Old but Never been used rope
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I'm looking for some advice about some climbing rope I was recently given. A close friend of mine that I have known for about 10 years and is my next door neighbor had a spool that had 600 feet of climbing rope on it. He gave it to me, it has NEVER been used, however he purchased it in 1998. He bought it and put it on a shelf located at the front of his garage and ended up not using it. He had intentions of using it due to being Special Forces but didn't. His garage is a relatively clean environment but I went ahead and removed the first layer of rope (about 130 feet) because he does have motorcycles that he very occasionally starts up in the garage. Should I ever use this rope to climb? I do mostly top roping. Rope is 7/16 blue water, very nice stuff. Even feels brand new, for sure has never been taken off the spool and I made sure that it's never gotten wet or been exposed to anything obviously bad (he is familiar enough with it that he knows it's never been damaged). |
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From the Bluewater site- How long will my rope last? |
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It's a common known fact that after five years ALL dynamic ropes MELT and become useless. |
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Based on your post name, I'm going to recommned you pre-soak that rope in a mixture of powdered glass and H2SO4 prior to rapping off a tall cliff....(I am one who only uses the center pylon, if you get my drift) |
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As long s we are on the subject of old ropes. |
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Man, how often does this question come up?? |
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Considering that you can usually find a fine new climbing rope on sale for a little over $100, why not just drop the coin and not worry about it? |
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I would never buy or use and old or used rope I knew nothing about... Why risk it when you can get pretty good deals online.... |
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oh and yes they have a shelf life... even if the rope has just sat they say after 5 or 6 years it looses its elasticity and cant absorb the impact from a fall, thus breaking far easier.... Just buy a rope |
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taylor januskiewiecz wrote:oh and yes they have a shelf life... even if the rope has just sat they say after 5 or 6 years it looses its elasticity and cant absorb the impact from a fall, thus breaking far easier.... Just buy a ropemmmmmm theuiaa.org/upload_area/fil… ;) |
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bearbreeder wrote: mmmmmm theuiaa.org/upload_area/fil… ;)haven't we seen and discussed this article before? It is 13 years old and maybe there is some new research out by now on the shelf life of ropes. I still believe the rope companies just want to cover their ass and sell more ropes. Believe a well stored rope has a very long rope life, much more than just 3-4 years. |
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I've taken whippers on 10+ year old ropes and they are soft. They are all somewhat short though being around 50m or less since the ends have been chopped off multiple times (where most of the wear occurs). |
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I came into two very old (at least 15 years old) but never used ropes. They are both much stretchier than what I am used to and I have been using ropes from many differnent manufacturers. I don't know if the stretchiness is from age or if thats just the way they were made. I haven't used either for leading yet and I am not sure I will. |
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I know all of the ropes history...I just gave it to you above. Like I said, the guy I got it from is one of my best friends. Spent 10 years in Special Forces and bought it for that but never used it. I've known and lived next to him for about 10 years and have personally seen that it has never left the shelf in the garage. Forgive me, I'm new to this site, I found this specifically for the purpose of asking this question. I'm trying to pay my way through college, no way I can afford a rope. It's a dynamic rope. |
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Wakeboarder - Just to double check, how do you know its a dynamic rope? Like I said, I likely have same 600 ft spool of Bluewater rope for similar reasons. Mine was black 7/16" static line. I did a fair amount of military climbing but my dynamics were never off a spool. |
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Woodchuck ATC wrote: haven't we seen and discussed this article before? It is 13 years old and maybe there is some new research out by now on the shelf life of ropes. I still believe the rope companies just want to cover their ass and sell more ropes. Believe a well stored rope has a very long rope life, much more than just 3-4 years.if anything ropes are getting "better" all the time ... which is why all these skinny singles are so popular these days as long the rope feels good, has no unusual wear/soft spots, and hasnt been exposed to chemicals or long term UV ... itll be fine for TRing of course for leading usage leads to loss of elasticity which can pose other problems heres an old accident report by the swedish climbing association several possible causes - the rope was inelastic ... due to age/use - the rope wrapped around the belayers arm and gave a "static belay" ... i guess they mean - that there wasnt any real slippage through the device - poor piece placement or walking of course thats al theory and guessing klatterforbundet.se/pdf/sak… |
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To protect their butts and sell more ropes, rope manufacturers spew short recommended life spans. Blue Water's recommended life span of 5 years for a dynamic and 10 years for a static is assuming "normal use," whatever that is. If you don't take big falls or lots of little falls on the same end of the rope or expose it to acid or organic solvents a rope could be safe to use for a lot longer. Storage in a cool, dark, dry, airtight place would be the best and could make a rope be useful for decades depending on how it is used while climbing. I quit using mine, or cut off the damaged section, when the core starts to show, or if there's a really flat spot. Your 7/16" rope should be a lot more durable than any of the skinny singles in use nowadays. |
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757wakeboarder wrote:I know all of the ropes history...I just gave it to you above. Like I said, the guy I got it from is one of my best friends. Spent 10 years in Special Forces and bought it for that but never used it. I've known and lived next to him for about 10 years and have personally seen that it has never left the shelf in the garage. Forgive me, I'm new to this site, I found this specifically for the purpose of asking this question. I'm trying to pay my way through college, no way I can afford a rope. It's a dynamic rope.I wouldn't take any of these replies personally. Stick around a while and you'll see that everyone gets a hard time about everything. The old rope question comes up often. Many of us old timers would be happy to use an old rope like yours (assuming no chemical damage) and many folks won't. There's no definitive answer. I do agree with Mark P that the static/dynamic distinction is crucial. Dynamic rope on a spool is a little unusual but not unheard of. Personally I wouldn't want to use static even for toproping, much less leading. |
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Thanks folks. I felt personally that I should replace the |
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I have found that wives are a greater risk to your personal well being than climbing on an old rope |
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Mark Pilate wrote:Wakeboarder - Just to double check, how do you know its a dynamic rope? Like I said, I likely have same 600 ft spool of Bluewater rope for similar reasons. Mine was black 7/16" static line. I did a fair amount of military climbing but my dynamics were never off a spool. If you've read the label, specs, etc and know 100% then OK. I don't mean to imply you're a dumbass, just that you said you are new to this site thus might be relatively new to climbing as well.have you ever held a dynamic rope? Have you ever held a static rope? Its not that hard to find out which it is! |