UKC

UKC Competition winner Scott Allen won his Sterling 'Sharma' Rope a couple of weekes ago and headed straight off to El Chorro for some redpointing once he'd picked the rope up from The Beta Team in Sheffield.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=3198

In reply to UKC Gear: I know lots of people do, but according to the Petzl you should not use a Grigri on ropes of less width than 10 mms - http://www.petzl.com/us/outdoor/belay-devices-0/grigri Scott mentions it is slick, but I think the review should also mention that a 9.8 mm rope is outside of the manufacturer's recommendations. I guess it is one of those 'on your own head be it' issues.

In reply to TobyA:
Hey Toby,

Maybe check the product info on the grigri....

1. Field of application
Belay device for 10 to 11 mm (9.7 mm is acceptable) CE (EN 892)
and/or UIAA certified dynamic single ropes (core + sheath).
The GRIGRI is designed for indoor wall climbing or for rock climbing
on well-protected routes where anchors meet the EN/UIAA standard
(25 kN). It can be used to belay and lower a leader or a second.
It should not be used for mountaineering or adventure climbing.

All new ropes are slick with a grigri and my 9.7mm rope after breaking it in now works perfectly with a grigri.

Cheers

Craig

In reply to creag: Cheers Craig. I thought I remembered people saying it was now 'officially' OK on a bit sub-10 mm ropes, but when I checked on Petzl website at the link above, that web page only said 10-11 mm. I know of one guy who very nearly decked from high up recently because of slick rope and probably bad belaying (holding down the lever), hence it was on my mind!

BTW, do you reckon 9.7 is thick enough to not be terrifying when top roping above a big drop? I remember doing that for the first time on my Revelation (9.1mm) and being absolutely terrified it looked so thin! I have a Beal Joker now (great rope) but always use my old 10.5 Beal for top roping and working routes due to cowardice on skinny ropes as much as anything!

In reply to TobyA:
Hi Toby,
I guess it's a case of just getting used to it. I had a brand new Beal booster 9.7mm and used it mostly at the wall. First few times we had to use a friction krab when lowering off with the grigri due to the slickness but as the rope wore in, it began to work fine. I suppose the solution is now in hand with the new grigri which I believe is designed for slightly thinner ropes.
I guess its a mental thing with the thinness of ropes, my biggest worry is not the rope or belay device.. it's the ability of the belayer!!!

Cheers

In reply to UKC Gear: Is the guy in the picture doing a ground up ascent on that on that route ?

In reply to krabi123: I heard thats how he gets all his routes!!!

In reply to TobyA:

Toby it's all a bit arbitrary since the diameters are often not comparable between manufacturers. IIRC there is a very detailed standard which specifies how the rope is tensioned prior to measuring etc etc but singularly fails to address the force appiled to the measuring calipers. So, if I wanted my new rope to measure 8.9mm I just squeeze as hard as :@&*.

Is the grigri safer on a 10mm measured by just kissing the sides of the rope or on a 9.6 that had the bejeesus squeezed out of it in the measuring (that you or I would probably measure at 10.2)? The more I look into rope stats, the more farcical it all becomes.
Iain

In reply to IainWhitehouse: Fair point Iain. But I guess Petzl have to give out some guidelines for liability reasons if nowt else. And there are enough stories of people going a long way on skinny ropes when using various different belay devices to give me pause. I went from an original ATC to a reverso a decade ago after abbing off the S. Face of the midi thinking - "damn, I wish I wasn't need to hold these ropes so tight!" (I did have a prussik back up, but still not a nice feeling).