Rope Protector

Has anyone used the Spiroll Rope Protector? It says it can help protect ropes from ice axe strikes, I don't buy that though.

Do you seriously plan on hitting hitting your rope with your iceaxe.

I've used it for slinging trees with the rope and rapping down w/o building an anchor. It's a pain in the butt . No idea what it's resilience it for ice axes.

Brent Butcher… PM me your address and I'll give you my spiroll.

I use them as edge protectors for route work. For TR ice stuff I guess I could see them helping but if you managed a direct hit you'd punch through them.

Mitchy, I have never struck my rope with an axe, and no I do not plan on hacking my rope. Is that a serious question? But I've seen it happen. I'd rather my rope stand a chance then taking more ft off of my 69m rope.

I have two that I use primarily when slinging a tree or something similar for TR work. I noticed they advertise these for protection against ice axe swings when Top roping ice routes, but that is definitely not their best use application. It would probably help deflect the axe, but if you pinched the rope between the ice and the axe(theoretically possible but highly unlikely) its going through that rubber no problem. Not to mention you have to slide it up into position every time you make a move, creating far too much fumbling around in my mind for any serious ice routes.

mattm wrote:I use them as edge protectors for route work. For TR ice stuff I guess I could see them helping but if you managed a direct hit you'd punch through them.

Same here. I appreciate them for edge protection on my anchor ropes for route development/TRing. They're kind of tricky to roll onto the rope but once they're on there, they'll definitely stay put. I could see it being useful for TRing ice climbs--roll it on the rope about arm's length above the climber and it would protect a little bit from sheath damage from an ice pick. The setup is annoying enough that I'd only do this if I were out with a group of new ice climbers TRing the same line repeatedly. If the rope is skinny and/or really slick, you might need to use a little duct tape strip on the ends of the Spiroll to help hold it in place.