New rope technology - pretty convincing.

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G_Gnome

Trad climber

In the mountains... somewhere...

Dec 10, 2010 - 08:27pm PT

But how are it's dynamic properties? I don't jug so I don't care about pulling the sheath off unless this also is still as dynamic as a regular rope.

HighDesertDJ

Trad climber

Swimming in LEB tears.

Dec 10, 2010 - 08:37pm PT

That would make me feel a damn lot better while on a wall. I always did walls with one of those Eidos Mammoths or whatever it was called. Cost me a pretty penny but the piece of mind was worth every cent. I get really wigged out about that stuff when I'm up on a wall for whatever reason.

Banquo

Trad climber

Morgan Hill, CA (Mo' Hill)

Dec 11, 2010 - 10:54pm PT

I wonder how much weight they had hanging on the rope.

Fishy

climber

Zurich, Switzerland

Dec 12, 2010 - 06:18am PT

The argument "but how often are you jumaring near the end of the rope??" really seems to miss the point.

This rope is obviously significantly less likely to suffer a major sheath failure when rubbing on an edge. With normal ropes if you cut one-half of the sheath, then the rest can simply break (as per the video). With the Unicore, the only way it can break is if it is cut all the way around (much less likely).

The Unicore ropes do however have somewhat higher impact forces (8.5 kN), and seem to be marketed primarily for undoor use (exploiting their seeminlgy higher resistance to lot of use and abuse).

So whilst they may offer a much reduced chance of major sheath failure, there may be other trade-offs to consider.

Maybe an ideal wall rope, as long as the belay is nice and dynamic?

As they are not produced for "normal" lead use, it would seem there must be some other downside, maybe the handling as stated above.

Morgan

Trad climber

East Coast

Dec 13, 2010 - 09:30am PT

@ Banquo. I think it was 80kg.

ulybaZZa

Trad climber

Bonn, Germany

Dec 15, 2010 - 06:43am PT

By the way, 8.5 kN is not a high impact rating

Well, it's kind of high for Beal though.

//wild guessing mode on
Most of their ropes are in the 7s, which I believe is achieved by having somewhat higher dynamic stretch ratio. Wall Master seems to have dynamic stretch similar to other Beal ropes but higher impact rating. It might be that unicore does reduce the dynamic properties of the rope and that is the reason why it's not used in all ropes.
//wild guessing mode off

ulybaZZa

Trad climber

Bonn, Germany

Dec 15, 2010 - 06:54am PT

Also, if you compare the number of falls of Wall Master 10.5 (8) to other 10.5 ropes from Beal, it's less (TopGun is 11 falls for example, and they even have Booster III which tested for 9 falls while being only 9.7mm). Another evidence of reduced dynamic properties.

Euroford

Trad climber

Louisville, CO

Dec 15, 2010 - 09:50am PT

i don't really see what the debate is about, thats cool, i want one.

Matt M

Trad climber

Alamo City

Dec 15, 2010 - 11:40am PT

Yeah, seems like a solid design and the 8.4kN impact force is still good and pretty much par for the rest of the ropes out there (other than Beal).

Anyone know where to find a 10.2mm version in something other than spool (200m) length?

A 70m x 10.2mm would be a sweet wall rope.

English version with a bit more info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtURlhPssQI

adatesman

climber

philadelphia, pa

Dec 15, 2010 - 11:42am PT

Been thinking about this video a bit, and it occurs to me that the test is actually more severe than it looks. I don't know the specifics of the regular rope used in the test, but most are constructed as a 24 strand hollow weave over the nylon core. On my Beal Joker (the only Beal I have handy) each strand in the sheath makes one full rotation in every 1.030". The cut in the video looks to me to be about an inch long, and if that's the case they are in fact cutting _all_ of the strands of the sheath (same as if they had cut around the circumference). In that case it isn't surprising that the sheath slipped, as there was nothing holding it in place. This also makes a good case for their new design which doesn't slip when _all_ of the sheath strands are cut.

Then again, how often do we hear about 1" long gashes being cut completely through the sheath longitudinally on a rope? Severe abrasion, sure, but that still leaves the sheath attached and can be mitigated by bigger thicker sheaths (a la Mammut Supersafe)

-aric.

Matt M

Trad climber

Alamo City

Dec 15, 2010 - 11:54am PT

Other ropes that were/are marketed and "safer" against cutting:

Edelweiss - Their Stratos and now the Sharp. My understanding is that Edelweiss incorporated a special "thread" ala fishing line into the rope to resist full cut failure.

Mammut - The supersafe has what they describe as a Teflon coating to help resist cutting. I've also thought there was more to their sheath, maybe another layer?

The Beal design really appeals to me on several levels. As a Gym rope, the middle shouldn't get all thick from the sheath slowing moving that way due to all the lowering.

Outside, the cut resistance seems pretty awesome. I'd like to see tests with a cut perpendicular to the rope as well (more typical of a rope over a sharp edge)

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Dec 15, 2010 - 08:58pm PT

Remember the old MSR ropes from the early '70's? They were a similar, solid unit construction. No sheath, but not a layed, rope. They came in a bland color and you dyed them yourself. Some kinds of dye caused them to bleed into snow...