Incredibly stiff BD 6mm Static Accessory Cord

In 2022 I bought a 6mm static accessory cord from BD to use as a tagline. It was remarkably stiff and wiry out of the box, and I hoped that it would loosen up with use, but it hasn’t (though I also don’t really end up using it much because it is such a pain). Has anyone had any success getting this or similar cords to soften up, or should I just give up and buy a new tagline?

Is the stiffness not what makes it behave like a 7.5-8mm in the rappel device? Three feet of the Esprit APER can be held  horizontally without bending, which I consider a plus when rapping on it… I will note that you stated “tagline,” not ”rap line,” so maybe you’re actually only using it to tag gear? For tagging gear, I don’t see why anyone would bring larger than 4mm cord, and no more than 75ft or so…

The intention when I bought it was to be able to use it as both a tag line and a rap line. It handles fine in the rappel device, and maybe a little stiffness helps there, but it gets so tangled that it’s definitely not good tradeoff

You trying to sell it?

Norman Pelak wrote:

The intention when I bought it was to be able to use it as both a tag line and a rap line. It handles fine in the rappel device, and maybe a little stiffness helps there, but it gets so tangled that it’s definitely not good tradeoff

They are harder to manage at belays but certainly less prone to getting tangled than the non-stiff mm rap lines 

Norman, as much as I love my APER, I will never just drop it on the first rap (I rarely drop ropes anyway, but that’s another discussion).

I always spool it off my arm on the first rap, at least until I’m halfway down, then I’ll consider dropping the rest of the spool, but not before then, as it does indeed often end up fusterclucked. Once it’s been through one rap, then it seems fine but yes, as it sounds like you’re discovered, just dropping the whole spool is not a good idea. 

Obviously you can always take the knotted end, grab 20-30ft of that, toss it, and then continue to pay it out in that manner. I think it’s just nature of the beast with this method, I’d probably do the same thing even with two full size ropes, honestly.

I have pretty good luck doing the exact opposite. Hold on to 20-30 ft of the end, feed the rest of the rope down, then toss the end last. Or clove it to my harness while I rap. Andy Kirkpatrick goes through benefits of that in his book Down. I’ll have to try spooling the Aper off of my arm next time I take it out, it can be a pain sometimes. 

Christian, I don’t typically try to throw it when rapping (if I did it would tend to bunch up about 10 ft below me) but instead I bring it down with me and feed it out, I just find it pretty annoying to do so. Coiling it around the arm might help (I have tried more of a saddlebag method but the sling just ends up being one more thing to get tangled). But overall what I’m getting is that this type of rope may just be a lot stiffer than what I was expecting? So I probably need to either deal with it or buy a new rope. Thanks all!

I haven’t used BD’s stiff cord, but the stiffness is one of the perks of the APER. You can rap with it like a regular rope (it creeps a little bit, so set your rappel up appropriately), and it doesn’t turn into a 60 or 70 meter horrendous tangle the way that a supple skinny cord will. But really what you want from it will decide if it’s right for you or not. 

Stiff is of paramount importance in a tag line:

1. When you pull it, it is not a prone to tie itself in knots and stick to things as it falls, but bounce off them.

The whole: "You can put it in your belay device and the stiffness makes it handle like a larger rope" thing... Ignore these people and do a blocked single strand rap with tag line for retrieval. Don't do this foolish EDK business with a tagline, that is not what it is meant for.

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

The whole: "You can put it in your belay device and the stiffness makes it handle like a larger rope" thing... Ignore these people and do a blocked single strand rap with tag line for retrieval. Don't do this foolish EDK business with a tagline, that is not what it is meant for.

This is all good and dandy till your rope gets stuck and you have to re lead a pitch of sketchy 11+ on a 6 mm tagline.  Take my word for it, that single lead was and will be way more dangerous than the ropes migrating a couple feet through the anchor.  Which isn’t even really a thing if you are paying attention and do any mitigation.  I pretty much always set the raps up to pull the lead line.  This seems pretty standard in my group of fairly experienced partners.  

Obviously everyone has had different experiences that shape their decision making.  Mine have pretty much lead me away from doing the biner block unless it is the only option.

And that BD rope isn’t a half bad knock off of the Esprit.  Though I’d still prefer it to be more coarse and stiff.

Mikey Schaefer wrote:

This is all good and dandy till your rope gets stuck and you have to re lead a pitch of sketchy 11+ on a 6 mm tagline.  Take my word for it, that single lead was and will be way more dangerous than the ropes migrating a couple feet through the anchor.  Which isn’t even really a thing if you are paying attention and do any mitigation.  I pretty much always set the raps up to pull the lead line.  This seems pretty standard in my group of fairly experienced partners.  

Obviously everyone has had different experiences that shape their decision making.  Mine have pretty much lead me away from doing the biner block unless it is the only option.

And that BD rope isn’t a half bad knock off of the Esprit.  Though I’d still prefer it to be more coarse and stiff.

That’s interesting, I definitely learned to put the thicker (lead) rope through the rap rings, and that’s also what I’ve observed others doing. But putting the 6mm through the rap rings instead doesn’t seem like it would significantly increase the risk, and as you say, in a stuck-rope situation you’d much rather end up with the lead line

https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/rappel-pull-cords-101?format=amp

Good article talking about some pros and cons of pulling fat vs pulling skinny or doing a knot block vs not.

In my experience I’ve always tried to pull the lead rope through for two reasons: easier to pull and nice to have a lead rope with you instead of your tagline. Often times though I’ll leave the same joining knot and alternate pulling skinny vs fat. Pretty easy to retie however and keep on pulling the lead rope. Also never experienced an issue with the slight rope migration when rappelling both strands and not doing a not block but the article above points out some tricks to mitigate that.