Back in the day

Back in the day- of like, the FA of the nose, and PO wall...did they have dynamic and static ropes?

Somebody correct me if i'm wrong but up until the early 1940s or so i believe climbers used whatever farm/utility - grade ropes they could get their hands on. Nylon was developed by the military just prior to wwII and introduced to the climbing culture after that but dynamic ropes wouldn't follow until even years from then. I've read somewhere that a group tested the types of ropes used before nylon and found that most broke at loads not much more than an average climber's weight.

The FA of the NW face of Half-Dome - completed 6/28/1957 -- Over 1200' of nylon rope used:

2 ea 120' 7/16" climbing ropes
1 ea 150' 7/16" hauling rope
2 ea 300' 5/16" rap ropes
1 ea 150' 5/16" hauling rope
1 ea 90' 5/16" hauling rope

(just received a copy of a conservation mag; simply coincidence of the topic)

FA of the Nose and Half Dome were done using goldline, which is nylon braided rope, not kernmantle. Such ropes are terribly stiff compared to modern kernmantle ropes, but stretched more under body weight, also twisted like mad. I don't think there was any difference between ropes used for leading and hauling, except maybe rope age and diameter. Since jumars didn't appear in Yosemite until 1963, I guess they just pulled their bags up hand over hand, or over a biner.

To jug the ropes they used prussic loops, just loops of thin nylon cord around the rope. Everyone should try to climb a 50m free-hanging rope using this technique. It is exhausting and can take forever.

Steve Roper's book: Camp 4 is a good source for such historical info.

An interesting idea would be a modern ascent of the Nose using original FA equipment. This was done on the Eiger recently, would be a fun reenactment! Of course I guess we don't want to be hammering pitons, so the rack would have to be modern.

If I recall correctly, a new Goldline was like a cross between a bungee cord and a rubber band. They stretched like crazy.
An old Goldline would have most of the stretch pulled out and it became pretty stiff.

Yeah Tom, I agree that a new Goldline rope was very stretchy, something like 17% elongation.

I did a double rope rap in the rain with my 11mm kernmantle and my 3/8 inch Goldline. When I got to the bottom and took my weight off the rope, about 15 feet of Goldline went through my hand in a nano-second. I had the scar for years!