UKC

I have a 60m rope which, when I coil it from the middle, ends up with a ~1m "tail". It's only a couple of years old, had few outings, and only a few modest lead falls. One bigger fall, but not a massive "whipper" by any means, and with a soft catch (light belayer!).

Is this apparent permanent stretch normal?

Was it originally exactly in the middle when new? Is your coiling technique millimetre-perfect? It's probably a combination of those two factors.

Are you certain the middle marker was in the right place to start with?  Occam's razor and all that. 

Just forget it. It doesn't matter 😁

just trim the rope if you feel it need to be dead centre

try telling that to the people of Middlemarch.

Yes, as you'd hope from any recognised brand.

Nobody's is, but it's reasonably consistent, as is the presence and length of the "tail".

An easy way to double check would be to hold the two lose ends together then pull both pairs through, when there is no rope left you should be at the middle marker.

I'm more interested in whether this is to be expected, or is an indication of a faulty or somehow damaged rope.

Ropes tend to shrink with use, stretch and recover after abseils and falls.

Are you just using one end all the time ?

Generally if it looks and feels OK it probably is, unless its been near a car battery or other acid.

You mean  take a metre out of the middle?

I've had the sheath 'scooch' up towards one end when I used a rope brush before. For a 1m difference you only need 50cm scooch over 60m. Do you alternate ends regularly?

I doubt it matters as the sheath will protect the core just the same, but no expert

It is because of Brexit. No need to stick to red tape rules from Brussels that say that middle markers need to be in the middle of the rope. They should be free to migrate wherever!

Otherwise, do you alternate rope ends? If the lead falls you refer to all were on the same end and the belayer caught you on the same side of the middle marker (i.e. falling below 15m for a 60 rope) some stretch in that range seems normal. As long as you cannot see external damage or feel soft patches in the core I would not worry too much.

CB

I'd think so. To quote Mammut:

Due to their construction, every core sheath rope shrinks during use. Depending on the weather (heat, moisture), terrain (dust, sand) and usage (guide rope, top rope, lead) a rope's length may contract by 5-10%. In extreme cases, this shrinkage may be even higher. To be able to guarantee the stated rope length, we cut the rope around 2.5% longer than specified!

Yes, it was the lack of recovery (after months without use) that bothered me

No, alternating between climbs, but it really hasn't had that much use. (7 day trips?)

👍

All good on that front - sheath looks like new, no soft spots.

Wow, okay. I didn't know that, and I wouldn't have expected it to be that much in any event. Not sure how that translates to uneven shrinkage across the length of the rope, but it could explain it.

Perfectly normal, yes. Nothing to worry about.

have you ran it out and folded it in half?

It would be easier to extend the middle mark toward the long end until it's in the middle again .

I'm not sure if any of my ropes have the middle mark dead in the middle. My mammut half ropes aren't even the length they specify, they gave me a few spare meters.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/gear/middle_marker_moved-725720?v=1#x9299...