Anchor with old rope

Hi y'all! 

I recently retired one of my outdoor ropes from use.

However, I still have a couple 20 foot sections of the rope. I am thinking of using it to build anchors for rappelling or top rope soloing. 

It is not core shot, sheat is still in tact, etc. I am just not whipping on it anymore. But, considering the rope you are climbing on absorbs most of the dynamic load, would it be okay to use these old sections of rope for anchor building? 

Yes, totally fine

Not Hobo Greg wrote:

Not bad but not ideal. Dynamic anchors are gonna stretch every time you load and unload em, so depending on where you climb, it’ll wear out much faster, and perhaps could core shot while you’re climbing or lowering/rappelling on it. A chunk of static rope is not super expensive and will last a really long time.

Thank you! I hadn't considered that before!

Even better is a length of static rope with two 18" sections of 1" tubular slid over it.  These can be moved to the spot(s) where the anchor goes over the edge and will mean the already durable static gets very little wear.  Depending upon where you plan to use this, I suspect you will want a piece that is longer than 20 feet.

With the sleeves installed, I am comfortable using 9 mill static, which tests to about 4,500 lbs.  it is lighter and much easier to handle than the 10 and 11 mill statics I see in common use.

Not Hobo Greg wrote:

Not bad but not ideal. Dynamic anchors are gonna stretch every time you load and unload em, so depending on where you climb, it’ll wear out much faster, and perhaps could core shot while you’re climbing or lowering/rappelling on it. A chunk of static rope is not super expensive and will last a really long time.

True, but in practical use we did this all the time setting up topropes for both our outdoor center and local climbing club, which was frequently over hard edges of basalt, and I don't remember even once having a rope get cut. Not that it won't happen, but I think the dynamic stretch of the climbing rope was accounting for a lot more of the forces than the multiple strands of rope tied together in a BKF for the anchor, reducing the impact on the anchor side

acrophobe wrote:

Even better is a length of static rope with two 18" sections of 1" tubular slid over it.  These can be moved to the spot(s) where the anchor goes over the edge and will mean the already durable static gets very little wear.  Depending upon where you plan to use this, I suspect you will want a piece that is longer than 20 feet.

With the sleeves installed, I am comfortable using 9 mill static, which tests to about 4,500 lbs.  it is lighter and much easier to handle than the 10 and 11 mill statics I see in common use.

When you say tubular, are you referring to tubular webbing? If so, is it okay to run a top rope through it even though thats textile rubbing against another textile?

Austin Brown wrote:

When you say tubular, are you referring to tubular webbing? If so, is it okay to run a top rope through it even though thats textile rubbing against another textile?

The tubular webbing is used a protective sleeve. Because it's an anchor there'll be little or no rubbing. 

To summarize - yes, you can use your old dynamic rope to build TR anchors.  Will it last as long as beefy static? No. But is it free and on-hand?  Yes. Go have fun.

Using the retired climbing rope for anchoring is fine, esp. if you're anchoring with two ends tied off (BoaBight in the middle).

As for rubbing of rope vs. tubular webbing surrounding it, I recall some old study where the anchor rope got more damage from being loaded over a carpet than on the bare rock (which can be smooth) --presumably a matter of frictional heat.

*kN*