UKC

I've been browsing for a 70 meter rope for a Spain trip over Christmas and found that most rope manufacturers guaranty around 5-8 UIAA falls per rope, whilst Beal frequently seems to guaranty up to 11 UIAA falls. Does anyone have a clue as to why Beal's guaranty is so much higher than the other manufacturers for a rope of a similar diameter?

In reply to dg123:

It's because there ropes are more like bungees.

In reply to Removed User: Yep - more stretch in the rope meaning the rope isn't as heavily impacted each time you fall. The converse side is a higher rate of wear...

In reply to dg123:

depends on the design of the rope, have they been made to be lightweight or heavier durable 'gym' ropes or dry or ..

for example DMM produce a range of single ropes to meet different markets (happen to have the brochure here) with following number of falls

statement 10mm - 6
concept 10mm - 7
mission 10.2mm - 8
Prodigy 9.8mm - 7
Project 10mm - 8
New breed 9.4mm - 6

all from same brand. all manufactures have a range, Beal do some in the 8 falls range

In reply to dg123: This subject keeps coming up or something similar and it isn't a simple subject to answer. All rope manufacturers make ropes which are suitable for different types of use.
It is correct that Beal ropes tend to have higher numbers of falls recorded and it is also correct that their elongation is greater but they are designed to do this resulting in the lowest impact figures which is ideal if being used on trade or marginal protection.
If you are thinking of buying a rope try and work out the activity that you are most likely to use it for and then try and compare the most relevant statistics.
If the main use is sport or indoor climbing then I would argue that impact forces are not too critical but if you are into trad and winter routes the the fact that Beal ropes have a low impact force and almost all of them pass the edge test makes sense.
The other factor that has recently been proven to give higher falls is the type and quality of dry treatments so once again this should be looked.
As I said not a simple subject.

In reply to dg123: Which rope was it? I can't find any Beal ropes that generate those numbers except half ropes rather than singles. They produce the larger figures because the drop test for halves is done with 55kg rather than 80kg so the result ends up looking better.

In reply to neil the weak:

Get back to work Neil!!

In reply to dg123: Correct me if I'm wrong, but are "UIAA falls" not factor 2 falls? i.e. not all that relevant in the real world, just another number to get unnecessarily excited over?

In reply to neil the weak:

top gun 13-14
apollo gets 16+ falls

- look on beals website for others


and the UIAA is 1.77 Fall factor at 80kg for singles

In reply to Pete Potter:
What's the edge test?

In reply to jwa: The sharp edge test was one that was adopted by the UIAA in 2002 and is a drop test of the same load as the standard drop test but is over a sharp edge of 0.75mm radius.
The UIAA stopped using it in 2005 but Beal feel it is still relevant and as such still test most of their ropes in this way and list on the product information if the rope passes.