UKC

About to get some new half ropes (well overdue). Mine are 60 but I've climbed on friends' 50s and far prefer them hence I'm minded to get 50s.

Consensus seems to be that if you're sticking to UK trad / know where you're going to climb (i.e. nothing huge) then 50s are worth getting.

I climb trad almost exclusively in North Wales. Only potential problem scenarios I can come up with:

- Dorys, would they be too short to set up belays?
- Tremadog, Barbarian abseil might leave you stranded on 50s?
- Cromlech, might struggle with setting up a belay?

Can anyone think of any others?

Abseiling in shouldn't be an issue as we usually have an ab rope.

Cheers.

In reply to ksjs: I have never climbed on 60m ropes in North Wales, probably never will, and cannot foresee me ever having any problems just using my 50m ones on the basis of having climbed routes on pretty much every major mountain crag in the area.

I certainly never had any problem when I did Barbarian and have climbed on the Cromlech stacks of times without any thoughts about rope length ever entering my head.

In reply to ksjs:

This is a troll, right?

In reply to Clauso: You WILL struggle to set up a belay on 50s if you do Cemetary Gates for example (lower than main section of that face), Byzantium (Dorys) was surprisingly long with belay set back a bit, I'm not sure how I would have got on on 50s here, I think you'd make it to the 'ledge' area you can scramble to at the Barbarian abseil but no lower and down-climbing the last section wouldn't be much fun if damp / dark.

I've done virtually nothing on Main Cliff at Gogarth nor have I climbed at every single crag in North Wales so there's every chance there's situations where 50s might be deal breakers. Quite a few experienced folk wouldn't be without 60s in N Wales. I'd like to make an informed decision.

So no, in short, this isn't a troll.

In reply to ksjs:
>

I wouldn't struggle at all; I've never climbed harder than VS so Cemetery Gates certainly wouldn't be on my radar...

No troll then. Fair enough. Just wondered.

In reply to ksjs: 50 metres is sufficient for both climbing and abseiling on every UK crag that I have climbed on in the past 45 years. In England and Wales that means most of them. The only time you are likely to encounter problems is if you start running pitches together.

Al

In reply to Gaston Rubberpants: You might have the casting vote. 50s it is unless someone can come up with something everyone's overlooked.

In reply to Gaston Rubberpants:
>. The only time you are likely to encounter problems is if you start running pitches together.

Like people do on Cemetery Gates!

In reply to the OP
I have used 50's (or shorter!) for the last 40 years, I will not buy 60's when I next buy new ropes.
It is worth remembering that when I started a 120 ft (36.6m) single rope was normal, I bought 150ft (45.7m) ropes in the late 70's when they became the new standard and did not change to 50m (164ft) until the 90's.