UKC

Hi.
Purchasing two new ropes, one for sport climbing one for trad. Would love to make it as cheap as possible and one way I have found to do this is smaller lengths. I only trad climb in the Peak District therefore leading me to ask if a 50m rope would be suitable for trad climbing in the peak . Thanks

In reply to h.cook2000: fine for most things I'd say.

In reply to ceri: thanks

In reply to h.cook2000:

As you're trying to save money is there any reason you need a dedicated sport rope and a dedicated trad one? A 9.8mm single rope will work well for sport and if you're careful with your rope management and choice of route will do the job for trad quite well, if you get a 50m rope there are a lot of routes on the gritstone where you could fold it in two and use half rope technique if required, if you are going to do this do be careful with the length of the route and the amount of rope you need for the belay. If you're short on cash this is the usual way of doing it and you would be able to use it indoors as well.
If you are wanting to get two ropes I would suggest getting 1 single rope for sport and 1 half rope for trad and folding it in half. You can get a decent half rope for £85 (http://www.needlesports.com/32676/products/mammut-meteor-super-dry-8-3mm-60... I've linked the 60m length because you would be using it folded on all of the routes you would climb on it.

In reply to h.cook2000:

I'm a bit old school in my approach but have pretty much always climbed on a single 50. I do most of my climbing in the peak but also make regular trips elsewhere. For grit I also have 35m single that's is my favourite. So much less faffing. Obviously if you go sport climbing a lot it's worth getting longer double but I just use my mates.

In reply to h.cook2000:

Rocknrun are doing a pair of 50m halves for £95 at the minute which is a proper bargain. As others have said, a pair of halves and a single will cover all eventualities.
Make the single a 60m as you'll inevitably be cutting the ends of the rope as they get worn.

In reply to h.cook2000:
It's what I use without any issues, if I need to use double ropes then I just fold it over. It's significantly less fannying about than using half ropes in the Peak! Furthermore Grit tends to be mean to ropes anyway, so only having to replace one once it's worn out is substantially cheaper. The ideal situation is once you've cut the ends of a few times and got it down to 25-30 m, as you rarely have to pull more than 10 m of rope up!

However, if you ever want to go climbing where there a proper length routes that weave around a bit, then getting a pair of doubles and learning how they work will be super-handy. Controversially, the world is bigger than the Peak - if you venture out into North Wales you'll probably wonder what all the fuss is about regarding the Peak.

In reply to ianstevens:

I'm 15 so I won't be leaving the peak any time soon apart from family holiday to the Lake District

In reply to h.cook2000:

Fair enough! If you do get the chance to sneak away from your family and go climbing whilst in the Lakes, then again halves could be handy. Equally there are many routes which are straight and can be done with a single rope if you extend your runners sensibly.

In reply to ianstevens:

Haha I'm sure I'll be able to sneak away at some point. Thanks