UKC

Hi

I'm fairly new to sport climbing and am looking for a new single rope, currently using a 35m rope which has been long enough for top roping small crags and sport climbing the cuttings at portland.

I did some sport climbing at Tonsai in Thailand and enjoyed some of the longer routes there.

I was thinking of getting a 70m and cutting it into 45&25m lengths.
Can anyone give me a pointer to a good length of rope for UK sport climbing?

Beal EdlingerII vs DMM Concept, any advice ?

Cheers

Aaron

In reply to Aaron_TM:

Is a 25m rope a bit useless really, and indeed dangerous? The one thing you need to be extremely careful about sports climbing is not lowering the leader off the end of the rope and 25m seems too short for comfort if you're not 100% sure about the route length or simply forget.

I generally find that it's worth having a short wall rope which gets trashed and a longer rope for outside which won't take nearly so much abuse unless you are doing a lot of redpointing/falling. In the UK, a 60m single is probably fine but if you want a do all rope to take abroad as well I'd stick with a 70m plus a short wall rope.

In reply to Aaron_TM:

I would buy a 60m rope and keep it at that, give you a good length to work with.

Ropes take a lot of abuse when leader falls, after a while you can still chop 5m (parts that take most abuse; knot and the part that hit the last Draw) off each end and still have a good length for most UK crags.

As said before 25m is almost not usable.

Thanks for your input.

My thinking for a 25&45 was : keep the 25 for trashing on indoor walls and short 10m crags, then use the 45 for longer routes.

Are there many sport routes in the uk over 20m?

In reply to Aaron_TM: I would feel confident in saying many hundreds, but I suspect it could run into the thousands. I certainly wouldn't go cutting up a perfectly good 70 metre rope even though I have found 60 metres sufficient in the vast majority of cases in the UK.

Al

In reply to Aaron_TM:

5m doesnt leave much room for error. plus as chi said earlier you can just cut bits of a 60m rope as they become battered.

you wont be able to cut anything off your 45m rope and therefore will need to replace it sooner.

plus, if you ever got into trad or multi pitch sport then 45m probably wouldnt be enough to lead a pitch and rig belays etc.

In reply to Aaron_TM:

Where do you do most of your climbing? I would say that you would want at least a 50m rope for the UK, and probably a 60m for the occasional route. It is not unusual to find 20-25m routes in the UK, and when you take into account the length of rope to tie a knot, then I think that 45m mightbe cutting it a bit tight on many routes.

In reply to Aaron_TM:

just as an aside, if you were climbing indoors at somewhere like awesome walls then the highest lead wall is 21.5metres (or there abouts).

Thanks for all your comments.

I hadn't considered the need to cut bits off!
Sounds like a 60m rope would be best, and a 30 for small crags.

Anyone heading to portland this weekend? the weather looks good for it.

Now I have the length (60m) worked out..

Beal EdlingerII 10.2mm or DMM Concept 10mm,

They are the same weight, 65g/m, and a similar price (£115 for the concept, 95 for the edlinger at a discount) on needlesports.

any advice, or feedback from people who own these?

In reply to Aaron_TM:

If i am not mistaken Beal make DMM's ropes so you wont go wrong with either of them!

In reply to Aaron_TM:

If you plan to climb portland, do not buy less than 60m.

Many climbs on blacknor/battleship side are over 25m. Some are nearly 30m.
And it's not just the hard ones. Look in the book for approximate lengths of route to confirm.


As an aside, I tend to buy a rope every few years, with the older one being cut down at both ends and then beaten into submission at the indoor wall, with it being trimmed each time the ends get a little worn. The new rope then becomes the good outdoor rope.

Your single rope is almost the only bit of kit you won't back up, it is always a single link in your safety chain. I don't mind spending 100 quid or so every few years to ensure it's integrity, as my life depends on it.

Cutting a 70m rope seems unfair on the rope to my English way of thinking, as a 70m rope infers trips to europe (where 70m is needed often) and sunny, beautiful rock. Cutting a 70m seems like a crime... funny how that is?

Safe climbing, kev

In reply to tom290483:

No, I think you are mistaken.

Beal make Beal ropes and Petzl ropes. They were going to manufacture some ropes for DMM until Lyon Equipment objected. Lyon are the exclusive distributors of Beal ropes in the UK and making rope for DMM would obviously have broken that agreement.

That doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with DMM ropes, but I don't have any experience of them.

In reply to Furthur:

ahhh....every day is a school day.

well in reply to the OP i actually got to use a new DMM rope tonight down the wall. the 9.8mm prodigy. for what its worth i thought it was very good.

In reply to tom290483:


That doesn't surprise me as I have yet to come across any DMM products that aren't good.

I looked at their website earlier and they say "we forged an alliance with a very reputable European rope manufacturer to bring you our new collection".

Does anybody know who does make DMMs ropes?

In reply to Furthur:


Beal

Was disappointed lately when I tried to order the DMM Prodigy through my local shop, unfortunately DMM were all out and awaiting another batch coming through.

In reply to thermal_t:

Your post contradicts what I said a couple of posts higher up.

Quote: "Beal make Beal ropes and Petzl ropes. They were going to manufacture some ropes for DMM until Lyon Equipment objected. Lyon are the exclusive distributors of Beal ropes in the UK and making rope for DMM would obviously have broken that agreement."

I would be interested to know where you got your information from.

In reply to thermal_t:

it defo isnt Beal that make them. i now have that on good authority from a man at DMM.

In reply to Aaron_TM:
At Go Outdoors, you can get the Edlinger 60m for £88. Or alternatively, a 70m Edelrid Boa, which is 61g/m, for £108, but it's not as durable as the other two. I've had the edlinger for a few years, but climbing only occasionally. Never had any problems with it. Having said that, all my climbing is easy trad, with falls being very rare so it doesn't get much proper testing from me.

In reply to Aaron_TM:

Can't remember who told me this; but was told DMM ropes are made by Mammut but to DMM specifications.

Some DMM rep will hopefully be along and tell us.