Buying a rope??

[Mike D]

OK, it's been the late 80's since I spent any amount of time climbing - God I'm getting old!! I got bit by the climbing bug last year and I was introduced to ice climbing this year - got the sickness bad!
Anyways, enough of that - I need a rope. A dry rope as I'd like to use for both rock and ice. As I'm a newbie, I'll be mostly top roping.

Anyone got an option? ... as to what is the best rope for my needs and useage.

Thanks in advance for the help with this purchase decision. Mike

[Fred]

This won't really answer your question but it might be a good piece of information if you are considering buying a rope for ice and rock.

In my experience the dry ropes don't hold up their dry 'coating' if they have been used on rock. It is best to use dry ropes for ice climbing solely on ice. Furthermore, a rope that has been used on rock and then goes out for ice climbing seems to stiffen up much quicker (fuzzy and loses ductility).

My recommendation would be to get two ropes, one dry and one non-dry to be used on ice and rock respectively. A big investment to start but the ropes together will out-do the life of one overtime.

As far as recommending ropes to buy... If you TR alot I would definitely stick to the 10 or 10.5 ropes. Smaller ropes will give you bigger stretch which is less comfortable for toproping.

[szymiec]

Take a look at these goodies:
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_deta ... 6159818220

You will need to buy 2 of them as they are half ropes but then you
will have all of the advantages of having 2 ropes.

or if you dont like the idea of having to clip each rope into alternate pieces of gear try these:
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_deta ... 6159960029

or if you just want a beefy rope that will last a long time try this:
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_deta ... 6159818217

and yes, i am a mammut fan.

Chris

[Fred]

I think where you are new to climbing you might want to stick away from using two ropes at once as Szymiec is suggesting.

[szymiec]

...sorry, i missed the beginner part.

[Zamboni]

Buy the cheapest rope you can find, and top rope with it till November / December. Than buy a nice dry rope for Ice.

Cb.

[granite_grrl]

If you can handle the price tag the Mammut Flash is one of the best beginner ropes out there. That puppy is a frikin work horse, lasts forever. Otherwise just go for a 10.5 that you can afford, don't need to spend a ton of cash on it if you're going to trash it TRing.

I wouldn't spend the extra cash on a dry rope that I'd use on rock, you'll wear it off before you get it on the ice.

[Shawn B]

Beal Flyer 10.2 or Top Gun 10.5 or Mammut Flash 10.5. All good ropes for lots of abuse that a beginner will give. I'd avoid the Mammut Galaxy 10mm. MEC's prices seem pretty good. IMO a dry rope should be ok for next winter after being used for one summer (depending on how much you use it and how hard you are on it). As Fred said, the dry coating will wear off and would probably be gone by the 2nd winter at which time you may want to consider doubles anyway.

[Adam]

i'd recommend getting a dual-pattern rope... ie., one that changes weave pattern on the sheath halfway, or in the least one with a definite mark at the halfway mark. seems like a minor feature but it is pretty damn handy in practice when setting up rappels etc.

the mammut flash duodess is a good option. i'm on my second and while they're kinda fat, they put up with a lot of toproping in my first couple seasons...

[Fred]

the Mammut Flash Duodess is a geat rope
avoid he Mammut Galaxy Duodess like the plague

For some reason it's like they were made of two completely different material from at opposite ends of the earth.



on a side note

I just got a Beal 9.7mm 60m non-dry for the rock season and comes in duodess for $157. Decent looking rope.

[Mike D]

Thank you everyone for all the advice. It's much appreciated.

What about length? 50m or 60m.
In my mind, the longer the more versatile.
Would a 50m be too short for most TRing in NB?

[martha]

60m is the way to go. any new (last 10 years) multi pitch routes or long single pitch routes would be made with anchors at 30m.

[Matt Peck]

Yeah, leave those 50m shoelaces at home. 60 or die. I used a 70 last year and loved it.

Mammut ropes suck, though the flash was allright for a beginner rope. Mark your middle with a black sharpie permanent marker in a stripe at least .5 meters long. You'll curse trying to find that faded 3 inch mark later on.

Buy 2 ropes like Fred said. You'll be hatin the frozen bar of a rope you'll get after the rock rubs off the dry coating.

Take care of your cord! Watch for edges, pull a hate crime on people who step on it, keep it clean, coil it properly, avoid leaving it in your car, and check it by hand for stiffies or nicks after every trip.

Also look online for proper first time uncoiling. If you just use it right out of the package it will kink like a mofo on you. Unwind it in the same way it is coiled the first time.
Then flake it like 10 times.