Which 70m rope offers the most number of pitches per dollar?

Higher end ropes like the Sterling Marathon last longer, but for the same price you can almost get two cheapo ropes.

So one has to wonder which rope offers the most number of pitches per dollar?

Assumptions:
70m single rope with diameter smaller than 10.3mm.
All climbs are done in dry conditions, in easily accessible places and on moderate trad routes. So weight don't matter and very few falls. But rope will likely drag across edges and cracks.
Prices = common sale price

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Any specific suggestions of brand/model would be most appreciated!

What are you climbing on? You can get infinitely more climbs on quartzite than sandstone, rapping/lowering/walking off

Wolf L wrote: Higher end ropes like the Sterling Marathon last longer, but for the same price you can almost get two cheapo ropes.

Is your climb in an area where getting supplies to the area is difficult? Like, shipped by yak? Then I'd probably go with the more expensive, longer lasting rope.

any maxim rope will cost more up front... but eventually just come a cable that you retire because you hate it... not because it unsafe. their new 70m paltium is pretty spiffy and will be my next cord at that diameter. ideal rack or ropes from them would be a 60 and 80m 9.1 airliner, 70m 9.5, pinnicle in bipattern, and  70m 9.8 platinum  

Hurrah! Sanity returns to rope selection. I wholeheartedly agree. Cheaper is best for all of those reasons. Ropes are consumables.

The key to buying almost anything: shop when you don't HAVE to buy it. Be it a car, or rope, or ...

I scored a $95 deal on a Bluewater 60m dry rope. Sale/closeout + coupon. So I kept it unopened for at least a year while I wore out my other ropes.
Paying $250+ for a "durable" rope, won't get you more value per dollar, IMO.
Buying cheap like this also lets you get a beefier crag rope and a thinner multi-pitch rope, so you have options for the same outlay as one, full-priced, newest tech, etc rope.

Just my $.02

Thanks for the thoughts!! Any specific recommendation for a "cheap but good" 70m?

This website has some pretty good deals on ropes, but don't tell anybody:

https://www.alpenglowgear.com/beal-edlinger-ii-102mm-climbing-rope.html

I've been using the Beal Booster series (2 so far) and I've been happy with them for everything except toproping. They're often on sale for around $125 in 70m and I haven't had any durability issues. 

Sterling marathon 10.1 

Lowering is the biggest contributor to rope wear.  If you can avoid lowering and you aren't whipping regularly on the rope then ropes get very little wear.

patto wrote: Lowering is the biggest contributor to rope wear.  If you can avoid lowering and you aren't whipping regularly on the rope then ropes get very little wear.

What do you propose in favor of lowering? Rappelling? Down climbing? BASE jumping?

These Maxim Ropes have served me extremely well!! I have the bi-pattern Glider 9.9mm. I've taken a handful of decent(15ft+/-) whips on it, dozens of raps off and the sheath hasn't even begun to wear or fray. After probably 70 pitches under it's core, it's still going strong. It's been worth my hard earned money. However, your pitch mileage may vary; YPMMV. ;) 

Wolf L wrote:

At least that's what I'm gonna tell my wife 

.....“Misogynistic response about overruling a female”

How about that’s what I tell myself when I don’t have a reasonable understanding of my financial situation.
“Women don’t buy ropes! I’ll assume all purchasers are evading a ladies commen sense and spending what they don’t have” 

Anonymous wrote:

I have a Beal Booster III, 9.7 in 70M. I got a decent deal on it as well ($135 a few years back). It's been a good rope. You might find a thinner rope, with a 7 fall rating, however, not sure you can beat the price per pitches per dollar (that's not a claim, I'm actually unsure, as it's been sometime since I researched ropes.)

OGL says it's a good buy but, not the best for TR cause the stretch, as you also said Dan:

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/climbing/climbing-rope/beal-booster-iii

I haven't had a lot of issues with that myself, doesn't seem that stretchy too me but, I don't fall a lot and don't have a crag in my backyard to use it as much as others etc..

I'll third the Booster.  I also have the 9.7 and find it to be a good all-around rope.  I don't really use it for top-roping except for my 5 year old, have used it for a couple of years and it shows little sign of wear.  Primarily used on basalt, so not the most abrasive, but plenty of rough edges it's been run over.  I think I paid about $130 for it as well, and feel it's money well spent.  The rope seems to have at least a few more good years in it.  

I just get the cheapest one. Shop around, throw some coupon codes. Managed to get mine 70m Tendon Smart Lite 9.8mm for ~€53. Not even old stock, produced a few months earlier. 

I prefer a cheap rope, so I have even fewer issues just replacing it when needed.

I've always gone cheapest possible route with ropes. You can usually score some great deals on Mammut ropes, like right now on Backcountry. Many people seem to have had problems with them, but I've had 3 Mammuts in the 9.8-9.4 range in the past 6 years and loved each rope. I also got a steal of a deal on the Beal Booster III 70m that it seems like several upthread also got a few years back. It's  sitting in my gear bin in the original packaging due to my Mammut Infinity still going and going.

Kevin Pula wrote:

.....“Misogynistic response about overruling a female”

How about that’s what I tell myself when I don’t have a reasonable understanding of my financial situation.
“Women don’t buy ropes! I’ll assume all purchasers are evading a ladies commen sense and spending what they don’t have” 

OK I deleted that post. It was in bad taste and I do apologize. 

There's some tests run by mammut claiming that dry rope is much more durable than regular ones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ9Ni7gNCh8

Don't know whether that's true in the real world.

My Sterling Ion R 9.4 and Mammut Infinity 9.5 dry ropes last many years and just don't die. I typically wait for sales or coupons and buy a nice dry rope and that strategy has served me well I feel. The few cheaper non-dry ropes haven't lasted nearly as long. I'd guess that I've saved more $ over the years with this strategy. The cheap ropes that I have bought for about 50-60% of the price of a 'good' one have lasted less than 50-60% of the time/abuse that a good rope has. Barring a cut or crampon puncture, etc, which I have had very few, KOW. Unless indoors, only, there have been many times that I'm gad I had a dry, even in the desert SW, and it contributes a lot to the durability IME. Mammut Protect ropes might be the best bang for buck.
joe

I love the handling of Mammut ropes, but a 70m 8.9mm "Serinity" shrank to 62m in the course of 4-5 years of normal, 3-4 x/month usage. ( I found this out doing single-rope-raps where the stations were 33-34m apart. )  I think the super-shrinking was limited to the 8.9mm (I understand that rope is now 8.7mm) as one of their 60m 9.2's is just fine after longer use.  Neither is really marketed as a "long life" rope, but they do fine.

However, now I measure each rope at the beginning of each season.  I have a 100ft marked out with a 100ft tape measure and check the rope's length.

Handling and water-repellancy are super important to me, longevity next and....price less so.