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Melted rope after a fall

Siege

24-Oct-2012
1:01:54 AM

Hi guys. First post and a question about my rope.
While leading in the gym today my partner slipped clipping the third draw and took a fall. Luckily I managed to catch him just off the ground and we had a crash mat down so all was well. However since there was only a short amount of rope out i'm assuming the figure of eight took a lot more of the shock from the fall and must have generated a bit of heat. When he was undoing the knot we noticed it was ever so slightly stuck together.
The rope appears fully intact but it just has a couple slight rough patches on the sheath now.
Questions: Is this a common occurrence?
What are your opinions on the safety of that section of rope considering the figure of eight will be in roughly the same spot every time?
Should I consider trimming the metre or so off the end to get rid of it?
It's a dry cover rope and only about a month old but it's fairly chalky on the ends from tying in now. Would the chalk be increasing the friction on it enough to make a difference and would it be worth washing the ends to get a bit of the slipperyness back?
Pretty sure I had another thought but it seems to have escaped me for now.
Cheers.

bladeso

24-Oct-2012
3:31:28 AM

The melt probably happened from a loosely tied knot. As the knot cinched down rapidly the friction generated some heat. Nylon has a pretty low melting point. The mantle (sheath) is doing what's it's supposed to do protect the kern (core). Hence the title kernmantle ropes. That what really protects our asses from the fall. I wouldn't worry about it judging by your description of the rough patches. If you are really worried about it feel the rope for any deformities on the inside of the rope by rolling it around. If you ever feel an internal deformity I'd chop that part out but it's got to be pretty drastic to feel that sort of thing. You're describing a friction burn just make sure your tie-in knot ( whichever you use) is good and snug.
KB

patto

24-Oct-2012
3:49:03 PM

On 24/10/2012 bladeso wrote:
>you ever feel an internal deformity I'd chop that part out but it's got
>to be pretty drastic to feel that sort of thing.

You can feel slight internal deformities after most decent whippers. On careful feeling I could tell the spot in the rope that was at the carabiner radius on a 7m whipper that I took. It wasn't enough for me to worry.

But I've felt proper soft spots in ropes before and they are soft squishy and scary.

Siege

24-Oct-2012
7:35:22 PM

Thanks. I'll have a feel next time I pull it out. There wasn't anything about it that majorly concerned me. Just thought i'd check. I tend to make my knot nice and snug before I climb. I'll check his is too from now on.

martym

26-Oct-2012
10:45:08 AM

On 24/10/2012 Siege wrote:
>The rope appears fully intact but it just has a couple slight rough patches
>on the sheath now.
>Questions: Is this a common occurrence?
I've seen a few ropes with slick bits on the sheath. It's the core you want to check.

>What are your opinions on the safety of that section of rope considering
>the figure of eight will be in roughly the same spot every time?
Roll the rope with both hands, it should feel consistnetly stiff - no obvious flat spots. Flat spots don't occur by melting usually; they're more old age, being pulled tight many times etc.

>Should I consider trimming the metre or so off the end to get rid of it?
Not unless it's really bad.

>It's a dry cover rope and only about a month old but it's fairly chalky
>on the ends from tying in now. Would the chalk be increasing the friction
>on it enough to make a difference and would it be worth washing the ends
>to get a bit of the slipperyness back?
Washing your rope every now and then is a good idea - though I'd suggest chalking up AFTER you tie your knots. The more dirty your ropes get, the more they start to smell.

maxdacat

26-Oct-2012
11:27:23 AM

On 24/10/2012 Siege wrote:
the figure of eight took a lot more

i guess it's personal preference but i've always thought these really nasty belay devices.....looking down and seeing a rather large hole for the rope to slide through doesn't exactly instill confidence when you are on the sharp end in the way a gri-gri or reverso does. The euros seem to love them though.

martym

26-Oct-2012
11:42:37 AM

On 26/10/2012 maxdacat wrote:
>On 24/10/2012 Siege wrote:
>the figure of eight took a lot more
>
>i guess it's personal preference but i've always thought these really
>nasty belay devices.....l

I think he meant the knot...

maxdacat

26-Oct-2012
11:48:29 AM

Aaaah that makes more sense......but my point still stands!

Siege

27-Oct-2012
3:39:17 PM

Yep sorry bout that I meant the knot. I use an ATC for my belay device.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

27-Oct-2012
7:10:26 PM

On 26/10/2012 maxdacat wrote: re figure of eight's used as a belay device;
>
>i guess it's personal preference but i've always thought these really
>nasty belay devices.....looking down and seeing a rather large hole for
>the rope to slide through doesn't exactly instill confidence when you are
>on the sharp end in the way a gri-gri or reverso does. The euros seem
>to love them though.

My understanding is that they were never designed to belay through that end, however the poms discovered that they were acceptable belay devices when the small diameter hole-end was used in similar fashion to a sticht plate.

BA

28-Oct-2012
1:11:53 PM

What he said ^

martym

28-Oct-2012
10:37:23 PM

See this forum discussion about belay device getting hot enough to melt rope:
http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.asp?Action=DisplayTopic&ForumID=6&MessageID=23571&Replies=15

Macciza

29-Oct-2012
1:48:51 AM

On 28/10/2012 BA wrote:
>What he said ^
And him ^^
I did it like that for quite a while back in the day . . .

There are 13 messages in this topic.