seems to be.

I've used a huge number of different brands of ropes that i couldn't name them. But on the top of my
list are:
Edelrid
Mammut - My bro has two of these are they're pretty nice.
BlueWater - more specifically for there statics

tommy

23-Feb-2007
4:28:54 PM

actually got a bluewater 10.5 accelerator 60m. only used it twice but so far seems good, but dont really have anything to compare it to but my climbing partner likes it so i guess thats a good thing...

There are 34 messages in this topic.