A Few Words About Climbing Ropes

To me, ropes are one of the pieces of gear that is hard to make an informed decision about prior to purchasing one. Shoes you get to try on prior to use, so usually few surprises there and you can learn a bit about how hardware will handle by just checking it out in a shop. But not so for ropes. I’ve trolled the internet a couple times and haven’t come up with much.

Rope reviews are generally worthless in my opinion, as they are an amalgamation of the ropes stats/numbers and a small discussion about how they handle, ie, stiff or soft. Most climbers already buy their ropes based on the kind of climbing they plan to do with it, so the basic numbers only guide tell you what the rope is good for. 10.5mm diameter? Probably a good rope for a beginner, a big guy, climbing on rough rock or aiding. 9.7-10.2, the all arounders. Good at most things but less durable than the fatties but able to hold up to more than an extra skinny speciality rope.

Just for fun, I decided to compile a list of all the ropes I’ve owned in my 10 year climbing career. I have used many more ropes than just these, but these are the ropes I’ve owned, and some notes on them.

1st rope: 10.5 maxim leavittator, 60m. First rope! I got this one on sale from REI for like $110. I was mostly a sport climber in those days and when I did trad climb you can be sure I didn’t fall because I was too afraid. I became the sub of a guy who was putting up sport routes, and this rope got used hard for dangling over dirty, rough cliffs while I scrubbed and bolted choss. I had a couple 6” long coreshots that I taped over. I finally retired it after 3 years of abuse when I fell, looked at the quickdraw and saw that my rope was impossibly flat, like noodle flat, yikes! I donated it to my uncle’s boy scout troop and they cut it up and use it for knot practice. 2001-2004.

2nd rope: 9.8 maxim bicolor, 50m. A funny little rope, and the only 50m I have ever owned. This one got soft very quickly, even though it didn’t see close to the abuse of my 1st rope. I could only take it to certain short crags, and got used intermittently over the years. I got some closeout on the REI.com deal of the day, $77 so I couldn’t pass it up. After a couple spots got super soft, I trimmed it, used it as a gym rope for a month and then gave it to a buddy when I went on the road. 2003-2008.

3rd rope: 10.5 bluewater accelerator, 60m. Think I paid $110 for this one? Both the stiffest and the hardest wearing rope I have ever owned! We were developing a really rough volcanic cliff, and this rope picked up where rope #1 left off. The sheath was woven much tighter, and this thing wore like iron! It handled rougher too, but it was a great choice for the rough cliff. Never got too fuzzy, but I stopped going to that rough crag so I stopped using the rope and just retired it to the scout troop for more knot practice. 2003-2008.

4th rope: 9.7 Beal Booster, 60m. Great rope, maybe my favorite? The rope that refuses to die. Got a deal on this one, maybe $115 or so. Amazing for sport climbing, it remained springy throughout it’s life and is still today. I took this one to Thailand, and after 3 weeks of heavy use it was black and disgusting. I almost left it there, but brought it home, washed it, and it kept going for 3 more years. I trimmed it and still use it very infrequently as my gym rope. Still springy!! 2004-current

5th rope: 9.1 Beal Joker, 70m. Some place was clearing this one out and I got it for $100. Kind of a weird rope and it doesn’t get used a lot. I used to try to do massive pitch links, but a few full 70m trad pitches taught me that I don’t have 70m worth of endurance! Mega springy, and with all the rope out you can stretch 20+ feet into the ground. Too skinny to be a sport rope and too skinny/springy to be a good trad cragging rope on 35m pitches. It is great at Indian Creek, which is the only place left I really use it. If I trim it down a bit it would be a good alpine rope, but 70m is too much to be taking on long approaches. 2006-current.

6th rope: 10.5 Maxim G60, 60m. Bought it at REI, $85 on some after Christmas sale. This is the heaviest rope I have ever owned, weighs a ton. Very cheap, pretty stiff. I bought it because I thought I might aid climb some more. I didn’t. I do use this rope periodically for top rope soloing with the mini traxion, or going to Joshua Tree. I think this rope won some award from climbing mag years ago as the best value rope. It certainly is a cheap piece of crap, but it has its place. 2007-current.

7th rope: 9.4 Bluewater Dominator, 60m. Some online place blew this rope out for $70 so I got one. It’s picked up where that 9.7 booster left off, as the primary sport (which I don’t do too much of) rope and some trad climbing. I also use it as my alpine rope, as it’s the lightest 60 I got. Good rope but not remarkable. 2007-current.

8th rope: 9.8 Sterling Velocity, 70m. Got an ok deal on this one too, $150? Wanted a good all arounder, and a 70m. Once I started using this rope the 9.4 dominator saw a lot less action, because so many crags have that one 35m pitch where you can either lug 2 ropes, or just bring one 70m. Used this one almost exclusively for 2 years straight. I also used it for top rope mini traxioning and jugged up a couple faces to pull and replace old bolts. Wears very well, 2nd to that 10.5 accelerator and a much nicer rope that that one. An ill advised toprope set up where I fell on a single move 20 times in a row did a bunch of damage to the sheath in one 5 foot section near an end and I should trim it to a 60. 2008-current.

Long story short, I’ve learned next to nothing about how to shop for a rope on the front end! So here is what I do: I pick out the attributes I need, which are generally weight and length. The diameter is an unreliable measurement of weight, as all rope manufacturers seem to measure differently, so check weight on g/m.

Next, I shop around based more or less on price. There’s almost always a deal somewhere! I know some guys have to have that bicolor or bipattern, but rope manufacturers really get you there, they tend to be substantially more expensive. A lot of climbers are loyal to a brand or two, or want to have a high end and therefore more expensive rope. Personally, while I have preferred some ropes over others, I wouldn’t pay substantially more for one over another. Out climbing one day with a friend’s brand new fancy Mammut, a plate got kicked off, fell right into the rope bag and chopped it almost right in the center. Certainly not the rope’s fault, but there went a couple bills down the drain.

Impact force can be a kind of ‘veto number’ for me, I try to steer clear of ropes with an impact force higher than 10kn, although that maxim G60 is over 10. Better that the rope absorb more of the impact to put less force on your gear.

If you want the best bang for your buck, buy a fatter rope, as more sheath material will generally mean a longer lasting rope. One thing I like about my strategy of buying less expensive ropes is that I buy more ropes and climb on newer ropes more often. I’ll leave you with a good troll I posted on rockclimbing.com a few years ago, http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1687195;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

There is a lot of nonsense in that 6 page thread, but there is something to be learned about ropes if you read all the way through it. In particular, this post http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1688189#1688189 by Roy Hinkley jr has some interesting information in it, which I admit I haven’t investigated at all.

Please comment!