UKC

About six months ago I bought a pair of dry treated half ropes. It was a bit of a bargain, but I still paid £140 for the pair.

Last week I set up a top rope in the Peaks with no rope protection and the grit stone ruined one of my ropes. yes, at the middle marker! So, I have two 24m dry treated pink ropes if anyone is interested

I checked, I cannot get the same rope anymore, it was discontinued.

My question in: is it OK to get a different rope (just one half) and use it with my other (green) half rope, which is in perfect condition? Otherwise I would have to buy a new pair of ropes, but what will I do with that one half rope?

In reply to GaborS:

I wouldn't hesitate except maybe match the widths or get it pretty close to help with handling and to not worry about knots when abseiling

In reply to GaborS:

Mismatched half ropes are most likely the norm as it is very common for a pair of climbers to each contribute a half rope each for a climb.

Al

In reply to GaborS:


They'll be really useful for the grit. Just call them left and right, this one, that one... whatever works.


Yes, it's fine. That said, I'd hold off buying one if you climb with others who have their own kit, you possibly don't need it.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

I thought of the same. 6-10m routes, so two 20m ropes might just work. I just have to be careful when choosing a route. Short and straight routes only!


Thanks

In reply to GaborS:

Just be careful with your choice of colours, in windy conditions White and Black can sound like Tight and Slack - with embarrasing consequences as I've found to my cost - but not in a serious way!

I have a pair of ropes, one is predominantly Black and the other mostly White, but the secondary colours are Pink and Blue - so Pink and Blue it is - -simples.

In reply to GaborS:
If using short ropes a thing you can do, is when at the top rather than taking the rope to an anchor thats a bit farther back, then back to you an clove hitching at your harness. You can, set up the anchhor, untie, then put a Fig 8 on the end of the rope, attach to the anchor. Then walk back to the edge, taking care not to fall off, and clove hitch back into the rope, and proceed as normal. 20/25m ropes are far better for a lot of grit and save loads of time IMHO.

As to buying a rope. Buy a 60M then if you need a pair you can. If you partner up with others, your sorted for 50 or 60. Or just save the money and spend it on beer.

In reply to Lord of Starkness:


Some friends of mine similarly had blue and pink ropes - they called them Ken and Barbie

In reply to GaborS:

I've been using mismatched halves for months now after shredding one, no complaints. As someone said though, i'd suggest getting something that handles similarly to make belaying/abseiling easier.

In reply to jkarran:


...and, of course, the somewhat higher-pitched "No - the other one!"

In reply to Lord of Starkness:

There is a chap in my CC that names his after snakes that have similar skin patterns.
Quite comical to hear him shouting someone to pull on his python lol

In reply to GaborS:

Thanks for all the helpful posts.

G

In reply to WildCamper:


Christmas Tree and Colonel Mustard are a couple of our club ropes.

In reply to GaborS:

Ive got a rope protector you can have Gabor

They can be your cleeve twins now lol

In reply to GaborS:

A note, perhaps off-topic: I understand it's best practice when setting up a top-rope to have it anchored below the top of the climb - e.g. to use a length of rope/>7mm cord/a long sling to extend the anchor past the lip of the climb. Also, when belaying after a lead, it's worth sitting on the lip, if possible, so your rope is not rubbing into the edge on its way down to your second. And when your partner wants to downclimb, get them to shout up to you, so you can feed them slack, rather than sawing the taut rope between you (one of my ropes still bears the scars of a badly thought through belay position and an indecisive second). Hopefully that'll stop you going through your new rope!

In reply to C Witter:

In this case the only real possible anchor point was a fairly large boulder about 6 metres from the edge of the cliff.
Sling went around the boulder, plus HMS, then I extended this to the edge of the cliff, using one of my halfs. Figure of eight on a bight plus HMS then second rope through for climbing. The rope I use to extend the top rope (or bottom rope if you like) was chewed up by the grit.

In reply to GaborS:

I climb on a 9.22 tripe-rated rope and an 8.5mm half. Zero problems.

In reply to GaborS:

9.2* and triple*.

In reply to GaborS:

Ouch. My condolences!