In reply to Keiran.A:
Ice lines are renound for being not very hard wearing. I think the mammut pheonix are the gold standard 8mm ropes.
I've had pheonix for 6 years and have just replaced them (with 8.5 mm genesis), although they still have some life left in them.
I (and other ukc posters) found the pheonix 8mm to be very hard wearing ropes and they lasted better than my beal verdon II 9mm. Its hard to hypothesise why but I think the smaller rope has less rope drag which helps.
The main reasons I've gone back up to 8.5 mm from 8mm are:
- 8mm ropes are more likely to be cut through by a sharp edge. This means I tend to trust 1 8mm rope a lot less than an 8.5 / 9mm (usefull for routes with traverses in the middle and for taking up to seconds).
- As 8mm ropes get fluffy you are aware that they don't have the safety margins of a 8.5 mm rope, they hold roughly HALF the UIAA falls. This reduces their life span when I'd be happy using a similarly fluffy 8.5mm rope.
- 8.5mm ropes retain their elasticity better through their life time (of repeated falls) than 8mm ropes.
- 8mm ropes definately seem to tangle more
- 8.5mm ropes are safer for belaying in standard devices for 8mm you should really get specialist devices like the buggette.
- In theory the genesis should be more hard wearing than the pheonix, there is more sheath to wear.
The primary reason I bought 8mm was I was doing a lot of summer/winter stuff in Scotland when I lived there and weight saving was worthwhile, now I live in the south my priorities are different as the majority of my climbing is cragging.