In reply to Nigel Modern:
Unless I have missed something, there doesn't appear to be any reference to the current manufacture of climbing ropes on Maffioli's website; mention of the K2 ascent and the fact that nylon is a suitable material for climbing ropes were the only references to climbing that I could find.
I don't know what stage the manufacture of climbing ropes had reached in 1954; whether ropes were specifically made for climbing, or whether climbers simply used the most suitable ropes they could find for their somewhat excentric pursuit - ie nylon ones. Were the "Viking" brand ropes, grades 1,2,3 and 4, made by British Ropes (now Bridon) with which I and most of my contemporaries first climbed, actually originally developed specifically for climbing? I've no idea, but as soon as UIAA standards became the norm they disappeared off the scene. I notice that British Ropes were suppliers of climbing rope to the 1953 Everest expedition, but so too were William Kenyon and Sons; I think it's just possible that, in the days before Fall Factors, Impact Forces etc, and when the alternative was made of hemp or manilla, that the term "climbing rope" could cover a less precise range of products than it does today!
It's entirely possible, or course, that as a longstanding rope-making company, with the decades of technical knowledge and experience involved therewith, that Maffioli do indeed manufacture climbing ropes for one of the well-known brands; many leading brands in the climbing world have ropes in their product ranges, but few of them are actually rope manufacturers. I seem to recall back in the 1970s (memory's hazy so I may be wrong) that ropes were marketed under the brand name of Interalp, of which most climbers had heard at the time, that were actually made by a company called France Tresse, of which most climbers probably hadn't! Similarly the other way round; I doubt that Edelrid, or indeed DMM, have actually departed so much from their core expertise as to suddenly become shoe manufacturers, or that Mammut actually make their entire product range. So my guess is that either Maffioli don't make climbing ropes, or that they do and we're already using them but don't realise it. Or I've just spouted three paragraphs of total rubbish!
