old new rope?

My girlfriend's parents found a Mammut 10.5 Eiger that they bought for their son, who never used it. It's five years old, but is still in the plastic wrapper and has been sitting under a bed the whole time.

Thoughts?

Crank the rad with that thing!

Mr Clean wrote:Crank the rad with that thing!

X2

Always so many posts about shelf life of ropes, etc. It is possible that the short rope life we read about is promoted by the rope manufacturers just to keep selling you new ropes!
I can't imagine anything wrong with the rope if stored in home temps and still wrapped in the plastic. No UV damage, no falls, no abrasive use over edges, no endless hangdog hours on tension with the fibers being stretched out and tightened up. I have several ropes purchased on sale in past years, just to have in storage for future use. Some are several years old and just coming out of the wrapper this season for first use, and they are in perfect shape. I have even used my oldest short ropes for topropes on my backyard wall for years, and although they are certainly not for leads anymore, they are flexible and fine for toprope use yet. Inspect your ropes of course, but I can't believe shelf life of a brand new stored rope is only 3 years.

100% wrapped in plastic or partly? Does the cat/dog piss/barf under the bed?

There is a great article posted somewhere on MP about a study done by the UIAA on decreased rope strength over time. Essentially, the UIAA concluded that if the core is not exposed, or the rope has not been exposed to chemicals, the rope will hold a lead fall in all normal cases.

The article took ropes from as long ago as 30 years. These 30 year old ropes held falls with little danger of breaking. Basically, use it unless it is noticeably abused or there is any chance it was exposed to chemicals.

Found the article:

theuiaa.org/upload_area/fil…

Thanks for the read Joshua - good article!

Question: How often do they totally replace fixed lines on Everest? You read of hundreds of climbers in columns, linked to lines that were placed by expeditions years ago. In extreme weather, exposed to the worst UV you could imagine. Yes, there have been extreme falls, tangles, where one gives away, but for the most part even those old thin 8to 9 mm ropes hang in for years and years. As in every other product based company, shelf life is both a statement intended for extreme legal safety measures and to guarantee more sales and incoming cash from you, the climber.

Locker wrote:Yeah but you probably DON'T really want to hear or read them. ;-)

Yer gonna die?

Nick Mudd wrote:My girlfriend's parents found a Mammut 10.5 Eiger that they bought for their son, who never used it. It's five years old, but is still in the plastic wrapper and has been sitting under a bed the whole time. Thoughts?

If it's supple and doesn't have any flat spots or discoloration, I'd climb on it.

No question the rope is perfectly fine. After 25 years of full on abuse, I have a Mammut manufactured 10.5mm rope that is still catching FF 1.2 falls (in tests with a 175 lb dummy).

You scored a nice one with that. The parents must like you....OR.. if they don't seem to approve of you, I'd thoroughly check that rope!

Hmm, that's an interesting article. Anyone ever seen something related or similar to it? I was resigned to retiring my 11 year old doubles due to age even though they've never seen a fall (only used on ice) but now am reconsidering. It would be reassuring to see another similar article though as this goes against all the manufacturers info and tribal wisdom I've heard.

Steve M wrote:Hmm, that's an interesting article. Anyone ever seen something related or similar to it? I was resigned to retiring my 11 year old doubles due to age even though they've never seen a fall (only used on ice) but now am reconsidering. It would be reassuring to see another similar article though as this goes against all the manufacturers info and tribal wisdom I've heard.

never seen a fall?

still stretchy?

no soft spots?

sheath intact and no slippage?

seen minimal use?

alunrichardson.co.uk/upload…

the main reason other than obvious damage to retire a climbing rope is loss of elasticity IMO ... once it looses elasticity, it will give a harder catch, and likely have a higher impact force on gear ...

a rope on good condition that hasnt been exposed to chemicals wont break ... even if its a decade old

but do keep in mind that were not quite sure if they tested HALF ropes in the UIAA paper

its your call ;)

Joshua Jones wrote:Found the article: theuiaa.org/upload_area/fil…

Anything more recent than this very old article to contradict the info? If anything, I'd think the newer ropes should have even a longer rope life than written here. I'm in agreement that tie visible wear on sheath, lumps in the core, those are your concerns. A packaged rope from a shelf should be fine. Think how the military buys stuff in bulk, and stores it away for who knows how long before it's deployed to troops. Imagine they have alot of 10+ year old ropes sitting in storage to distribute for use in training. Imagine the abuse they give a rope. Don't read about rope failure accidents at Ft. Hood or elsewhere in the news.

Thanks Woodchuck, I think you just saved me $300 +! If I ever run into you the beer is on me!

Ropes are still supple, stretchy, and in great shape...just old but apparently I'm NOT gonna die (well, at least not cause of my ropes).