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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 37
Author
Rope Recommendations
laan
9-Jan-2012
9:41:38 AM

Hi,

I'm planning to get a 70m ~9.8mm rope (mostly for sports climbing and single pitch trad) and 2 x 50m ~8mm double ropes (for multi-pitch and mountaineering).

I have previously used Tendon ropes and been quite happy with them, but will probably try to order from overseas this time and there are a lot of options... If anyone's got recommendations on what to get, what NOT to get, or where to get the ropes, I'd love to hear them.

Sorry if this has already been discussed recently, I had a quick look and didn't find anything that would make the choice much easier.

shortman
9-Jan-2012
9:47:31 AM
Tendons are good.

BundyBear
9-Jan-2012
9:49:09 AM
On 9/01/2012 shortman wrote:
>Tendons are good.

AGREE !!
kieranl
9-Jan-2012
10:09:56 AM
On 9/01/2012 laan wrote:
>
>Hi,
>
>I'm planning to get a 70m ~9.8mm rope (mostly for sports climbing and
>single pitch trad) and 2 x 50m ~8mm double ropes (for multi-pitch and mountaineering).
>
I think you should get your doubles in a longer size as well, either 60 or 70m. The 50 metre length is a hangover from the days of 9mm ropes.
laan
9-Jan-2012
10:25:51 AM
On 9/01/2012 kieranl wrote:
>I think you should get your doubles in a longer size as well, either 60
>or 70m. The 50 metre length is a hangover from the days of 9mm ropes.

Thanks for your suggestions. I might be able to get some Tendons sent to me directly from the Czech Rep.

How often would having double ropes longer than 50m be useful? Not many trad/mountain pitches would be longer than 50m I guess, and you can still do 50m raps which is one of my main reasons for getting doubles.
kieranl
9-Jan-2012
10:34:21 AM
On 9/01/2012 laan wrote:

>How often would having double ropes longer than 50m be useful? Not many
>trad/mountain pitches would be longer than 50m I guess, and you can still
>do 50m raps which is one of my main reasons for getting doubles.
It doesn't really matter at crags like Arapiles, Rosea or Moonarie. But they will really come into their own in the mountains and if you are doing long trad routes. The name of the game there is efficiency and longer ropes mean longer pitches and fewer belays. That saves masses of time.

Eduardo Slabofvic
9-Jan-2012
10:48:34 AM
On 9/01/2012 laan wrote:
>>How often would having double ropes longer than 50m be useful? Not many
>trad/mountain pitches would be longer than 50m I guess, and you can still
>do 50m raps which is one of my main reasons for getting doubles.

Its more like running two pitches together, or two raps together that you can do with 2 70s. It can save heaps of time. Most pitches aren't 50m
bones
9-Jan-2012
10:53:05 AM
On 9/01/2012 laan wrote:
>
>How often would having double ropes longer than 50m be useful? Not many
>trad/mountain pitches would be longer than 50m I guess, and you can still
>do 50m raps which is one of my main reasons for getting doubles.

I have 50m doubles and have wished many times that they were 60m e.g. climbs at Mt Buffalo and for my upcoming euro trip
laan
9-Jan-2012
11:04:32 AM
On 9/01/2012 Eduardo Slabofvic. wrote:
>On 9/01/2012 laan wrote:
>>>How often would having double ropes longer than 50m be useful? Not many
>>trad/mountain pitches would be longer than 50m I guess, and you can still
>>do 50m raps which is one of my main reasons for getting doubles.
>
>Its more like running two pitches together, or two raps together that
>you can do with 2 70s. It can save heaps of time. Most pitches aren't
>50m

So you reckon that, despite the extra weight of 70m doubles and leading with enough gear for +50m trad pitches, it's usually more efficient than using shorter ropes and not linking pitches? I'm really not experienced enough to tell...

I probably don't do enough serious mountaineering to justify longer doubles for that, but I agree that being able to join raps is pretty useful.
kieranl
9-Jan-2012
11:13:42 AM
On 9/01/2012 laan wrote:
>So you reckon that, despite the extra weight of 70m doubles and leading
>with enough gear for +50m trad pitches, it's usually more efficient than
>using shorter ropes and not linking pitches? I'm really not experienced
>enough to tell...
>
>I probably don't do enough serious mountaineering to justify longer doubles
>for that, but I agree that being able to join raps is pretty useful.
If you do any mountaineering you'll benefit from the longer ropes. Additional weight? It's all relative but a set of skinny 70 metre doubles these days is lighter than my old 50 metre 9 mm doubles.

skink
9-Jan-2012
11:28:36 AM
>If you do any mountaineering you'll benefit from the longer ropes. Additional
>weight? It's all relative but a set of skinny 70 metre doubles these days
>is lighter than my old 50 metre 9 mm doubles.

hmmm, not sure that could be right - have you done the calcs?

Eduardo Slabofvic
9-Jan-2012
11:30:54 AM
I use a 70m 8.5mm and a 70m 9mm as my double rope set up. There are ropes that are even smaller diametre than that, so weight is no big deal.

As far as the rack goes, I just take more slings and the same rack on longer routes. If you're going to be climbing in the "real mountains" you will need to get used to running it out a lot more than you would at the crag (unles you climb in popular Europen mountains, most of which are bolted to the bejesus)
kieranl
9-Jan-2012
12:13:56 PM
On 9/01/2012 andesite wrote:
>>If you do any mountaineering you'll benefit from the longer ropes. Additional
>>weight? It's all relative but a set of skinny 70 metre doubles these
>days
>>is lighter than my old 50 metre 9 mm doubles.
>
>hmmm, not sure that could be right - have you done the calcs?
No. A friends set of double 70m skinnies in their ropebag feels lighter to me. I'm sure someone will set me straight if I'm wrong.

cruze
9-Jan-2012
12:21:18 PM
My recommendations for 95%+ of all of the following:
Sport: single 60m
Multipitch Trad on clean rock: single 60 m
"Easy" peaks with snow plods: single 60 m
Multipitch alpine rock: doubles 50-60m.

Unless you are very strong and fit and/or chopper in everywhere or stroll out of the chairlift to the base of the route, ropes are heavy. A set of doubles will be heavier than a single. I don't know anyone that uses a set of 70m doubles in the mtns and I reckon it is asking for an alpine clusterf++k. Ask yourself what you are likely to do and even if you are likely to rap often in the mtns. If you are a beginner as you say then I doubt you are going to be pushing your technical ability and needing to do long raps.

If you are climbing on rambling broken ground (mixed peaks) then I doubt you would be needing/wanting to do 70 m pitches.

I do know people that take one 70 m half rope in the mtns to save weight. If glacier travel with several people on the rope and/or climbing clean snowslopes (ie no sharp edges) are the go then perhaps you can get away with one half rope and treat it as a single to save weight. I know people that do this but it is a compromise as taught 8+mm ropes cut a lot quicker than a taught 9+ or 10+ mm.

At the end of the day it is all personal preference but my advice for someone starting out is to keep it simple.

The good Dr
9-Jan-2012
12:27:20 PM
If you are looking at skinnies check out the Edelrid Apus. 7.8mm and comply with both double and twin rope standards. They are very light. I would also recommend 60m minimum length. As others have suggested, the additional lenght is great for long routes.

As for singles, Mammut ropes are the best I have used, though I mostly use Eidelrid and these have been very good as well given the thrashing they get.
egosan
9-Jan-2012
12:43:30 PM
I own a pair of the Apus 7.8s. Love 'em.

Just to compare:

Old School 9mm Half ropes 50 m ~65g/m = 6.5 kg.
Apus 7.8mm Half/Twin ropes 70m 42g/m = 5.8 kg.


dalai
9-Jan-2012
12:44:57 PM
On 9/01/2012 egosan wrote:
>I own a pair of the Apus 7.8s. Love 'em.
>
>Just to compare:
>
>Old School 9mm Half ropes 50 m ~65g/m = 6.5 kg.
>Apus 7.8mm Half/Twin ropes 70m 42g/m = 5.8 kg.
>

Holy shoelaces Batman!
egosan
9-Jan-2012
12:52:14 PM
On 9/01/2012 dalai wrote:
>On 9/01/2012 egosan wrote:
>>I own a pair of the Apus 7.8s. Love 'em.

>Holy shoelaces Batman!

Sarah O'Gara won't climb on them. When ever we go out she makes me promise to bring out my big single. She is a fraidy-cat.

I have personally taken a number of good whippers on them and even caught a huge FF > 1 whipper. Nice soft catches. Great handling.
laan
9-Jan-2012
12:57:52 PM
On 9/01/2012 cruze wrote:
>My recommendations for 95%+ of all of the following:
>Sport: single 60m
>Multipitch Trad on clean rock: single 60 m
>"Easy" peaks with snow plods: single 60 m
>Multipitch alpine rock: doubles 50-60m.

I tend to agree with the principle of keeping it simple... I've been mostly climbing on a 60m single so far, but have started running into the need for doubles. My doubles would mostly be used on routes such as Birdman at Araps (i.e, to reduce drag on winding/zig zagging single pitch routes), areas such as Bungonia (for more efficient descent raps etc), and Perrys Lookdown/Pierces Pass in Blue Mountains (for feeling slightly less worried about those knife edge iron bands and for +30m access/bail raps). I'm still not entirely convinced about the advantage (for me) of longer than 50m doubles, but will at least consider 60ies...

I think having a single rope that is 70m or longer is pretty useful for many long sports routes, especially in Europe. Another advantage is that you can cut the ends when they get worn out and still have a +60m rope in good shape.


skink
9-Jan-2012
1:00:56 PM
On 9/01/2012 egosan wrote:
>Just to compare:
>
>Old School 9mm Half ropes 50 m ~65g/m = 6.5 kg.
>Apus 7.8mm Half/Twin ropes 70m 42g/m = 5.8 kg.
>

9mm ropes don't weigh 65g/m

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 37
There are 37 messages in this topic.

 

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