UKC

I my wife ran out of fuel yesterday, and I rescued the car by towing it with a climbing rope. Is it safe to use it for climbing?

The vehicle is a BMW X1. I was careful not to stretch the rope while doing so.

In reply to Aztec Bar:

This is a thing that's been asked a few times on the various climbing forums.

In reply to Aztec Bar:

According to your profile you have been climbing for 11 to 20 years, so what do you think.

In reply to Cammyammy:

Do Not Feed the Trolls.

In reply to Aztec Bar:

How long is the rope, and how much of it did you use between your two cars? Maybe you could cut that bit off and still have a useable rope? I certainly wouldn't climb on the bit you towed with - it's been stretched way beyond what it was made for, I would think.

In reply to Aztec Bar:

hmmm next time measure and mark the part of the rope used for the tow before. Then allowing a suitable time for the rope to settle back to as near its original size as possible measure again. The difference is how much the rope has plasticly [sp] deformed.

I would suggest any permanent deformation is undesirable but then when I replaced one of my pair of half ropes I was surprised to find the new one was a good 4ft shorter than the old one. It could have been made that way, shorter, or all the falls I made on the old one permanently stretched it, or is it just hanging 50m of rope over a ledge and rapping off it has permanently stretched it...?

Is all this too scarey, should I burn all my ropes as they are all dangerous and start free soloing as it is safer?

Im going to make some coffee.

In reply to Aztec Bar:

Depending how steep the bridge is use one of these
http://www.marlowropes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&am...

In reply to Ffion Blethyn:

Those are very good, I used to have one on my land rover.

In reply to Aztec Bar:


Maybe but I wouldn't.


You're kidding, right?

jk

In reply to jkarran:

Trip trop trip trop

In reply to Firestarter:

Indeed but just in case it's not there's no harm in a half way sensible answer.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

Agreed. Hence my post at 1124!

In reply to Aztec Bar:

No it's not safe.

In reply to Aztec Bar:

Measuring it to see if there's any permanent deformation might be interesting.
I think you should use Smoots as a unit.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

You need to trust your gear, asking the question in itself should be the only answer you need. Make a mat out of it?

In reply to Aztec Bar:

The phrase "money for old rope" comes to mind.

Its a shame. If it had been an m5 you might have gotten away with it.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:
So can I use it or not, (doh I'm not supposed to reply am I.)

In reply to Aztec Bar:

Are the two cars on a conveyor belt by any chance?

In reply to Aztec Bar:

Did the rope have a "dry" treatment and was it raining at the time?
Use the following simple formulae to help you decide.

No treatment + no rain = safe to use
Treatment + rain = safe to use
No treatment + rain = DANGEROUS, DO NOT USE AGAIN

Hope that helps

In reply to Aztec Bar:

Only if it was a spherical, frictionless rope in a vacuum.