dirty rope atc qd

I know all of us who climb alot get aluminum dust on our rope. I have used a reverso and a vc pro 2 and every one I know who uses one of them has a crazy dirty rope wondering if anyone has had better luck with certain atcs. And the same with carabiners.

I honestly think it's not as much aluminum dust as people think. My outdoor ropes get my hands filthy, but my gym rope doesn't. I use the same belay device with both, so I think general outdoor grime is more of a problem.

Then again, grit the rope picks up outside could cause it to wear off, and therefore pick up, more aluminum.

Some gear seems to be made from harder alloys than others. I personally prefer the reverso 3 to the ATC guide, but it does seem to wear faster. I also found the Metolius Element belay carabiner to wear faster than any other one I've used (but mine's a couple of years old, so who knows if that's changed?).

I could have sworn that one of the UK companies was making a steel belay device, but I can't seem to find it now...maybe discontinued? It was pretty heavy for a little tube.

Its more from the draws than the belay device.

JesseT what are the quickdraws generally made from in the gym? (steel) And what are they generally made from outside? (Aluminum....)

The plot thickens!

Generalization can be tricky business, however. Next time I go to the gym I'll take an informal tally, but I'm pretty sure some of the draws in my gym are aluminum and some are steel (though I've never really paid attention to what the ratio is). The ones to lower off of are probably steel, but my inner empiricist is now sowing seeds doubt.

but but but ... if i ingest all that aluminum while eating my organic yuppie vegan whole foods panini at the crag ... will i get alzheimers by the time im your age ;)

It's more than aluminium. My gym rope is clean as a whistle, and we have mostly aluminium draws where I train. I find that some of my ropes (Sterling Velocity) get way more dirty than others (Edelrid Falcon).

Locker wrote:A friend of mine washed his rope the other day and I couldn't help but notice that he now has some serious, "Camel Toe" action going on. Also walks a little funny...

The dirt on your hands is DIRT. Not aluminum. Your rope is dirty from sitting on the ground outside, picking up grit, and transferring it to your hands.

That's strange then, Jon, that when we spent the day climbing in Red Rocks with the bright orange/red sand, the rope made our hands blackish grey. Which just happens to be the color of aluminum oxide...

Come on, there is some dirt there, sure. But look at any of your heavily used biners.

They are worn where the rope rubs them (some get seriously notched!). Where do you think all that aluminum went? The fifth dimension? No, it went into the sheath of your rope.

Why are your hands never filthy after a 4 hour session in the gym using gym ropes that run over aluminum draws and belay-biners all day long?

I could see there being some substance to the idea that a clean gym rope will wear draws less and therefore end up with less aluminum oxide on it. Purely speculation

I'm going to do something that is not supposed to happen on the internet:

Jon, you have a good point.

I still think it's aluminum oxide, but my hands don't get as black in the gym, so my theory would need to explain why. That said, I'm probably done thinking about it. :-)

i don't mind dirt from the ground on my hands but i think some climbers take it too far. My friend visiting my turf at this one popular climber site noticed that many of the climber girls failed to wash her hands after using the bathroom. We both find this to be really gross! I always carry several bottles of purell w me for when there is no running water. Outside Dirt is ok b/c it is less likely to have the types of bacteria which makes humans sick as those typically need human hosts to survive, but touching excrement or mucus membranes on a human host (yourself) always requires hand washing or sanitizing.

so don't fret about dirty hands from a rope but wash your hands after touching yourself.

Finn the Human wrote: The Edelrid Mega Jul is made of steel.

LOL... i would hate to undergo electrolysis using a steel biner & belay device.

I didn't think a steel belay device / aluminum biner was an issue either, but the guy who reviewed the Edelrid Jul on MEC said it hurt his aluminum (foil?) biner. My steel biner has never hurt my reverso, and my gri-gri 2 (stainless steel) has never hurt my aluminum biners.

Eh it was a tease anyway. Edelrid Mega Jul is sold out everywhere, and I'm not using <8.5mm half or twin ropes.

Well I'm probably good on the belay devices anyway. Got a gri-gri, WC VC Pro-2, Reverso 3, two BD ATCs (same one in different colors), an Omega SBGII, and a kong gi-gi.... that's 7 belay devices. Sometimes I carry 3 up a route. Just looking to give that perfect belay and get that perfect rappel!