UKC

Hi

As the title says; My budget, at tops, is 150 quid. Not climbing hard at the moment, and have only realy done around 20 sport routes. Will mostly be single pitch climbing, although may be used for longer routes in Europe.

Thanks in advance

In reply to Hans:

What rope do you currently have?

In reply to Captain Gear:

A quite old zero G 10.5mm 50 m. It feels heavy and I have been meaning to replace it for about a year anyway. I mostly do trad routes to be honest.

In reply to Hans:

This one http://www.cragxclimbing.com/sale/edelrid-python-10mm-rope-5-p-4905.html

Hardwearing but very good handling. Durable: mine's going strong after 2 years of redpointing & onsighting. £150 for 80m or £115 for 60m (sadly they've sold out of the 70m) - so your decision on which length to get depends where in Europe you might use it.

In reply to jamiev: Cheers man, i'll be using it in Switzerland for sure. Is 80m a bit excessive? Just wondering.

In reply to Hans:

I'd probably get a cheap and cheerful 10mm 50m rope. This will do you fine for indoor climbing and most sport in the UK. It will last you a long time and won't get hammered working routes, whereas a skinny 70m won't last anywhere near as long.

This seems to be pretty good deal: http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Ropes/Single-...

Then when you are actually going on a Euro Sport trip purchase a skinny long rope. Something like a 70m Mammut Revalation would be a good bet.

HTH

In reply to Hans:

Depends on whether you want one rope to do everything: redpoint/onsight; uk sport & europe - in which case there's an inevitable compromise. 80m way too long for uk stuff, and a pain to lug around; but 60m too short for a lot of european routes. Check out the lengths of the routes you'll want to get on in Switzerland.

Good plan to go for a 50m for uk & longer for europe as recommended above, if budget allows, and the needlesports deal posted by CG looks good. But if £150 has to buy one do-it-all rope, i've found the python that i linked to to be excellent.

In reply to Hans: Mammut all the way I have a 60 a 50 an a half there all wicked

In reply to Captain Gear:

That looks like a pretty amazing deal from a decent gear shop. I'll look more into that later, thanks for the link

In reply to jamiev: Basically, I plan on doing a lot of practice falling and 'working' routes, so ideally don't want something that will get battered fairly easily.

I think you may be right with the two rope option, so looks like I'll have to save a bit more...cheers for all the advice

In reply to Hans: Worth checking out the Mammut Vertex ropes. Comes in 40,50,60,70m lengths. You can find it on needlesports. Pretty reasonably priced as well!

In reply to Hans: Personally I find that it is better to have two sets of rope, a set of doubles for trad and a single for sport.

With regards to your rope question though, I think you should get the 80m Python. It's because if you're going to be redpointing you'll be falling on your rope a lot. Eventually the rope will swell and you'll need to cut it. I recently jut had a half-month trip to Yangshuo and when I came back, I lost a few metres off of my 70m because I had to cut it. Now I can't do some of the longer routes when I return this fall.

An 80m is versatile, it can be a 70m or 60m, but a 70m cannot become an 80m. Getting a longer rope will also last longer, because the longer it is the more you can cut it.

In reply to Hans:

Whatever rope you get. A 70m should be minimum, 80m better, as at many sport areas in mainland Europe you will find 40m pitches of all grades.

Diameter wise, not super skinny as you will compromise on durability; I would look at 9.4mm to 9.7mm.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:


Maybe we're not "mainland Europe" but where I live a 40 mtr rope will be fine for 90% of the sports routes!

But I'd agree with what others have said - you may need to buy two ropes. Even a 60 mtr 10 - 10.5 is a big hunk of rope to lug about in the UK where generally you don't need it, let alone 70 or 80.

If you know for sure that you are going on a trip where you'll need a long rope, then obviously you'll just have to save up for one. But if you're not sure and the rope is mainly for use in the UK I'd get a shorter, cheaper one and cross the other bridge when you get there.

I've had two Beal Edlingers and both have had hard wear and done very well. They remain pretty cheap if you shop around for them.

In reply to TobyA:

At many places in Switzerland, France, Spain an 80m is useful to have . Plus if you get a lower diameter rope you will save on weight when lugging it around the uk .

But yes. , two ropes better than one if you can afford it.

In reply to Hans:

70m minimum then - In the Haut Provence area a 60m or less can be PITA. However, there's only handfull of 40m pitches so 80 is overkill 90% of the time.



e

In reply to Hans: Cheers loads for the advice. Decided to buy the Vertex probably, and then a European one (80 m) and the Mammut Genesis for trad multipitch. A lot more than 150 quid I know, but it's worth it!!

Thanks for the links and tips, hope I can get some good routes done.

H