Can I cut my rope without damaging the sheath?

I'm a fool, so let's get that out of the way.

Maybe 15 feet above the ground, I heard a metallic thunk and look down to see my heavy open pocket knife laying on the rock near a small piled portion of the 8mm rope I'm ascending. Tanto point - burly knife.

Crap.

#1 - Did it even hit the rope? I have no idea, it could have and bounced slightly. It's laying a few inches away from section of rope.

#2 - Visual inspection? If I examine the sheath inch by inch, and see no damage, am I kidding myself that I didn't damage the core? Seems like that would be the case, but I'd rather not risk the life of my climbing partners if there is a chance.

#3 - Am I just dumb? Suck it up and buy new half rope and call it good?

I know I've heard cases of people stick crampon point/ice tools through the sheath and continuing to use the rope, claiming the core wasn't damaged...I've not got enough years under my belt on the rock to think I know everything (yet).

If you've got thoughts, share 'em por favor. Danke.

Yes, Adam, you are dumb or maybe just slow. Either way common sense dictates inspecting your rope hands on thoroughly to determine the amount of damage, if any. Was the knife stabbed in a rope when you saw it? Where the white thingies aka "the core" showing? Do you know to pull your pants down when you sit on a shitter? Lord have mercy! Get somebody to teach you "the ropes" ,oh, the irony!

Do yourself a favor and look up on YouTube "how to inspect a climbing rope for damage". I'm not kidding you. Get a mentor asap.

Wrong, on " no see damage, no damage"! What about shot core and dead spots? Gunkiemike watch the video too.

BTW , Adam, humor me and go hacking at a piece of rope with your ice tool a few times, then strength test it. Write a small article about it (how many times you hacked it and how many test falls it was subjected to afterwards). Post it on here. That will be a thread worth reading. And a cure for your boredom!

A little off subject, but I never heard about this "making THE sex" thing. Does it have a good cash return?

My $0.02... given those circumstances, if you don't see any damage, there's no damage.

And I love that "Vincent" takes you to task over this but he doesn't know the difference between core and sheath.

Vincent B. wrote:Yes, Adam, you are dumb or maybe just slow. Either way common sense dictates inspecting your rope hands on thoroughly to determine the amount of damage, if any. Was the knife stabbed in a rope when you saw it? Where the white thingies aka "the sheath" showing? Do you know to pull your pants down when you sit on a shitter? Lord have mercy! Get somebody to teach you "the ropes" ,oh, the irony!

Thanks for chiming in, Vincent. Because I've heard tales/seen pictures of crampons through ropes, or an ice tool (but threading between the cords of the sheath and core instead of cutting them,) I know you can penetrate the sheath in some manner, and it can appear relatively undamaged.

I'd imagine the odds are slim that the point of my knife did the same thing, and maybe cut a bit of the core, but those are odds I wasn't entirely stoked on, especially when it's not just my life on the line.

Incidentally, the "white thingies" are the core - if you're going to try and mock someone, proofread your shet ;)

OMG, yer gonna die.

One day, of old age or some accident or disease.

Stich - excellent point. I hope it's while I'm making the sex.

Nice back edit, Vincent. LOL! For those of us that actually require a mentor, here's a cross section of a typical climbing rope.

As you can see, there is the colorful part (the sheath) and the "white thingees" (the core). In theory, you could damage one, or some of the individual smaller white cords, that make up the core of the rope, without damaging them all.

I would imagine, a tactile inspection might miss a small cut in just one or two of them. Again, I know the odds of this are pretty dang slim, but I'm trying to be safe and not kill myself or Vincent when I'm dragging him up some icy gully and he's getting pumped just cleaning the ice screws ;) Chances are, if I hit directly enough with the point of the sharp knife, to cut the core at all, you could see some sort of small slice in the weave of the sheath as well. Chances are.

You are not dealing with hemp ropes here. Any damage a stupid dropped knife would do is negligible and apparently undetectable as well in your case. Climb the shit out of that rope until it is core shot from toproping over gniess edges and give no further thought to it.

as someone who has stabbed ropes with ice axes and crampons and continued to use them after a careful inspection and has not had any issues, I would say if you inspected the sheath and didn't find any nicks and the core felt good, then I would say stop worrying about it.

Then again it is you life... I wouldn't fault you if you threw it out. If you do though send it to me. I'd use it.

another thought just popped into my head. If it is near the end and you are that concerned, just chop the end off...

It's not near the end, unfortunately. The pitch wasn't that long, so quite a bit was on the ground.

I think I'll do another close inspection under a good light, and if it looks/feels intact, it is intact. Thanks for the input - even Vincent.

Vincent B. wrote:Yes, Adam, you are dumb or maybe just slow. Either way common sense dictates inspecting your rope hands on thoroughly to determine the amount of damage, if any. Was the knife stabbed in a rope when you saw it? Where the white thingies aka "the core" showing? Do you know to pull your pants down when you sit on a shitter? Lord have mercy! Get somebody to teach you "the ropes" ,oh, the irony! Do yourself a favor and look up on YouTube "how to inspect a climbing rope for damage". I'm not kidding you. Get a mentor asap. Wrong, on " no see damage, no damage"! What about shot core and dead spots? Gunkiemike watch the video too. BTW , Adam, humor me and go hacking at a piece of rope with your ice tool a few times, then strength test it. Write a small article about it (how many times you hacked it and how many test falls it was subjected to afterwards). Post it on here. That will be a thread worth reading. And a cure for your boredom! A little off subject, but I never heard about this "making THE sex" thing. Does it have a good cash return?

Vincent - love the way your earlier messages just grow and change. It's fun to guess what will happen next. Good thing you changed "sheath" to "core", because otherwise we'd have thought you were dumb. Phew! Dodged that bullet.

Did I hurt your feelings with the ice climbing/pumped comment? I was just kidding, please take no offense. Like sex, I'm sure ice climbing is a foreign concept to you as well.

Cheers!

EDIT: Wait, I think we have a new Trolleanor.

Brassmonkey wrote:I was the gunks recently at the base of Never Never Land and an opened pocket knife fell from way above us. It hit the wall and rocks on the ground and skipped on the ground through several people just missing them. Really? If people are going to climb with a knife make it one that isn't going to fall out of your pocket please. Jeesh. Sorry just a vent. Your rope is more than likely fine, visual inspection for sure. I personally would run the rope with some tension through a carabiner looking for any spots of damage or where the core might show through. If not climb on.

Good idea on the tension inspection, and great point about the knife. I felt like a moron, to be honest - luckily nobody was below the short drop. I usually carry a knife climbing, but not this knife. CLimbing knife is attached to me, this one was just clipped in my pocket, much heavier and bulkier than my climbing knife, and was easily shimmied out. Was less of a climbing day, and more of a hike/harvest bat poop day, so didn't swap out. Won't be on a rope with this setup again.

It is possible to damage the core (kern) without seeing any damage to the sheath (mantle)? Yes. However, the chances of a falling knife doing that are slim. With a crampon more possible, from a falling rock, more likely.

Years ago on the last rap from Moses in Canyonlands a cantaloupe sized rock fell and landed perfectly on my rope as it lay on the ground. The sheath was okay but the core got worked. No mater how much we rolled it, the core had a definite kink in it. Much worse than when a rope gets a flat spot in it after and especially hard whipper. That rope was cut into two sections.

My suggestion is inspect the cord, pinching along the mantle and check for a consistent feel any flat or mushy feeling is a sign of damage.

Ask the rope-whisperer if you are not a sensitive, for only your rope knows how much you hurt it otherwise.

Incidentally, I inspected the hell out of the rope on the drive up to vegas (took FOREVER) - looks great! Next time I'll work on my aim.