My rope did not come with a middle marker so I am looking to mark it at the middle and at ten feet from either end. When I looked on my rope's tag it gave some very vague suggestion. Are sharpies ok? If not,what do you use?

Thanks,
Brooks

mountainproject.com/v/climbing_gear_discussion/how_should_i_>>>

done and done...

Scott, I just want to congratulate you on having the same thoughts as me about 90% of the time. I try to refrain from being a jerk, and it's nice to have someone else who points out the obvious so frequently.

Now if we could just get people to post in the correct forums. (not referring to this thread, but many many others)

Thanks Price!! It's my new crusade...before it was saving the good name of Boulder...today it's the newbie search!! HA!

Thanks Scott

i agree about not marking it near the ends. i don't really see any advantage in doing this, but i definitely have seen and heard the results of the disadvantage of doing this.

for the record, i sew some floss/thread into the sheath at the midpoint and this has worked great. you can feel it with your hand, so it is really helpful in the dark.

i'm out of town for a few days (as well as useless with a digital camera), but maybe somebody else can post a picture(?).

anyway, here is what i so. use a fairly sturdy sewing needle, get some bright colored upholstery or other strong thread, cut 3 pieces that are about 3 feet long and poke them through the thread (this will give you 6 threads about a foot and a half long after it is doubled through the needle). then poke the needle just through one of the small weaves of the sheath, just so it goes quickly underneath and then quickly back out, not too deep or into the core or anything like that. i do this in a spiral around the rope, with the pitch (spacing) of the spiral about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch approximately, and a total of about 5 times around the rope.

i have never seen any extra wear or other problems. it works great because you can FEEL it go through your belay device, but it doesn't really hang it up for anything like that. also, like i said previously, when you are rapping in the dark it is very easy to feel where the middle of the rope is.