Do you use a rope bag?

Do rope bags help protect a rope anymore than a tarp, foot print or ikea bag?

Im new to climbing and I bought a rope bag thinking it was necessary but I carry the rope in my larger backpack with all my gear. It doesnt seem necessary now because I never use the straps to carry it.

Any advice for a new climber?

Mostafa wrote:Do rope bags help protect a rope anymore than a tarp, foot print or ikea bag? Im new to climbing and I bought a rope bag thinking it was necessary but I carry the rope in my larger backpack with all my gear. It doesnt seem necessary now because I never use the straps to carry it. Any advice for a new climber?

Saw my first ikea bag at the crags this past Sunday. That's genius!

If all you're doing is single-pitch, a rope bag may not protect your rope any better than a tarp/footprint/ikea bag, but it will make packing and toting the rope a lot more convenient, and becomes a compact package with a strap. Most people don't pack all their gear up in a backpack between routes...but you gotta do something with the rope.

For top rope routes, a rope bag works well as a 'throw' bag, to clear the bushes and keep the ends nice and neat. Otherwise rope rolled up in a cheap tarp works just fine for me and helps keep dirt off rope on single pitch routes.

I have both, tarps and an IKEA bag and it depends where I am going. If I'm headed to the crag that is close to the car and the routes are all relatively close together I usually use my IKEA bag but if I have to hike in a ways and/or the routes are spaced farther apart I usually go with the tarp. I guess it comes down to how often are you going to need to put the rope in the pack during the day to transport it. The nice thing about IKEA is you can just throw everything in and carry it 50 yards to the next route.

I use a rope bag (my rope came with one), but the main reason I use it is for the tarp (keeps the rope out of the dirt, lets you store the rope flaked) and the fact that it keeps my rope from getting tangled in my rack. A tarp with 2 loops would be just as good for my purposes.

A rope bag (with two "tie-in" loops) can also be a good reminder to keep the bottom end of the rope knotted or tied in, just to decrease the chance of accidentally lowering the lead climber off the end of the rope. It happens.

generally no ... its a toss up between multi and cragging many days ... i dont use it for multi, so i generally dont use it for cragging either

Yes, I use a rope bag. Keeps it out of the dirt, makes it easy to carry, and the tie in loops for the ends keep me from flaking the rope unnecessarily.

Nope. I'll just make a rope backpack if I want to easily carry it. I'd rather save the $40 for beer.

Depends. Multi-pitch? No. What's the point? Just stuff it in the pack and go. Single-pitch cragging? Yeah, sure. Makes it easier to move from route to route and helps to keep dirt off of it.

I just use backpacks- the top-loading type, and I flake the rope into the pack as it's getting pulled off the last route. Next time out, I just feed the rope directly out of the pack. The packs I use are larger than most rope bags, so the rope doesn't get flaked in there very tightly- I've never once had a problem feeding it out later on.

It might be expensive to do it that way if I'd gotten my packs new, but my best one cost something like $45 (used) and the others were between $2 and $10 from various yard sales, etc.

Rope bag for short approach single pitch.

Depends on what I'm doing. I have a couple of rope bags, a tent footprint I bought for $8, and Ikea bucket bag. I prefer to use nothing but don't really want a super filthy rope.

sometimes...If I'm craggin with friends right off the road or a short hike I probably would. If I was going for a longer hike in I'd use either a tiny piece of tarp, or my backpack.

So I have one, but I don't use it a ton.

Aaron Nash wrote:Nope. I'll just make a rope backpack if I want to easily carry it. I'd rather save the $40 for beer.

+1,000 But I guess I could just get $80...$40 for beer, $40 for ropebag. But even if that's the case, I do have $80 for beer...

David Harding wrote:A rope bag (with two "tie-in" loops) can also be a good reminder to keep the bottom end of the rope knotted or tied in, just to decrease the chance of accidentally lowering the lead climber off the end of the rope. It happens.

+1

You could always tie a couple straps of webbing through the grommets of a tarp to create tie in points. Add a couple of loose webbing straps with some form of adjustable buckle and, voila, you have a rope bag.

Not for multi-pitch but my local crag (Mission Gorge) seems to have really dirty dirt.

no. if its a single pitch climb i usually just flake my rope out on top of my backpack.