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Rudmin
Jun 27, 2011, 3:35 AM
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I have been thinking about getting half ropes for a while, and MEC sells an 8mm line off a spool, which means you can get any length you want.
I was thinking of getting 100 m and then deciding afterwards whether to chop it in half or not. Does anybody climb on a continuous 100 m half rope folded in two? so that one climber ties into both ends. The advantage I see are that you don't have any knots of rappels, and if need be could cut off arbitrary lengths from either end. If you really wanted to you could lead a really long pitch with only one rope.
The downsides I see is that it's more hassle to tie into a bight on the other end, and you can't split the load between two packs. 100 m is probably a pain to deal with if it gets tangled.
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uni_jim
Jun 27, 2011, 4:06 AM
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would you buy 50m half ropes? Probobly not. It seems as if 60m is on the short end these days, with most guys (srround the rockies) climbing on 70m ropes. Heck, there seems to be a growing trend for 80m singles, what with the mega-long sport routes being put up.
Not being able to tie in or untie independantly would be a pain in the ass too.
Using a single (20-70m) half rope for glacier travel is nice too.
Basically, the established half rope system is pretty damn good. Why create new problems or inefficiencies?
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dagibbs
Jun 27, 2011, 4:09 AM
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Is the 8mm rope that MEC sells off the spool intended as climbing rope? As lead rope? Or as utility cord? Say for building anchors and stuff like that? Is it dynamic or static?
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quiteatingmysteak
Jun 27, 2011, 4:30 AM
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uni_jim wrote: would you buy 50m half ropes? Probobly not. It seems as if 60m is on the short end these days, with most guys (srround the rockies) climbing on 70m ropes. Heck, there seems to be a growing trend for 80m singles, what with the mega-long sport routes being put up. Not being able to tie in or untie independantly would be a pain in the ass too. Using a single (20-70m) half rope for glacier travel is nice too. Basically, the established half rope system is pretty damn good. Why create new problems or inefficiencies?
Whats the rope stretch likely to be on a 60 or 70m half? Second will likely be soloing 30 feet each pitch, lol.
There is a growing trend among strange people to move towards 70 meter ropes. Its a false sense of security for someone to feel as if they are moving fast, i.e. doing a route in 10 pitches over 12. in my experience just... being a faster climber... makes you fast. I owned a 70m for a while, too much to carry around, too much to consistantly move through a belay device or screw around with. Was it any faster? Probably not. It was such a hassle and you have to carry that much more gear to go an extra 30 feet to make it useful, and how often are there ledges between 210-230 feet from the belay? Any longer you need an 80, any shorter a 60 works fine.
I'd just get 2 seperate half ropes. I can't imagine the PITA is would be to flake 320 feet of rope, and not being able to see which end is which = ugh. 2 colors yo.
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JimTitt
Jun 27, 2011, 6:36 AM
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Back when I started climbing (in the UK) 300ft halves were common, they even came bi-colour. Usually got cut in half very quickly for the reasons you give.
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JAB
Jun 27, 2011, 9:29 AM
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One big drawback of your system is that both ropes will have the same color. The risk of tangling the ropes increase for the leader, and the belayer will not be as quick in giving slack/taking on the right rope.
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dagibbs
Jun 27, 2011, 10:44 PM
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quiteatingmysteak wrote: There is a growing trend among strange people to move towards 70 meter ropes.
I pick up a 70m rope because the distance between rappel anchors at El Potrero Chico on many routes is closer to 35m than 30m.
I have found, though, that there are a good number of routes at a local crag that go about 40m on lead, but 30m on rappel/lower -- and a 70m ends up being convenient for doing those routes, too. (Can treat as single pitch, and not have to belay from the top. Sure it isn't technically not difficult to belay from above, but the anchors aren't generally on flat ground, so belaying the 2nd from the bottom is more comfortable.)
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guerry
Jun 28, 2011, 8:32 AM
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JAB wrote: One big drawback of your system is that both ropes will have the same color. The risk of tangling the ropes increase for the leader, and the belayer will not be as quick in giving slack/taking on the right rope.
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sspssp
Jun 29, 2011, 8:55 PM
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Back in the day, I special ordered a bi-color 100m rope and climbed like you described. One climber ties into both ends and the other climber clips into a knot in the middle of the rope. I used two locking biners.
I liked it and not having a knot on rappel was the major advantage.
But I eventually gave up on climbing with dual ropes all together.
You could probably order a bi-color 120m if you wanted to do 60m pitches.
(This post was edited by sspssp on Jun 29, 2011, 8:56 PM)
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