Help with single rope! Yo experienced climbers, show me that forums are useful!

Hi everyone,
I'm intermediate climber who is looking for new rope. I do mostly sport (mainly short 35m long and sometimes multipitch). I have been looking and searching and i made favorites, and now help if you can. Well I'm looking more for experience with thoose ropes.I ususally climb weekends and doing one to two climbing trips (4-5 weeks).

THE ROPES:

Sterling Velocity 9.8
Sterling Ion 9.4
Tendon Master 9.4
Edlerid Eagle 9.8

all of them i consider to buy as 70m.
I dont climb in alpine or something so i dont know if I should consider to buy dry shield. I know is recomended. What is a bit important is duability and handling. The price is almost the same so i really dont know.. Maybe you could help and input some experience and ideas. Thank you!

Personally, I wait for sales and then I buy one, even if I don't need it right away. Your rope will last about two, maybe three years and then you'll throw it away. In my experience of owning around 10 different ropes now, it almost doesn't matter which rope you buy because you're going to throw it away in that time frame no matter what. The crappy ropes I've had felt just as good as the good ones in the beginning and started feeling flimsy sooner than the good ones, but the point at which I stopped trusting them was about the same as when the good ropes would also develop a weak point, which I would often cut off and retire the rope to (harder) gym use. For that reason, I recommend getting one of the thicker (9.8mm) ropes and the cheapest one. I have a super thin "project rope" that I rarely use because it doesn't take abuse like the thicker ropes can and you can't trust it to brake automatically in a Gri-gri.
As for the ropes you've listed, I have no experience with any of them, but I have owned a Sterling Evolution and that was one of the ones I was thinking of when I was talking about the "cheap" ropes. Maybe the Velocity has been greatly improved over my experience with the Evolution series, but based on my experience I'd say go with the Eagle.
Good luck and have fun!

Here's a second vote for the eagle. As was said, it really doesn't matter, but I'd go for a 9.8 over a 9.4 for general cragging use so that it'll last longer, and I personally really like the feel of edelrid ropes. In my experience, Sterling has always made really good ropes, but I've seen a lot of threads recently about sterlings that have died prematurely which is making me a bit leery of them.

MPuser10840 wrote: Your rope will last about two, maybe three years and then you'll throw it away. In my experience of owning around 10 different ropes now, it almost doesn't matter which rope you buy because you're going to throw it away in that time frame no matter what.

What are you doing to your ropes? I've only had 2 ropes in 6 years of heavy climbing. I decided to retire the first one from lead climbing after 3-4 years, although there were no core shots or other detectable issues. The second one is still going strong. All you have to do is avoid running the rope over sharp edges and sharp carabiners, don't take tons of joy-ride whippers, don't project 5.14 when you're a 5.11 climber, don't leave it in the sun all day, don't let dogs/cats/humans pee on it, etc. And, inspect it every so often for core shots or weak sections.

Tom Mulholland wrote: What are you doing to your ropes? I've only had 2 ropes in 6 years of heavy climbing. I decided to retire the first one from lead climbing after 3-4 years, although there were no core shots or other detectable issues. The second one is still going strong. All you have to do is avoid running the rope over sharp edges and sharp carabiners, don't take tons of joy-ride whippers, don't project 5.14 when you're a 5.11 climber, don't leave it in the sun all day, don't let dogs/cats/humans pee on it, etc. And, inspect it every so often for core shots or weak sections.

I'm going to have to say that you're really not doing heavy climbing if your ropes are lasting 3-4 years. I generally only get 2 years out of a rope and I don't consider what I do to be heavy climbing.

I was thinking about this more since posting, and I suppose my ropes have lasted longer because my main activities were trad climbing and top roping. So, a lot fewer and/or less severe falls.

• Edit: Look kids! Another reason to do more trad climbing!

Tom Mulholland wrote:I was thinking about this more since posting, and I suppose my ropes have lasted longer because my main activities were trad climbing and top roping. So, a lot fewer and/or less severe falls. *Edit: Look kids! Another reason to do more trad climbing!

I also noticed that you climb at Devil's Lake a lot where the very slick and smooth quartzite isn't going to be very abrasive on your rope.

kennoyce wrote: I also noticed that you climb at Devil's Lake a lot where the very slick and smooth quartzite isn't going to be very abrasive on your rope.

Lots of sharp edges though, if you aren't careful. I've seen people ruin a brand new rope on more than one occasion. But I was also including tons of trips out west to taller destinations - but again, long multi-pitch trad doesn't wear out your rope so much, even with the occasional 30 ft whipper sprinkled in.

THANK YOU!STUCK WITH TOPIC! :). Why Iam buying new rope because my old beal is just 60 and 70 is needed.
I live in europe and I touched Eagle and i was nicely supresied how nice it was :).... I havent touch that many of sterling and that is basicaly why posted this post because lot of people sayin that sterling is POS. Dunno....
BUt thanks for reply. I need more to deside :)....

To get back on the OP's question, sort of, I'd recommend the Mammut Infinity 9.5mm. Both of my ropes are Mammut, and I've always been very happy with them. Great handling from the beginning and long lifetime. I've tried plenty of friends' ropes that were stiff, slick, and wore out quick. The dual-color is a nice bonus, although the colors were a little prettier when I bought mine.

I like the Tendon Ambition 9.8 I have - its the 'complete shield' which is a Teflon coating on the sheath and core, similar/same as what Mammut uses on their Infinity. Seems to keep it cleaner longer and may help with wear.

1. yr doing sport and whipping .... get what handles best and gives a nice soft catch ... supple ropes stay suppler longer ... and ropes loose elasticity as they get older, so get something with a soft catch

2. if youre doing ALOT of whipping ... look at the number of UIAA falls ... now some MPers will do on about how that has no relevance ... if yr whipping over and over again, even smaller whips, it does ... i used to think the same till i got myself an 11 UIAA fall tendon ambition 10.2mm and whipped over and over on it again, its lasting longer than ropes with lesser falls ...

from mammut ...

People who are comparing two ropes of similar diameters can usually see this in the test results—Mammut publishes the % of each ropes weight that is sheath so that people can judge for themselves what rope they will be happiest with. If you fall a lot, choose a rope with a high fall rating; if you don’t fall that much then choose a ropes with a thicker sheath (and if the manufacturer doesn’t publish that info call them and ask for it!). If you climb both abrasive rock and you fall alot, then think about how you wore out your last rope—if it went flat 10 or 15 feet from the ends, then get the rope with the high fall rating for the size and if the rope just fuzzed up to the point it felt sketchy or fat or lost its dry treatment, then concentrate on a rope with a thick sheath and a compact weave.

highinfatuation.com/blog/st…

3. you dont need dry treatment ... it may make your rope last a tad longer ... but thats usually not worth the price, especially of yr lowering off the anchors or dogging on draws .... your call

4. if you want durability get a 9.8-10.2mm rope ... not one of those thin spaghetti ones

5. when i climb daily a rope lasts around 6 - 12 months of trad/sport/TRing ... or 1000+ pitches ... if you climb ALOT (daily, 5-6 days a week in season and 2-3 days outside in the winter) itll last about a year

6. my philosophy is to buy cheap decent ropes that meet my needs ... not to spend $$$$$ on ropes ... somethings i look for are soft catching, supple and fairly durable

its that simple

;)

SierraTradingPost.com

Then google "STP coupon code" for an additional 20-40% discount (depending on the sale, but prob a goodie coming up with 4th of July)