UKC

I was climbing at Harpur Hill quarry today and a hold broke off in my hand and dropped to the floor landing on my rope next to my belayer belaying me on top rope. Fortunately it missed my belayer who thankfully was wearing his helmet.

Anyway the rock (now at home as a trophy) weighs about 2lbs (so a kilo say) and dropped about 5m onto my rope. It has scuffed the sheath on the rope but hasn't cut it to the core. It's about 8m from the end of a 60m rope. If it was your rope would you ignore it or cut the rope down to about 50m.

My thought is i don't really know if anything has happened on the inside.

Would appreciate folks comments, thank you.

In reply to bonebag:

Cut it. No question.

In reply to bonebag:

Short answer - If you're in doubt, cut it. Not worth the gamble.

Otherwise, its really hard to know just from a description. Take it to someone who works in rope access or rigging, and they could inspect it for you. Maybe its fine, but its impossible to say without handling it.

In reply to bonebag:
If it was mine I'd chop it, no point risking your life for 10 metres of rope.

In reply to Wsdconst:

Thanks guys. I think you have answered my question. I do have a good friend who works in rope access so will show it him too.

Thanks again.

In reply to
rope is cheap. Life is not.

In reply to bonebag:

There's no conceivable way the core can have been cut without sustaining significant and visual damage to the sheath. If you only have minor scuffs the core will be completely fine and as strong as ever. From your description I'd keep using it and not give it a second thought.
The problem is that our brains don't always work logically, and if you're struggling to really accept that it's fine then you'll need to cut it for your own peace of mind. Better to use a shorter good rope you're happy with than a longer good rope you no longer trust.

In reply to john arran:

Thanks John. Going to show it to my rope access friend also. Always good to hear what other folks think.

In reply to bonebag:

To be honest I wouldn't bother to show it to a RAT, I work on the ropes and its one thing us putting an isolation loop in a rope for access but we aren't falling on them , take Johns advice

In reply to bonebag:

If there is any doubt, then there is no doubt.

In reply to john arran:
>> scuffed the sheath on the rope but hasn't cut it to the core.

+1.
There were similar tests done with tromping on rope w/crampons showing that the impaled rope was fine.

*kN*

In reply to bonebag:

The normal checks are to feel your ways along the rope to feel for soft spots and roll a loop passed the damaged part to see if the radius of the loop changes at the potential damaged part. If the rope folds sharply at the damaged part and or feels soft at the damaged part then it's certain there is core damage and you should chop it.
If you do chop it be sure to re-mark the centres (if you have centre marks) to avoid confusion if you or a friend is setting up an abseil on a single rope and better still always tie knots in the rope ends/get your second to tie in if multi pitching.
It's crazy how many accidents are reported to Rock+Ice related to abbing off/lowering people off the ends of a rope.

In reply to bonebag:

No one that works with rope as PPE is going to recommend anything other than cutting it. Take John's advice. Give it the feel test and if it feels fine it's all good.