UKC

I am looking to buy a single rope, and I need it to be suitable for trad as well as for sport. I found a nice rope (beal stinger 9.4 golden dry), but there seems to be a concern that it's not designed for trad, as its high elongation (37%) puts you at too high a risk of decking. I have a few questions:

-what features make a single rope suitable for trad? What features make it unsuitable?

-what is the maximum elongation you would accept in a single rope for trad climbing? Does a 37% dynamic elongation make it unsuitable?

-any advice on ropes I can buy? I would prefer to spend no more than £160.

The short answer is that any single rope will be fine for trad - they all meet the same standard.

If you are price conscious then decathlon sell a 10mm 60m single rope for £80. That will be fine too.

long answer to follow...

Longer answer:

All single ropes are fine.

You can pay a lot more if you want your rope to be light - this is a compromise against price and longevity.  If you are small or do long walk-ins, or are rich,  then buy a light rope.

You can pay more for dry treatment. If you want to do winter climbing, then get this. Otherwise, it improves the handling a bit but may not be worth it.

Some ropes seem to last longer than others. Edelrid ropes, in my experience wear out far faster than Mammut ropes. This is hard to work out from the specs, but it often explains pricing differences.
More expensive ropes often handle better. This is a subjective area, its hard to quantify the difference.

Dynamic elongation is largely irrelevant. If you used very thin and stretchy half ropes for grit routes it may be unsuitable, otherwise, don't worry about it.

Another vote for Decathlon's Simond 10mm 60m single rope. An ideal first rope for a great price.

As for your question regarding dynamic rope elongation. Most dynamic climbing ropes have a dynamic elongation between 10% and 40%. A large dynamic elongation does increase the risk of falling to the ground or to a ledge, simple because the rope stretches more when you fall. This can be preferable for those using the rope for winter or alpine climbing, in these situations, a fall with a higher dynamic rope elongation means a longer fall but less impact force on the climber, belayer and gear. as you can imagine, a big plus in certain situations, specifically in winter where gear/belay's aren't always as reliable. 

Hope you find what you're looking for  

To be honest does it really matter, when your'e struggling on sketchy ground and trying to get a wire in fearing for your life, the last thing on your mind is if your rope  is going to stretch 35 or 37 %

Somewhat of topic, but I wouldn’t want a single rope for trad...

I agree with Mark here.

I was always told to be careful climbing trad on a sport rope, as the sport rope is not as stretchy and will shock the gear more, and even if you extend well, you will always have more chance of pulling the gear out at angles.

Of course this is all situation dependent  and if your climbing straight cracks with bomber gear at Stanage then it doesn't matter.

Do modern thin sport ropes have the same stretch / impact on the gear as a half rope?

I would go for all the dry treatments. AFAIK megga increase in durability. Worth the money. 

I never almost never climb trad on same rope as sport. Simple reason being that I climb virtually every trad route on double ropes. So many advantages to this. 

However, if you do want to lead trad on a single then, as others have said, pretty much any will do. BTW the Beal Stinger 9.4 is my rope for sport and it's a great rope which handles well. If I did lead trad on a single I'd have no qualms about using the Stinger. 

What you want in a single rope for trad is two of them

please ignore generalisations about impact and single vs double ropes because it entirely depends on the situation, the rope you are using and the way you are placing your gear. Yes you can reduce impact with double ropes, but the concept that using a single strand of double rope will reduce impact is pretty much a fallacy. Double ropes will only do so if two placements are made more or less parallel to one another, i.e. more or less at the same height and share some of the load. If you are clipping alternately and there is a substantial distance between placements, you will effectively load a singe strand. When looking at standards you will see impact force and this varies according to the type of test being conducted. The test in the case of double ropes is conducted with 50kg load whereas the single is done with an 80kg, which inevitably means that the impact force is higher on the single. If you conducted the double rope test with an 80kg load it will be similar to a single rope, and this is evidenced by looking at triple rated ropes, you will notice the single strand test is basically the same impact as a single rope.

Furthermore generalisations about diameter of rope and impact force are also a red herring, smaller diameter usually leads to higher impact force, not lower because the tighter diameter means the kern of the rope must be wound less, allowing for less elongation. It also restricts the thickness of the mantle, and determines the weave of the sheath, which in turn determines handleability and wear resistance. By and large the wider diameter the rope, the higher angle of attack the sheath can be woven at, allowing greater flexibility and greater elongation and hence lower impact forces. 

The qualities you want from a trad rope are basically low impact force whereas for sport climbing its preferable to have durability which will correspond to higher impact force, somewhat contradicting one another. Finding a compromise is where you need to go. 

If you can only afford one rope, choose something in the middle and you won't go far wrong. In terms of what you can do to mitigate the risk presented by poor placements, you can place closely placed clusters of gear thinking about a sacrificial pieces to protect a lower piece. Also make sure you have sufficiently long extenders to prevent drag. Personally I mainly climb on a single rope. I don't mind either system but rigidly sticking to doubles is a bit daft...

The tests for ropes don't, as I understand it, take into account the effect of the whole belay system. In practical use some movement of the rope through the belay, a degree of movement by the belayer themselves - intentional or otherwise - and friction from placed runners would all combine to negate a good deal of the tested differences 

+1 for the Decathlon rope. I have the 70m version. Perfect for sport and I just tie into both ends and treat it like double ropes for single pitch grit.

My only caveat is that if you want to climb longer pitches or multipitch trad then get double ropes. What type of climbing exists close to where you live? 

I have recently got an Edelrid Python (40m) as a workhorse rope for single pitch short grit trad stuff (have longer doubles for wondering stuff). 
https://www.bananafingers.co.uk/single-ropes/edelrid/python-10mm-ts

they have good reviews (was best intest if I remember correctly in a group test on here) and pretty cheap £67.50

its not dry treated but I won’t be climbing in the rain 😃

Thankfully (incoming sweeping statement) not many companies make crap rope anymore, there's a couple of out there but the main ones you'll find are decent!

Rock and Run usually have some great deals on rope. Mammut or Beal are fantastic ropes and what I'll probably go to when mine dies. I use Sterling at the moment which is a fantastic rope but you do pay for it. Normally if I was buying a single I'd by the longest possible 70/80 with the intention of cutting it down through it's like. I appreciate if you're using it for trad in say, the lakes, dragging a 70 up to a mountain crag would suck! I'm a fan of between 9.5 and 9.8.

Go for the one that will make your photos look awesome

I regularly climb trad on a single rope, but rarely using the same one that I use for sport. I just find that there is never a particularly useful overlap, especially in terms of length and durability/weight. Dynamic elongation would be the least of my concerns. 

The main reason for me to use a single rope for trad is for high efficiency on relatively uncomplicated routes where there is little chance that I'll ever need to abseil off. Basically that generally means easy stuff or short stuff or both with the rope length matched to the length of pitches. As such I only ever tend to use either a 30metre (now c. 28m) 9.7mm Edelrid for climbing on gritstone and other outcrops or a 40metre 8.7mm Mammut for mountaineering routes or occasionally classic routes on smaller mountain crags.

Conversely for sport, a 60metre rope is probably the minimum length it's worth buying. Even longer, 70/80m is better if you intend to use it regularly on overseas trips.

As such, to my mind, there really isn't that much overlap. Nothing to stop you going climbing at Stanage with £160 worth of dry treated 80m sport rope but the cheapest 30m length of 10mm rope is just better option for that sort of crag.

Assuming that you still intend to be climbing in another 5+ years, having multiple ropes will work out cheaper in the long run. However, you're the only one who knows how much climbing you'll be doing and which crags you're likely to visit over the next year or so, and hence which of a dozen potential options it makes to go with:

• A comprise 50m as your local sport crags are fairly short
• A 60m now that'll quickly get cut down due to intensive sports climbing and be replaced 
• 40m now and an 80m later for an overseas trip
• 70m now and a 30m later
• etc. etc.

Hope that helps and doesn't confuse matters more, but good luck with your climbing this season whatever you decide. 

When I started, all I could afford was one rope. I bought a single 50m and got tons of climbing done with it.

Im sure everyone would love the perfect rope for every crag but that’s not always possible.

A single do it all rope will be fine for so many people!

I’d probably get a 60m as even in the U.K. as there’s quite a few sport routes that need that length. Personally something between 9.5 and 9.8mm.