Edelweiss Rope = Black Hands?

Well, I did some Googling on this. I find a lot of references to black hands and aluminum oxide, but little about black hands and dry coatings. So either the aluminum oxide thing is a right-wing myth, or it's true.

Dirt and alumninum oxide would seem to be the more likely explanation. Why Edelweiss? Could be sheath design or coating type, as some have said, that causes it to retain this dust better. Or, it could it be that you use this rope more for sport climbing where lowering and rapping are frequent?

MikeP wrote: I'll give this a shot - hopefully it'll help. I find it odd though that other peoples ropes that I climb on and belay with don't have the same problem, surely my rope can't be picking up that much more dust/stuff.

They probably wash their ropes.

Over the years I have contemplated this issue. My conclusion is that some ropes have a harder sheath. The result is more abrasion on your carabiners and more aluminum on your rope and hands. I have also noticed the Edelweiss ropes do this the most.

On what kind of rock are you climbing ?

Our local limestone turns our ropes and thus hands black.
Use the same rope on the local granite, no problem.

Paul Davidson wrote:On what kind of rock are you climbing ? Our local limestone turns our ropes and thus hands black. Use the same rope on the local granite, no problem.

predominately granite, some pegmatite and gneiss, but mostly granite. I'm pretty sure now that its alum. oxide dust from the gear. Gonna give the rope a really good bath and see if it doesn't get better for a little while.

It's just aluminum oxide, bro. Don't panic. Throw it in the tub with about 15-20 gal. of lukewarm water and about a 1oz. shot of Woolite. Agitate by hand for about 5 minutes. Dry your hands and go smoke a bowl, have a snack. Come back to the tub and agitate for a few more minutes (flaking back and forth under water from one end of the tub to the other works well). Drain the tub. Rinse by agitating and flaking back and forth under the tap for a few minutes.

Here's the really important part. Drying. DO NOT HANG YOUR WET ROPE TO DRY. The weight of the water will cause it to stretch a bit, reducing the amount of stretch available when it's dry, thus making it more static.... Instead, flake the rope loosely on a clean floor in a well ventilated room, out of direct sunlight. Every few hours go back to your rope and re-flake it to expose different parts. Drying takes about a day and a half here in Denver where the air is thin and dry. If that doesn't work, smoke two bowls between agitations. If that doesn't work, seek psychiatric help for your OCD....

" Agitate by hand for about 5 minutes. Dry your hands and go smoke a bowl, have a snack."

Thats awesome!!!

LMAO!!!

Good advice there Rigger.....

I did the bathttub treatment and it made a world of difference, made one mell of a hess in the tub though, but that cleaned up easily enough.

Thanks for all the help.

I have this problem with my "newer" rope.  It has two seasons on it.  Started thinking it was from rapping faster than average.  Frequent washing seems only very temporary solution. (I use a commercial front load on delicate with woolite.)  I don't keep my ropes forever, and will retire this one way before anyone else would even think of it.  

Can one of you engineers  confirm or deny that faster rappels would or would not leave more aluminum residue on your rope.  

Also some selling points that came with my rope:

• Pro Dry treatment applied to both the core and the sheath passes the UIAA water-repellent test by absorbing less than 2% of the rope's weight in water
• Thermo Shield treatment employs a heat process to stabilize individual yarns, ensuring the rope stays supple throughout its working lifetime
• 
  

You may actually be a bot if….

you resurrected a 15 year old thread to talk about dirt on ropes. 

Not a bot. Also, if he made a new thread someone would be at his neck about there “already being a thread on this” 

Try using a steel carabiner for belaying and rappelling.  I recommend the Edelrid bulletproof which has a minimal weight penality.  

No one else mentioned it, but make sure you clean out your grigri if you’re using one. Mine was caked with aluminum oxide and it made my rope gross to use. 

My edelweiss rope does this but my Mammut doesn’t.

lolololololol... that this was ever a thread to begin with

Aluminum dust, dirt, oils... yes, you will get black ropes and hands if your rope runs against aluminum. All our ropes run against aluminum. You can mitigate by using steel, like Edelweiss Bulletproof carabiners... but yes, inevitable. The other reason people use gloves to belay.

Camdon Kay wrote:

Not a bot. Also, if he made a new thread someone would be at his neck about there “already being a thread on this” 

This isn't the rockclimbing.com forums.