UKC

Hi

I have been out of the country for a year.
during that time my car has been in my parents garage and I have been using it to store my climbing gear and some other things.


My rope has been loosely coiled in a large bag(Ikea) and stored in the passenger foot well,

The rope is around 3 years old, it has been used mainly for indoor leading, and summer cragging and the odd mountain route, It has never held an outdoor fall and is in good condition.And there is nothing that could have came into contact with it while it has been in the car.

will the extreme temperature changes have had any adverse affect on the rope?

Is it still safe to use or should I bin it.

any info or advice will be greatly appreciated.

cheers

Neil

In reply to neil9216:

It's pretty shit every time you go ice climbing/mountaineering on a rope and it snaps every time it gets cold.

In reply to The Green Giant:

Or melts when the sun comes out

In reply to neil9216:

Has it stayed clean and dry?

Has it stayed out of direct sunlight?

If yes to both then I'd not be worried.

In reply to neil9216: No, you must send it to me to be retired properly. It will seriously damage your health if you continue to use this rope. I will send you my address asap.

In reply to neil9216:
couldn't hurt to give it a wash and dry in a warm room. Only thing that would concern me is a possible build up of mould which a wash would take care of..should be fine!

In reply to neil9216: if it's been dry it should be ok. Whenever I'm in doubt I retire a rope because if I've got any doubts i won't climb as well...

In reply to neil9216: If you're unsure, chuck it away as it's only a few quid for your life or that of your mate. There's a thread somewhere else about someone wanting second hand ropes for some art project. Send your rope there.

In reply to Frank the Husky: Can you let me know where I can get a rope for a few quid from please, I'll have two!

Agree that "if in doubt, throw it out".

It would have been better if you had thought about this before leaving it in the footwell of your car.

In reply to neil9216:

It's been a tad chilly at times, and I vaguely remember a couple of days when it was fairly warm, but we haven't had any "extreme" temperatures in the UK over the last year.

Unless your parents live in Arizona? Or their garage is actually a greenhouse?

If there's no chance it's been exposed to acid (eg: battery acid) and the mice haven't been at it, it'll be fine.

In reply to neil9216:
Some manufacturers actually specifically recommend against storing textile gear in cars during hot days as cars can get very hot! However with the car being inside a garage I doubt that has been a problem. Cold won't be an issue.

Run the the rope through your hands looking for mould and dead spots and checking for any other obvious damage. If it looks OK I'd recommend using it.

In reply to neil9216:

A 3 year old rope thats not seen any serious abuse ? I don't think I'd be considering binning if it was mine.

In reply to neil9216: Most manufacturers recommend that you dont store gear in cars, because the oil in your car is bad for it. Even if it was in the boot, in a bag id throw it. Im a broke student with no money for a new rope and id still go buy a new one if it was me

In reply to bspeller:

Do they?

In reply to neil9216: personal confidence is the problem here, if you arent sure, then
http://www.georgefisher.co.uk/News/aid77/get-money-for-your-old-climbing-ro...

or give it to me and I will use it

In reply to neil9216:

I'd use it without a second thought. In fact I do, my gear mostly lives in the car and has done so for nearly decade.

As ever, it's your call though.
jk

In reply to bspeller:

Actually motor oil is relatively harmless to a climbing rope (clean oil certainly is anyway), as are petrol and diesel. Not that contamination with any of those would be desirable, obviously.

The only fluid in a car that would seriously damage a rope on contact is the acid in the battery. If the OP has oil, fuel or battery acid sloshing about in the footwell of his car, he probably needs a new rope and a new car.

In reply to bspeller:


How do you get oil in the boot, or the footwell for that matter?

My mate's battery boiled up in the boot a while back, that wasn't so good for his gear. Thankfully we'd lost his rope somewhere the week before so at least he didn't have to bin that God alone knows how he mopped it out by hand without getting even slightly burned.

jk

In reply to deepsoup:

Do you have a source for that?

In reply to Jonny2vests:
http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance

In reply to neil9216: this is straight off tendons website, wouldnt be overly worried about using it http://www.mytendon.com/adverse-effects-of-car-fluids-on-mountaineering-rop...

In reply to neil9216:

Ropes don't break. Have you considered the abuse that caving ropes get?

In reply to butteredfrog:

I think that needs some caveats...

In reply to stuart90:

Interesting, but spectacularly badly written up. Shame. They don't even define 'fall' or even what happened after N 'falls'.

In reply to jimtitt:

Cheers Jim, useful.

In reply to Jonny2vests:

Here's the obvious two:
www.caves.org/section/vertical/nh/52/RopeBreakagefinal.pdf
http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/02/03/bolt-pulls-australian-climber-dies.h...

In reply to needvert:

Yep.