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Looking for a New Rope

Original Post
Andy Koosman · · Rapid City, SD · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 395

Hey,

I have been using an Edelweiss Element 10.2 mm rope for a while. I'm looking to buy a new rope this off-season and would like some input.

Traits I would like include:
-dynamic
-70 m
-dry treated
-9.8-10.1 mm
-middle mark or bi-pattern

I'd like a lightweight rope that can handle some abuse while staying workable. If you have a rope that meets some or all of these conditions, please let me know your feelings about it.

DBarton · · CENTENNIAL, CO · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 105

I love my New England Glider (9.9) 70m. I also see them on sale here and there. Holds up well and has awesome hand to it. Nice colors and you have the option of bi-pattern (i wet cheap and did not get this option).

JSlack · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 155

I would also recommend New England ropes. I did half dome last summer and we took my brand new Edelrid and my buddy's year old New England rope. We used the ropes interchangeably so each went through pretty much the same wear and tear. By the time we topped out, my rope looked fairly thrashed (though no internal damage) and my friend's New England rope still looked like new. Their sheath technology is impressive and next time I buy a rope it will be New England.

Kevin Connolly · · CO · Joined Sep 2009 · Points: 0

ive had an element for a while and think its a great rope, just a little to fat. i recently bought a bluewater lightning 9.7 and am very pleased with it. seems a bit burlier than other 9.7s but much easier to handle than the element. no middle mark on mine and im not sure if you can get a bi-pattern but ive climbed on a lot of different ropes and this one is by far my favorite.

Billcoe · · Pacific Northwet · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 930

New England does make great ropes. Beal has a solid performer too in that range, so does Edelweiss, Edelrid and a few others. Not Cousin. Not Petzl. In fact, Do NOT buy the Petzl ropes. They had a batch of some that literally fell apart within a couple of weeks, then they didn't stand behind them and told the sellers to piss up a rope. (presumably another brand). You can search on Rockclimbing for all that trauma. Do a search for "Shit ropes", "new ropes that fall apart" or "Petzl ropes". Same-same.

Although I swore I wouldn't EVER buy a Petzl rope, my inner gear whore went nutz when REI put the 9.4 x 70 Petzl on sale for $88 dollars. Holy shit that's dirt cheap for a 9.4 x 70m. My sweet but older @3 years) 9.4 70m Bluewater Dominator was aging and I figured I'd buy the new one and open her up next year or the year after...such a sick price. Yet a buddy brought his Petzl 9.4 x 70 down to Red Rocks last month, and despite being relatively new, it was a total POS. Total P.O.S. First, despite being relatively new, his has stiffened: much like a steel cable. Certainly much much more than my old 9.4. Not a good trait. But worse than that, much worse and perhaps even life threatening in this case was the fact that it kinked badly. By badly let me say that in 38 years of climbing I've never seen one kink that bad. We were on some long easy route...Birdland, and it looked like it carried a twist as I flaked it out on the goround, so I showed my friend how to clip it to your harness with a tail so when the leader hit the first belay you could roll it around and untwist it before you tied in, even if the leader couldn't hear you. Neat trick but simple, basically don't tie in but just clip the end to your harness gear loop with 5 feet of slack so the leader doesn't pull it all the way up as they set up the belay). Yet that wasn't enough and it still kinked anyway on the route. I explained to my buddy that you need to unroll ropes when new or they will kink and I was told that not only had he down that but that full length raps didn't seem to help make it unkink like most other ropes he'd encountered.

We rapped the 7 raps to the round, which normally would fix any kink issues for some time. The next day they carried that rope up Epinephrine (without the old guy), and lo and behold I was told that it kinked up so badly mid route, despite the fact that they were only normally swapping leads: that they had to untie and unkink it. That would have been fine but the fucker got stuck on a flake below and it was an extra 1/2 hour.

Trust me, if you blow a half hour on a route like epi, at 1900' or whatever the hell it is, you might be sleeping on the cactus in 20 degree weather because of it. It's bad....real real bad. That those guys were on top by 1:07pm (by my watch as I'd hiked up with shoes and water) in no part mitigates the Petzls piss poor performance.

In fact I'm selling that POS. I paid $88.93. It's for sale for $150 right now.

Anyone?... ?

Anyone ?

Hmmm, poor sales skillz. I need to put it on ebay.

darrell hodges · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2008 · Points: 380

I love the Bluewater Lightning Pro 9.7. Very durable, stretchy and soft catching (but not ridiculous like the Petzl). Nice feel- not "cable-y", slides through a Gri Gri easily when feeding slack fast and yet locks it up quickly as well. It comes in a bi-color also.

I'm not so keen Petzl ropes. I wouldn't recommend one or buy one.

Andrew Blease · · Bartlett, NH · Joined Apr 2010 · Points: 470

Sterling ropes all the way. I have a 10.2x60m Evolution Kosmos that I love. It's tough and it's lasted through some hard climbing and big falls, no issues at all and it handles great. I also have Sterling Marathon 8.8mm doubles and they are really great. Double ropes are the way to go. Sterling is a bit cheaper than other companies too.

cride · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2008 · Points: 70

I second on how bad the Petzl ropes are. They kink and do all the things a rope shouldn't in climbing.

Anyway, I love Millet ropes. They last really long. I guess it is because they make their ropes with "3" cores (triaxiale). Specifically I use the Diamax 10.2 mm for my single dynamic. I think all of Millet ropes are dry treated unless you are looking at their "eco" ropes. I don't see durability as one of the traits you are looking for, but if you do decide to make it a factor, then check out the Millet ropes.

Ben Walburn · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2007 · Points: 680

Sterling makes a light 9.7 (cant remember the name). I climbed on it for a year (I live outside boulder and climbed on it every week, year round) before using it for a haul line on El Cap and another wall. Then continued to burn it out at Rifle later that year. This was an incredibly long lasting rope, I can't even begin to recount the amount of times I've taken bigs falls on it. I'm gonna buy another one soon.

Bought a Beal rope once and it blew apart from day 1.
Mammut makes fantastic cords as well.

R. Moran · · Moab , UT · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 140

Mammut Tusk or Edelweiss Laser

Dan CO · · Boulder, CO · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 60

I love my sterling marathon 10.2 This was season number 2 and it has held up exceptionally well. A friend recommended the marathon to the evolution velocity for its durability, but I have heard great things about the evolution velocity 9.8, available with all those traits you were looking for (bi color / 70 meter etc..)

Mike Humphries · · Arvada, CO · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 85

Mammut tusk 9.8 is a wonderful rope, one of the best I've ever climbed on. The Beal in the same diameter range is great to with a bit more stretch. For sport go with the tusk....... trad go Beal or perhaps the Blue water's lightning pro

mongoose · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2010 · Points: 0
darrell hodges wrote:I love the Bluewater Lightning Pro 9.7. Very durable, stretchy and soft catching (but not ridiculous like the Petzl). Nice feel- not "cable-y", slides through a Gri Gri easily when feeding slack fast and yet locks it up quickly as well. It comes in a bi-color also. I'm not so keen Petzl ropes. I wouldn't recommend one or buy one.
+1
Greg Gavin · · SLC, UT · Joined Oct 2008 · Points: 888
R. Moran wrote:Mammut Tusk
I've had a Tusk for a year, and have put many, many miles on it. It still performs like it did when I first got it.
John Farrell · · Phoenix, AZ · Joined Jan 2009 · Points: 85

I really like Edelrid ropes, and I am quite happy with them. I have been using one for just over two years for sport climbing and it's still going good.

My Petzl Fuse on the other hand is a different story. I never had the kink problems mentioned above. However, I wasn't too impressed with the durability on the rope. In fact, it just got core shot last weekend. I have been using it as my multi-pitch rope for just over a year, so I guess I got good life out of it since I too bought it when REI had it on sale. In that year I used it, it looked more beat up than my Edelrid which gets a lot more use.

To replace it, I ordered the 9.4 Sterling Ion 2 because I got a killer deal on one. I climbed on one once, and I liked it... But mainly because I got a great price on it.

But for the most part, I am very partial to Edelrid.

jack s. · · Kamloops, BC · Joined Jan 2011 · Points: 10

+1 for not getting Petzl ropes. My half line shredded after 8 uses. Every time we rappeled the sheath would flake off until it core shot about 5 feet of rope. Petzl would not stand by the rope. My Petzl rope is now used for cord.

Now I use PMI Verglas half lines, which hold up and handle very well. I am not sure about PMI single lines, but I really love both my PMI half line and static line.

NC Rock Climber · · The Oven, AKA Phoenix · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 60
John Wilder wrote:imho, the single best rope on the market today for all around use is the Sterling Evolution Velocity- 9.8mm line. I've owned them as my primary line for years and its always my go to rope- its beefy enough to take a beating, but skinny enough to not be a bear to lug around. It's got a solid set of specs- impact force, falls, etc, etc- there are ropes out there that give softer falls, but arent as durable. there are ropes out there that are more durable, but dont handle as well or give as soft a catch...the Velocity does everything pretty damn good to excellent, depending on what you're doing...
+1

I have a Biathalon, my regular climbing partner has a Velocity. IMHO, Sterling is the most durable rope out there, and you cannot go wrong with any of their products.
bag · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2008 · Points: 0

Here's another vote for the Sterling velocity in that diameter (9.8). Best all purpose rope I've owned in 15 years. Plus Sharma works 5.15b/c with it, it's gotta be the rope, right?

I also like the Petzl Fuse 9.4, like a few people here and unlike several others. We've owned 2 of them, done tons of long free routes with em, jugged em on grade V's, etc. I find the stiffer than usual feel to be an asset, not a problem. But that rope is skinnier than what you're looking for, and I haven't owned the 9. or whatever they make, I think it's called the nomad.

Beal ropes suck ass, don't buy one unless you want to throw it away in June.

Ivan Paredes · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2013 · Points: 0

Hi, I just bought an Edelrid Hawk 10 x 60m ... what do you think about it?

dylandylandylandylan anddylan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2012 · Points: 107

I've had two sterling marathons, and I'm in the market for a70 evolution too. They are a great company and their ropes lastforever and feel great.

Adam Block · · Tucson, AZ · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 1,180

I own an Edelrid Eagle 9.8 and I love the rope, I actually just bought another dry 50m Edelrid 10.3mm on Sierra for $87 as I like having a shorter rope around and even with it being a 10.3 it'll still save me a little weight by being 10m shorter.

Edelrid doesn't have a huge following in the US but I am super happy with the rope. I also bought 4 Edelrid harnesses while I was at it so we'll see how I like those.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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