Creaky rope

Have a Beal Stinger, bought in '06, that is now REALLY creaky when lowering, guess it's time to retire, and no the whole thing creaks, not just the middle mark.

Just wondering if washing it will do any good or what the deal is.

In my case you couldn't tell rope creaking from all the joint creaking going on; maybe the case if you too are old, fat and dinged up pretty good?

Mike Lane wrote:In my case you couldn't tell rope creaking from all the joint creaking going on; maybe the case if you too are old, fat and dinged up pretty good?

Definitely dinged up and old, but not fat, and it very much WAS the rope, belayer had mucho squeaking as it ran through the Cinch, and squeaked at anchors AND a few draws to boot.

Might be that I'm old and cheap, never had a prior rope do that either tho......

I had the same issue with a beal (booster?) 9.7mm pink thing. The middle mark is inked in and got way stiff and creaky after a couple of seasons. That spot felt completely different from the rest of the rope, looked a bit skinnier and brittle. It did strange things when going through the grigri.

I was going to cut 20' off each end when they got too worn and use the rope for short stuff but ended up retiring it due to that spot bothering me. I've been thinking about tossing it away, maybe I'll take it to BD and see if they're interested in pull-testing it.

Boissal wrote:I had the same issue with a beal (booster?) 9.7mm pink thing. The middle mark is inked in and got way stiff and creaky after a couple of seasons. That spot felt completely different from the rest of the rope, looked a bit skinnier and brittle. It did strange things when going through the grigri. I was going to cut 20' off each end when they got too worn and use the rope for short stuff but ended up retiring it due to that spot bothering me. I've been thinking about tossing it away, maybe I'll take it to BD and see if they're interested in pull-testing it.

Yeah but the WHOLE rope creaks!

Hey man,

This isn't the first time someone has had this issue. It has been brought up in another thread as well:

mountainproject.com/v/climb…

Hope this helps.

Climb on!
-Mac
"If the answer was 13 RURP's and a Bat Hook, what was the question?"

MacM wrote:Hey man, This isn't the first time someone has had this issue. It has been brought up in another thread as well: mountainproject.com/v/climb…

Actually, that was just about the middle mark creaking when handled, THIS is about the whole damn rope creaking when lowering.

Thanks!

I found that a good washing tends to 'lubricate' the inner rope and stop the creaking. Perfectly good rope shouldn't be tossed I say.

Woodchuck ATC wrote:I found that a good washing tends to 'lubricate' the inner rope and stop the creaking. Perfectly good rope shouldn't be tossed I say.

Since I am old AND cheap, I'm going to try the wash, since I already own the rope wash......

I'm old and cheap and creaky myself. Occasionally wash off my grime and scum between climbs.