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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Nov 21, 2014 - 05:36pm PT
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120' military surplus 7/16", bought in a San Diego surplus store. OD in color, actually crackled when it was unwound from its little reel. Never held a leader fall, obviously. After it got dinged I gave a piece to my girlfriend who used it to tie up her horse. Horse jerked his head, broke it.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 21, 2014 - 05:44pm PT
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LOL - I kind of figured...
I have found that pretty much any rope under 9.4 doesn't hold up if you are beating it up - PETZL, Mammut, and others just wear out faster in the thin diameters.
I pretty much stick to 9.6 and bigger since discovering that, and with the exception of the Beal, have had pretty good luck in the 9.6 to 9.8 range - the Sterling 9.6 I have had for 6 years is a work-horse!
Sadly, it is pretty dead now...but just gets dirty fast - the sheath is holding up damn well.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 22, 2014 - 04:40am PT
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Mister E,
have you noticed any correlation with the ropes that are super stiff and that these ones wear more quickly? I see mention of this on this thread of the Chouinard Rope as stiff as cable and wearing quickly. My Chouinard rope that was stiff wore though the sheath quite soon and the soon failed Sterling 9.2 I make mention of was very stiff.
My theory of stiff ropes wearing more quickly is because stiff ropes do not flatten over rubbing/contact points with the rock and this reduced area causes a much higher local stress at the contact point.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Nov 22, 2014 - 04:54am PT
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Any Beal rope.
Agreed. Those way too supple Beal ropes back in the 80's scared the crap out of me. I felt like I was climbing on soba noodles.
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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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Nov 22, 2014 - 08:08am PT
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bhilden's description of the MSR rope was spot on.
I bought on in 1974 because it was cheap. And it also twisted, snarled and stretched in perverse ways. Had only a short life as my climbing rope yet I still have remnants of that rope, now serving as 12' long llama lead ropes.
Considering how long it has been since anyone bought an MSR (40 years?), it says at lot for its claim to be "the worst" - and it is nonetheless still receiving so much mention in this thread. Must have created some really horrid memories to not be forgotten after all those years.
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ruppell
climber
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Nov 22, 2014 - 09:47am PT
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Bluewater. Haven't owned one in over ten years now. My current go to is the Petzle 9.4 Fuse. I've tried countless times to destroy this thing and it just won't die. I also use Beal 8.6 Cobras for long alpine routes and have found them to be equally bomber. Sure they stretch a bit but isn't that what you want a dynamic rope to do?
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lars johansen
Trad climber
West Marin, CA
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Nov 22, 2014 - 11:18am PT
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I agree with Peter, early Mammut was known for being a kinky mess. I'll stick with Edelweiss.
lars
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clockclimb
Trad climber
Orem, Utah
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Nov 22, 2014 - 05:43pm PT
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My Edelweiss ropes are extremely stiff. Good otherwise.
Best ropes: Maxim, PMI
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ruppell
climber
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Nov 22, 2014 - 05:57pm PT
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Blond for sure.
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rurprider
Trad climber
Mt. Rubidoux
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Nov 22, 2014 - 07:02pm PT
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Sterling for sure. Used to love Sterling, but the last two Sterling ropes picked up dirt and aluminum oxide like nobody's business. Dirtiest ropes I've even owned. Also, had core showing on both ropes within two days of moderate climbing. Switched to Bluewater and love it.
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Gene
climber
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Nov 22, 2014 - 07:25pm PT
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Gotta go with the MSR bungee cord.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 22, 2014 - 09:39pm PT
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A Sterling 9.2 mm. The sheath simply disintegrated in one day of sport climbing and TR-ing.
this will sound like a strange question: what color was the sheath?
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Bad Climber
climber
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Nov 23, 2014 - 06:26am PT
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Beal seems to be winning here for worst rope competition. I've never owned this brand. Most of my ropes have been okay if not great, but I'm with eKat and others on the old Chouinard steel cables--total crap. I also had an early gen. Maxim that had brutal sheath slippage such that after a few trips I had dangling, coreless tips that I had to cut back and re-seal. To Maxim's credit, they've seemed to have fixed their process, and on a more recent SuperTopo recommendation we bought a "Glider," which proved to be an excellent cord. Presently we're climbing on a rope recommended by Ty up at Wilson's in Bishop. It's a 9.7 Mammut 70 m bi-color dry. What a great rope!
At 52 and officially "old skool"--though not in Donini's league!--I've been shocked at the ever-decreasing diameters of ropes. This is our first sub-10mm rope, and boy, do we love it. Packs smaller and lighter than shorter, fatter ropes, and at the end of a long pitch, it sure is easy to pull up for the clip! I can't believe folks are now leading on sub-9mm single ropes.
BAd
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 23, 2014 - 06:47pm PT
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Ed,
The Sterling 9.2 was florescent scarlet. Sterling may have called the color some other variety of such a red/orange.
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Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
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Nov 23, 2014 - 06:50pm PT
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I'm first with SkyLine Blue?! My first rope. Hideous!!
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SicMic
climber
across the street from Marshall
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Nov 23, 2014 - 07:50pm PT
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I've been pretty lucky with all the ropes I've had over the years.
I remember a Sterling that had bad sheath slip (got rid of it very quickly), and a Rivory that seemed to die prematurely.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Nov 23, 2014 - 07:55pm PT
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blueh2o
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 23, 2014 - 08:23pm PT
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I had a pink one that didn't work out so well, but the green one and my new blue one are fine... I don't know what the issue was, but it seemed related to the color (which sounds weird, but there you have it).
My first 9.2 Sterling Fusion Nano, the bright green one, lasted 5 hard years and still is fine, I still use it but not for leading. It's not so bright anymore...
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Nov 23, 2014 - 09:43pm PT
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P.S. We had a manila rope at one point, too. A leader fall on that would not be fun.
Appropriate value for the low cost, though.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 23, 2014 - 10:30pm PT
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Half inch manilla fiber rope from Sears in 1953. Rap that sucker around your body as you rappel and you're pulling out splinter fibers from your back for weeks. Those guys from the 1890s were tough.
Those guys from the 1890's were clad in half-inch thick boiled wool that could have served as the material for oven mitts.
I've used Mammut Genesis 8.5 half ropes for fifteen years or more. My latest set seems to kink up more easily than the previous ones, but all of them have worn like iron---I retire them because I think "its time," not because of any visible wear that would be concerning.
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