UKC

I have an Edelweiss Rocklight II rope and for some reason it seems to enjoy turning itself into a birds nest.

Ive tried coiling it every which way but it still does it, drives me and my brother mad!

Is it me? Or is it because its the cheapest rope i could find? I used my mates Petzl rope for a session and it was great, no tangles and smooth as silk.

Something that can cause this even with a well-used rope is if a left handed person uncoils or coils a rope that has been previously done by a right handed person. As a left hander I always coil and uncoil my own ropes.

Try coiling it this way and see if it helps.

https://www.petzl.com/GB/en/Sport/How-to-coil-the-rope-

It sounds as if you have a certain amount of twisting "embedded" in the rope.  This can happen over time, or it can happen immediately if you don't uncoil a brand-new rope correctly.

If this is true, then no coiling method is going to do anything. (Proper coiling can keep the twisting from becoming worse, but can't relieve what is already there.)   If you can hang the rope free for a while from the top of a crag with a little weight on it, this will give it a chance to unwind.  Otherwise, hang a draw somewhere, clip in an end of the rope, and pull the entire rope through.  Do this back and forth a few times.

Once you've removed at least some of the embedded twists, butterfly rather than mountaineer coiling is more likely to keep the rope twist-free.  It is also helpful to not have the second tie in on the first pitch until the leader has lead the pitch and pulled up all the slack.  This gives the rope a chance to unwind each time you climb and avoids trapping in twists by "freezing" both ends.  Just make sure to pay attention so that the leader doesn't pull the ends of the rope out of reach!

(In the US, this suggestion generally elicits a chorus of denunciations, since the currently demanded partner-checking can't be carried out on an unroped second.)

I usually make a backpack coil with the rope coiled double.  This means that twists are put in the ends in opposite senses (from the perspective of a straight rope path) and so they cancel each other out (if they get the chance when the rope is used).

I'v found that lowering off whilst feeding the rope through the belay plate off centre is particularly bad for putting a twist in a rope, followed by threading a lower off in a way that puts a twist in the rope.

Bast thing to do I've found is to find a dog shit free field and just drag the rope across it a few times pulling from either end in turn.  This gives the twist at least some chance of working its way out.

dangle of a high building / multi story car park. Then double butterfly coil it, starting from the middle.

Replying to all, Ive tried all ways with the coiling, Butterfly from one end, the middle and alpine style, still turns into a horrendous ball of rubbish when you come to use it.

Ive tried gently laying it out after coiling and picking up one end but it always ends in disaster, and lowering people of sports routes is a PITA, kinks galore, i think its just a naff rope?

Have you tried shouting at it, preferably swear words.

Have you tried ironing it?

(This is a joke)

I lap coil mine from the middle and that solves any twists.

Take the rope for a walk. Honestly, this is not a joke. Find a nice clean grassy area, uncoil to rope, pick up one end and walk, as you drag the rope behind you through the grass most of the twists roll out. Sounds odd but I've found it works and walk my ropes a coupe of times a year.

On the general point of price and handling, like most things you do get what you pay for.

As people have said try to run the whole rope out and let it untwist, once untwisted lap coil from the centre (any +ve twist on one side get matched by a -ve twist on the other).  Then every session try to remember to run the rope through, flake it out or pull it through from the short end and it will usually stay twist free.

If it came coiled and you just pulled it out it will have one twist for every coil that was there. In normal use the twists get push back along the rope as you pay out and pretty soon your pile is a tangled mess with a life of its own.  Avoiding or removing these initial twists is the key to a nicely behaved rope.