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Call it a blonde moment (with rope and marker pen)


Paradise

18-Jan-2007
9:58:00 AM

So, just say someone thoughtlessly marked the centre point of their brand spanking new rope with a marker pen (though xylene free just your every day run of the mill marker) without considering that this may weaken the rope fibres. A little reading, past forum topics and links etc, suggests that this probably does affect the number of falls the rope (and attached climber) will survive. What do I... err I mean they do now? Has anyone else had experience with a marked rope? Will there be obvious wear? It there anyway to reduce the damage-wash it off somehow???

I was thinking of using it for a bit and retiring it super early (and when I can afford a new one) but it will always be in the back of my mind now :(


nmonteith

18-Jan-2007
10:17:26 AM

It will be fine in the short term. The rope marker wil only damage the outer mantle of the rope - not the
inner kern, which is the ropes main source of strength. Just retire it after 6 months.


neats

18-Jan-2007
10:22:53 AM

6 months!! wouldn't that depend on how much she.... I mean they use it? what about selling it to someone as two half ropes...


nmonteith

18-Jan-2007
10:24:01 AM

On 18/01/2007 neats wrote:
> what about selling it to someone as two half ropes...

Thats a novel solution!

I need a new rope. I'll buy it Trish - providing you don't tell anyone.


neats

18-Jan-2007
10:33:10 AM

You mean:
Trish,
Ask your friends if they would sell to me!!
Neilo


cheesehead

18-Jan-2007
10:43:01 AM

Fine. If such a situation arose, I wouldn't worry about it. Surely the paint, rubber, dirt, sand, salt, chalk and general smeg it picks up from using it indoors and out would be a lot worse and kill the rope before any marker pen.

Neil, do you really reckon the sheath will weaken so quickly because of it? You'd know better than me, but I find this hard to believe.
Wait a minute, you've never had a rope last long enough to find out anyway!


nmonteith

18-Jan-2007
10:47:54 AM

On 18/01/2007 cheesehead wrote:
>Wait a minute, you've never had a rope last long enough to find out anyway!

Yes indeed. Large holes appear in my rope within a few weeks usually. My million dollar 70m mammut
rope (less than 6 month sold) is now shorter than 50m... :-(


Eduardo Slabofvic

18-Jan-2007
11:50:37 AM

On 18/01/2007 Paradise wrote:
>I was thinking of using it for a bit and retiring it super early (and
>when I can afford a new one) but it will always be in the back of my mind
>now :(

Just do short routes < 25m


IdratherbeclimbingM9

18-Jan-2007
12:14:11 PM

>Call it a blonde moment (with rope and marker pen)
Sounds like a 'kinky topic' Paradise ...

>Neil, do you really reckon the sheath will weaken so quickly because of it?
About 28* years ago (* heh, heh, heh), I bought a new dynamic rope for climbing and marked its mid point with a common black texta of the day.
After many years of faithful service & associated remarking of midpoint due to fading/wear!!, I retired it to top rope duty / abseil rigging. By then it was a shorter rope due to other mishap (cut the sheath during a significant lead fall), and the mid-point marking was no longer at the mid point ...
Then one day I read that it was not a good thing to mark the mid point in this fashion.
'Bit late now to find out this information' I thought ...

Other static ropes of similar vintage that I had marked in similar fashion have long ago been retired to trailer use, fencing in donkeys, kids tyre swings in trees, debogging vehicles, etc., & have proved way strong for the designated tasks. None of them that I have broken (debogging vehicles), have failed at the texta marked point.

That information has been in the back of my mind more recently, but discounted somewhat at the time by experience, due to not knowing the implications of my actions.

I reckon you can take the new information with a grain of salt (so to speak), and will probably find that you will wear it out before it is an issue, as my experience would back up nm post
>It will be fine in the short term. >The rope marker wil only damage the outer mantle of the rope - not the inner kern, which is the ropes main source of strength.

Washing that point with a pure soap solution plus gentle scrubbing with a soft brush, could not do any harm and may help.


anthonyk

18-Jan-2007
1:07:51 PM

yeah it can't do a whole heap for confidence.

as a slight consolation the tests that showed the rope was weakened were done with that point of the rope holding the fall, which would be after a 30m run out.. so when its not at the fall point its probably not sooo bad. but on the other hand that was tested using a proper climbing rope marking pen, not solvent saturated off the shelf pens.

*wary*


steph

18-Jan-2007
2:39:39 PM

Luckily these days a fair few brands make ropes with marked mid and end points - a feature that I love in my rope and should help prevent future blonde moments with your...i mean 'their' next purchase.


nmonteith

18-Jan-2007
2:48:47 PM

On 18/01/2007 steph wrote:
>Luckily these days a fair few brands make ropes with marked mid and end
>points - a feature that I love in my rope and should help prevent future
>blonde moments with your...i mean 'their' next purchase.

Although these in-built mid markers can be dangerous if you chop an end off your chop. Suddenly your
'mid point' is not actually in the middle at all.


steph

18-Jan-2007
2:53:09 PM

Very true, haven't had to chop my faithful rope yet so I haven't come accross that problem. I think you can move them though; well mine is like a sticker that wraps around the rope, maybe you could move it if you chop the rope.


Paradise

18-Jan-2007
4:54:32 PM

the stickers don't take long to come off that's why i though marking mine with texta was a smart idea :)


andyR

18-Jan-2007
5:22:44 PM

Yeah the stickers last about one session's worth passing through your belay plate!


steph

19-Jan-2007
11:10:44 AM

On 18/01/2007 andyR wrote:
>Yeah the stickers last about one session's worth passing through your belay
>plate!

not to argue the point but mine's lasted for at least 2 years maybe 3 with constant use both indoor and out.


anthonyk

29-Jan-2007
11:03:28 AM

true

a friend of mine put a marker on just by wrapping finger tape fairly tight around the mid point, i thought it would come straight off or worse get moved but it lasted pretty well. it was an added bonus that when it ran through the belay device you could feel it go clunk when it went through, so it would be a pretty clear sign when someone's lead past half of the rope and might not be able to get lowered down again.


Phil Box

29-Jan-2007
5:19:13 PM

Best way of marking the middle of your rope is to simply sew a thread of wool through it. The tassle that forms is very visible and it slides through the abseil device easily. Choose a flouro colour for high vis.

Another way of marking the middle is to sew some nylon threads through the sheath such that they are embedded in the sheath. Works a treat.

Me I'm too lazy to do anything forward planning like that and I simply measure the ends to the middle.


anthonyk

30-Jan-2007
9:10:10 AM

On 29/01/2007 Phil Box wrote:
>Me I'm too lazy to do anything forward planning like that and I simply
>measure the ends to the middle.

thats why i generally do it too.. usually find if need to find middle of rope will need to feed through something anyway, so re coiling as it gets threaded needs to get done anyway


BlstFrnc

7-Feb-2007
8:54:04 PM

Not to throw a spanner in the works...but doesn't tape use adhesive to achieve its wonderous and mystical sticking properties and thus probably has potential to do more damage to you rope than the marker in the first place?

There are 26 messages in this topic.