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Author

New rope, how skinny?

damon

4-Sep-2012
12:21:21 AM

Looking at retiring my rope after 8 years..

Leading trad in the teens and still enjoy top-roping the tougher stuff.. Not too sure how thin is too thin these days. Would like to get something lightish, 9.8 - 10.2mm.

Anyone picked up a new rope recently they are really happy with?

I was looking at the beal flyer 2 but have read a few negative reviews that their manufacturing methods have gone down hill in the last few years and the ends frey quite easily so that has kind of put me off.. Appreciate any feedback. Cheers.

Marssan

4-Sep-2012
7:00:35 AM

I know nothing about Beal's manufacturing methods but I just bought a Flyer II 10.2 with dry treatment from Rock Hardware and i'm stoked with it. Very nice and soft, handles and ties knots well. The ends have a little plastic sleeve that looks like it will prevent fraying pretty effectively. I would certainly recommend this rope.

Best part is that the rope arrived within 48 hrs of purchase, i think this is my favourite aspect of buying from Rock Hardware!


shortman

4-Sep-2012
7:27:42 AM

A flyer 2 with dry treatment soft? Trippy, they are usually like fence wire.

Give the little plastic sleeve about 3 climbs before it comes off.


ajfclark

4-Sep-2012
7:45:16 AM

I like the ultrasonic treatment Mammut does to the ends of their ropes. They also measure an extra 2.5% length... I don't really like their dry treatment though.

http://www.mammut.ch/en/ropes_quality_wherethedifferencelies.html


cruze

4-Sep-2012
7:55:31 AM

I have a Tendon 9.8mm at the moment and am finding it very good for sheath wear and slippage. I had a Beal tiger (or something like that) and it did wear a bit quicker than other ropes I have had but I have worked it. If you climb coarse granite every now and then then I wouldn't go much skinnier than 9.8. Wimmera sandstone is pretty gentle on ropes.

pecheur

4-Sep-2012
7:56:23 AM

On 4/09/2012 shortman wrote:
>A flyer 2 with dry treatment soft? Trippy, they are usually like fence
>wire.
>
>Give the little plastic sleeve about 3 climbs before it comes off.

Agree with both comments.

Flyer 2s and the other three beals (Top Gun II, Yuji and something else) I've used are quite soft to the hand, EARLY. But I agree once you get some use out of them fencing wire is about right. I've used ancient Sterlings which feel much nicer.

My plastic sleeve probably lasted 5 climbing days with one end and about 15 on the other ...


ajfclark

4-Sep-2012
8:09:22 AM

You find those little end things all over the place. Those, cigarette butts and finger tape are probably the 3 most common bits of microtrash I pick up at crags.

Samuel

4-Sep-2012
8:49:20 AM

If your after a Flyer 2, i have one brand new in the beal rope bag that i would be interested in selling. 60mtr, never been unwrapped.

dawyndham

4-Sep-2012
9:14:19 AM

I've got a Beal Booster III 9.7 Dry that I bought a little over two years ago. Still looking awesome, but the plastic thingies have long since vanished.

My previous rope was a Tendon 9.8, and while that was nice and supple as well, it developed some sheath delamination after about 18 months use. Something I've seen other Tendon ropes do.


shortman

4-Sep-2012
9:43:15 AM

On 4/09/2012 damon wrote:

>
>I was looking at the beal flyer 2 but have read a few negative reviews
>that their manufacturing methods have gone down hill in the last few years
>and the ends frey quite easily so that has kind of put me off.. Appreciate
>any feedback. Cheers.

I dunno about that.

One Day Hero

4-Sep-2012
10:22:09 AM

Beal have huge variety in their quality, the pricey ones are usually good and the cheap ones are.......cheap.

If they all cost the same I'd buy Mammut, but they don't all cost the same and I reckon twice as cheap will last more than half as long. It comes down to how much of a princess you are about "feel and handling".

The folks who use a little plastic thing on the end or "ultrasonic blah blah" as their main selling point probably aren't proper climbers.

gfdonc

4-Sep-2012
10:30:35 AM

Bluewater is great but $$$. I've heard similar positive things about Sterling.
I've bought mostly Beal and been mostly happy with them. The one Tendon I bought got furry very quickly, but spent significant time on granite during its first 6 months, so I'm not sure how much the rope was at fault.
Some people complain about Beal but the only problem I've had is some minor sheath slippage occasionally. I suspect there is a significant difference in the sheath construction between different models, meaning some diameters wear differently to others. My 10.2 (must be a Flyer?) is still really good after 2 years.
Mammut wears well but terribly stiff to handle IMHO. Never heard bad things about Edelrid.

Oh, and to answer the topic, my ropes are mostly 9.7 to 10.2. Go fatter for a bit more durability, but don't go much skinnier for ease of handling.

One Day Hero

4-Sep-2012
10:36:39 AM

Also, why would Australian climbers want or need dry treatment? Do you often climb in the rain? I'm almost certain that it's the source of 'belayer's black hands'


Pezz

4-Sep-2012
10:37:50 AM

My single is a mammut galaxy... i think thats its name. With dry treatment... wears great but not very soft in the hand..
My halfs are eldrid and are very soft in the hand... havent used the enough to comment on the wear

daim15

4-Sep-2012
10:46:18 AM

Ive recently acquired the Mammut Twilight 7.5mm Twin ropes ... but am too scared to use them on anything vertical. Does anyone use twin ropes, clipping both into each piece of protection, these days? I realise that they are predominately used for alpine stuff but wanted to know if they had any use on trad or sport routes also? They would make a great lighter option than my current Beal 10.2mm and give a nice 60m rap.


shortman

4-Sep-2012
11:00:03 AM

On 4/09/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
> I'm almost certain that it's the source of 'belayer's
>black hands'

Yep, agreed.

Wendy

4-Sep-2012
11:00:31 AM

How does carrying 2 7.5mms end up lighter than a single 10.2???? unless you are hauling 2 of those up now?

I reckon for most intents and purposes, a rope is a rope is a rope. I have had mammuts, beals, edelrids, sterlings and tendons. The only real differences I ever noticed are that mammuts last longer, but also degenerate into wire cables that suck to handle. And the little thingies on the end are useless nonsense no matter what brand they are. At least the mammut method doesn't create rubbish. Actually, the other difference is price. If you want to hurt your wallet, go Sterling. Mammuts can be good for that too. Beal and Tendon will be much gentler.

If you are mostly onsighting, go lightweight. I have a 9.1 single and 7.7 doubles for that. If toproping or dogging, go fat, but as i find anything over 10 is a pain to handle, I haven't had a rope fatter than that since the mid 90s. no amount of dogging and toproping I can throw at them seems to make any 10mm wear out in less that 18 months.

Gareth tells me someone's just brought out a rope that is 10.2 at the ends and 9.7 for most of the rope so you get the benefits of durability at the bits that wear. Although that won't help if you're toproping.

kieranl

4-Sep-2012
11:16:03 AM

On 4/09/2012 daim15 wrote:
>Ive recently acquired the Mammut Twilight 7.5mm Twin ropes ... but am too
>scared to use them on anything vertical.
Perfectly safe to use on anything. No real advantage apart from the long abseil option. Certainly no advantage on wandering trad routes, you'd want rated doubles for that.
As Wendy says, how can the twins be lighter than a 10.2? The specs have the 7.5 mm ropes at 38 g/m giving a total 76 g/m for the twins versus 64 g/m for a Beal Flyer 10.2. Even the Mammut 10.2 is 69 g/m, still much lighter than a set of twins.

One Day Hero

4-Sep-2012
11:29:17 AM

I've always thought it would be hilarious to roll up to araps, find some "I know everything about rock climbing" nati locals, set up next to them, then start belaying a pair of twin ropes through a gri gri!

Question is, would it actually lock off? I reckon it might be ok :D

Wendy

4-Sep-2012
11:31:12 AM

On 4/09/2012 kieranl wrote:
>On 4/09/2012 daim15 wrote:
>>Ive recently acquired the Mammut Twilight 7.5mm Twin ropes ... but am
>too
>>scared to use them on anything vertical.
>Perfectly safe to use on anything. No real advantage apart from the long
>abseil option. Certainly no advantage on wandering trad routes, you'd want
>rated doubles for that.

I could think of a few disadvantages though. Clipping the two ropes into the one biner is harder. If you end up going for clipping one at a time, it's easy to get them crossed if you're not careful. Impact force is greater. Rope drag is greater.

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