My rope finally exposed its core yesterday...I was planning on cutting it but I had an aquaintence tell me to simply wrap it in tape and just use it for TR. Seems like a bad idea but I wanted to hear feedback from those with more wisdom than myself. Thoughts?

Is your life worth a couple hundred bucks?

Get a new rope and save the old one for non-life-threatening activities. Or, if you climb in the gym, chop it up and use the pieces for lead ropes in the gym.

--Marc

If your belayer breaks or lowers you and that sheath gives, the core could slide through and they could drop you. Better be some damn strong adhesive on that tape.

"Seems like a bad idea" is good way to put it

If the core is showing then it's safe to assume other sections of the rope have probably deteriorated too. Have you run it through your hand to look for flat spots?

I always lived by the saying if you have to ask... get a new one. This goes for ropes, wives, girlfriends, and food. Simple and makes life easy.

Kurtburt

using tape to hide a bad spot in a rope is a really bad idea, and pretty much every rigging/construction company that i have ever worked with or for would fire you for doing so on your first offense. one of the primary concerns is that you are then completely unable to have a visual clue to the state of the rope under the tape.

if somebody that i climbed with seriously recommended this to me, i would probably scratch them off of my 'partners' list, as it shows not only that they are an idiot, but that they also aren't too concerned about my well-being.

Slim is spot on.

Use tape only to limit fraying while bailing off whatever route caused the hole, then chop that section out of the rope once you get home.

If the core shot is near and end and the rest of the rope is still in good shape, chop it and use your new shorty rope per normal.

If you have an hourglass that is permanent, retire the rope. Full stop.

If you truly just wore down to the core, and it was not just one spot that abraded through, then you probably should have retired the rope long ago.

Time for a nice rug!

I think I got an old piece of webbing that is faded and brittle, I use as a name tag for my luggage. You can use as part of the TR anchor if you want ;)

RUG..........

TRASH>>>>>>>>>>>>

TOWING CORD>>>>>>>>

NO FKING WAY USE THAT ROPE TO EVEN TR ON........

The core is the load bearing part of your rope, and the sheath is to protect the core. If you've worn the sheath off, you will start wearing through its load bearing capacity. Period.

Get your favorite climbing store to cut the bad spots off, and use it as a short rope. For example, I now climb on a 59m rope because of some abrasion in a squeeze chimney.

Reminds me of the old saying, "Duct tape fixes everything...except broke ass climbing ropes."

Some 20 years ago we used to tape ropes for gym climbing (leading) in Eastern Europe. The reason? We couldn't afford new ropes. Amazingly the ropes never broke, even after very extensive over-use an repetitive taping.

My advise, don't push your luck. Get a new rope. Be smart, climb safe. Cut and dispose the old rope, or you will be constantly tempted to use it.

How does the core look? If its in nice condition cant you get it re-sheathed?

If that whole resheathing idea doesn't work you can always cut the core shot out of the rope and just tie it back together with a Euro Death Knot, backed up of course. You can also shorten one side of the rope so your core shot becomes the only middle mark that will get more obvious with time.

"when in doubt, throw it out"

words to live by.

Bail Cord!

Cut out the core shot part of the rope, of course before bailing on it.

hahahahaha. really?

That's what you do if you're stuck somewhere and your life depends on using your rope. That's not what you do if you cored your rope and are too cheap to get a new one for the crag.

It was knda close to the the end on my 70m so I cut it. Lost about 10 meters after the cutting it :(