UKC

Hi all, 

My name’s Tom.

I’ve just started out climbing with a high grade scrambling course followed by a trad course in Snowdonia. (If it’s useful info, I was happy with D and VD routes and found S a bit more challenging but still possible). 
I’m planning to do a load more indoor and outdoor climbing in the next few years so hopefully will be a somewhat apt climber all said and done.

In the meantime though, I need ropes…

I have a 30m already which would work for scrambling I believe but obviously for multi pitch trad and sport routes I would need something longer, probably 60m.

I’ve read around so much in the last few days and just can’t decide what to do! 
My thinking is that triple rated would be nice as an investment as it would allow me to do whatever really.. including long abseils on multi pitch routes where I take a single rope as it’s fairly straight up. However, I’ve read that they’re not the most durable, and considering over the next few years I’ll probably take an intermediate amount of falls on sport and hopefully not, but likely, trad routes. 
 

So perhaps just a single is better for the moment considering I won’t be doing much alpine (ice and otherwise). I do however understand from what I’ve read that half ropes can be convenient for some trad…
 

If you have any ideas, please do drop a line if you can spare the time

Tom

Where do you normally climb? Which crags are local? This is a factor in choosing an appropriate rope.

A cheapish 9mm - 10mm 50m "single" rope is pretty standard. If people only own one rope, it is normally something like this. This is what I started with - a Mammut Galaxy, I think!- climbing easy routes in the Lake District. You can also use it indoors.

Don't worry too much about "dry" treatments - just look for a good deal. Triple-rated ropes are great, but also relatively expensive. If you see a really good deal on a 60m rope, that's great, but a 50m rope is prettt normal.

I've had an 8.7mm mammut triple rated rope for almost ten years and really abused it and it's still going strong, if a bit fluffy. No complaints about durability.

Sport and trad are quite different disciplines and really you want different ropes for them.

When sport climbing, you want a single rope, you fall or rest a lot (or most people do), so the last few metres of rope get destroyed and you trim them off repeatedly till your 80m rope is more like a 50m rope. So if you're going to do a lot of sport climbing, especially if working a hard route rather than always trying to on sight, you want an 80m single rope. If you are starting out, just look for a good deal and don't worry about expensive ropes dry treating, triple rating, etc.

When trad climbing, it is, in my opinion, important to get used to using half ropes, so you want a set of two half ropes that are either 50m or 60m long. Most people I know don't trash their half ropes in the same way they trash sport ropes, so they should last longer, but again if you are just starting out, I would just look for a good deal on something cheap and later on you can look at saving up for more expensive options.

Probably not what you want to hear but I would recommend different ropes for different disciplines. If you are completely cash-strapped, get a cheap deal on a single rope but if it is a shorter one (e.g. 50m) be aware of the length and always tie a knot in the end when abseiling or lowering. And consider your trad lines carefully - if the gear is spread out all over the place, pass the route over unless you have access to a partners half ropes.

I'll add that ropes are very specific. Decide where the next rung on the ladder is to progress to the next stage. That might be local cragging to get quality rock time in to increase your ability and efficiency on rock and also some good mountain days. 30m will get you up many low crags but if you want to move into multipitch then 50m/60m halves will be the next purchase.

We own 4 workhorses

35m triple for crags

50m triple for big mountains

60m halves for multi and winter.

The 60m thick single sport/indoor doesn't see much action other than an ab rope for sea cliffs.

I actually live in the South East so there’s not too much here apart from some sea cliffs towards Portland etc. I am willing and able to drive to the peaks/snowdonia though on occasion for more mountainous terrain. 
 

Ok, I get that about 50m ropes being more common. For a beginner I guess it doesn’t matter too much on the length anyway! 

I actually live in the South East so there’s not too much here apart from some sea cliffs towards Portland etc. I am willing and able to drive to the peaks/snowdonia though on occasion for more mountainous terrain. 
 

Ok, I get that about 50m ropes being more common. For a beginner I guess it doesn’t matter too much on the length anyway! 
True about dry treatments too, I guess I won’t need it massively

Well, I've not climbed in Portland as I live at the other end of the country. But, my understanding is that there are a lot of sport pitches? See how long they are. It may be that a 60 or even 70m rope is a worthwhile investment if there are a lot of 30m and 35m routes that you plan to climb. Just a thought!

No point in replying to the OP as for some reason they've been restricted from posting.