UKC

I am planning on buying a set of ropes for trad mountain routes this year [double, twin, pair, what is the proper term ?] and wondered if anyone knew of any deals out there at the moment or coming up. I know Go Outdoors has had deals before, and some stores will price match etc. I only want them for summer stuff [no winter/ice climbing]

Priorities are;

price
handling
durable
weight
local/independent store/UK made etc prefered, but price tends to win it sadly

No desperate rush as I have a 70m 11mm and partners have ropes, but would like to get sorted and ready to go.

Thanks

Sarah

In reply to sarahkeast:

Half or double ropes is the correct term. Don't get twins. Yes, a bit confusing! In my experience Go Outdoors never sells half-ropes (nor does Decathlon). I would just keep a careful eye on the usual suspects- Outside, Needlesports, Joe Brown, V12 but also occasionally look at obscure places. Start now when you are not in a rush and you might spot a bargain in the next few months. I was in your position a good few years back and in the end scored 2 8.5mm 60m ropes (Zero G "G-string", dry treatment rubbed off immediately but that's OK) at £100 the pair from The Mountain Factor in Ambleside though they don't sell climbing gear there any more.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


A pal of mine got a pair of half ropes from Go Outdoors a year or so back, including a price match discount. They've got two different half ropes listed on their web site right now. As an example, they list the Mammut Genesis at £139.50 but it's only £130 at V12 so they should price match against that and knock another £13 off.

In reply to Martin W:

Glad I put the "in my experience" disclaimer in there then!

Guess it's at the whim of each branch manager to some extent (I got a bargain on Grivel Matrix Lights there cos the manager decided one week that he didn't like Grivel and wanted rid of them....then something changed and they went back up to full price and plenty of stock!)

In reply to Martin W:


is that £130 for EACH ROPE, £260ish for the pair?

In reply to sarahkeast:
Banana Fingers 'usually' have the best deals on rope and are really good to deal with.

In reply to sarahkeast: I am also considering purchasing half ropes this year. My online approach is: Google "half rope deals" or similar, you'll find prices around £160 for a pair or better. Then google and/or search this forum for reviews of the ropes you find. Browsing local stores I saw that Cotswold has 50m Edilrid Shikra half ropes for £75 each (£150 pair).

In reply to sarahkeast:

I think the cheapest place in the world to buy ropes is Arco/nearby. When they have sales here they are serious about it.
A couple of years ago I got pairs of half ropes for something like 80 euro per pair (needless to say I bought two pairs), about 70 euro for an 80 m single (bought two and chopped one in half).

Yesterday I saw 70 m singles in Vertical World Sport for around 100 euro. Didn't look at the half rope prices.

In reply to Erstwhile: Second that, they practically give away their ropes in Arco..

In reply to sarahkeast:
The other consideration is 50 or 60 metres. If you will be doing lots of sea cliff climbing, get 60, otherwise 50 should be enough for most stuff.

It's worth getting dry treated ropes even if just for summer climbing as they are meant to last longer.

Also, you might only need one half rope unless you will be climbing with people who don't already have ropes.

Once you've identified a few makes and models that you like, put it in google and it will come up with some prices. Eg Beal Cobra, which is what I use. A good rope.

arco? - anyone have a link?

In reply to sarahkeast: these would do nicely
http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Ropes/Half-Ro...

In reply to Mike7:

They are referring to Arco - climbing Mecca in Italy. I too found the ropes there cheap - but could not justify the expense!

In reply to sarahkeast:

Urban Rock always have a variety of pair deals, at good prices

In reply to sarahkeast: was in cotsworld today and they had 50m hals for £70 each so £140 pair but did not check make etc as did not need them

In reply to FB:

http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/edelrid-shikra-8-5mm-x-50m-rope-e2120011?id_...

Ive got code that will get you an extra 20% off these ropes making them £60 each £120 the pair, bargain. Send me an email if you want the code.

In reply to cmb621:

Aha, I see, so the meaning was shops in and around Arco rather than any one shop named after the area.

Got it.

In reply to Mike7:

This link gives the Red Point shops. http://www.climbingarco.it/
The other big operator is Vertical World Sport. Between them they have about 10 climbing shops in Arco (under various names). And there are more - maybe 20 altogether. Plus a load scatterd up along the valley and in Trento.
The biggest concentration of climbing gear outlets in the world, they say, even more than Chamonix.
Because of the scale of the local market, Arco is generally chosen by big manufacturers to clear surplus gear, which explains the periodic bonkers sales.

Not much information on Internet though - we are still very "hands on" here in Italy.

In reply to sarahkeast:

Hi,

I would strongly recommend getting a pair of 50m half ropes in the 8.3-8.6mm range.

Dry treatment is a nice bonus, but by no means essential.

Skinny 60m ropes are great for winter climbing, but in my view are a faff for summer, as they are more expensive, heavier, leave more rope to pull in at the end of each pitch.

If you shop around you should be able to find a pair of ropes online for around the £150 mark, more like £200 if you want dry treated ropes.

The following companies all make great ropes:

Beal
Mammut
Edelrid
DMM
Edelweiss
Stirling

HTH

In reply to sarahkeast:

Thanks for the advice everyone. I am going to get some Edelrid Shikra 50s tomorrow from Cotswold, with discount it is just £127 for the pair ! Bargain. Unless anyone has any horror stories of them not being very robust I will be climbing on them this time tomorrow. :~)

Sarah

In reply to sarahkeast:

Might want to run them through a karabiner a few times to straighten out the tight factory coiling otherwise they might be full of twists and kinks giving your belayer and you a hard time (though I didn't need to do this on my Edelrid 60m 10mm single)

In reply to Erstwhile:

Great information, thanks for the steer.