It's getting to the stage when I should start thinking about replacing my first rope (which has, at a guess, another ~6 months life in it at current usage), and would appreciate any suggestions. The rope I'm replacing is a mammut infinity 9.5 dry, which I bought as do-everything rope a few years ago when I wasn't sure exactly what I would end up spending most of my time on. Current usage is ~5-10% alpine, 20% sport, 35% toprope, and 25% trad, and I get out every second weekend if I'm lucky. I like the weight and dry treatment of the current rope, which make it tolerable for alpine and long approaches, but am somewhat worried that the rope is a little on the thin side for extensive sport and toprope climbing. I'm a reasonably conservative climber, and don't tend to take significant lead falls, but often climb with people who are even more gumbyish than me, so there's often a fair bit of top-rope dogging.
The options I'm considering are: - replace with the a new version of the same rope - get a fatter rope and suffer on long approaches and alpine - get 2 half ropes (good for alpine and trad, but not for sport & toprope) - get a fat rope and a half rope and continue to use the current rope as a second half rope for trad
Ideally I'd get both a fatter rope and 2 half ropes, but I'm not sure the budget will stretch that far.
I'd appreciate any recommendations, many thanks, David
The first rope I got from a friend was a bluewater 10.5 than I got an exposed core from a rap on a tree so I ended up replacing it with a 9.8 sterling.
I do climb alot more often on it but the sheath has taken alot of damage so I don't expect it to last half the time the last one did. The reduced weight is really nice though so I am planing on getting probably a 10 next time in hopes that it fares better. I do probably 50 sport / 50 trad on it but alot of that has been on a 500ft slab wall so some of the wear could just be that.
doligo
·
Oct 29, 2014
·
Unknown Hometown
· Joined Sep 2008
· Points: 264
Get the same or similar rope and a tagline (could be a super skinny half or twin rope if you want more versatility), and use the current rope for top roping.
Retire old rope to top rope, buy similar rope. This assumes you want to continue on a single rope option.
Personally, I found ropes depend on the use. For top roping and slabs, I like my 10.5mm, though I wish it was 10.0 to 10.2. For trad, I like 8-8.5mm doubles. For ice I kind of prefer a thinner single (9.5ish) or twins. For canyons a static poly rope, if not technora.
But if I had just one rope, it would be a 9.6ish dry single.
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