UKC

Can suncream damage ropes?

Looking to see if anyone has any evidence regarding whether suncream can damage ropes to the extend to retire them. Can only find anecdotal evidence online. 

No

I'll give you a good price for them.

Even if suncream affected ropes in the slightest, to get enough of it on to the rope to affect its strength, your hands will be so greasy you're not going to be able to climb, but more importantly with all that grease on your hands, you're seriously not going to be able to hold a fall belaying (without a gri-gri etc., and even then I'm not sure, and ugh)

Someone I know had an entire bottle leak in their bag over their gear. So the amount is not just the tiny amount you put on your hands. Should have clarified that

Was it Piz Buin bronzing oil or Ambru   Solaire?

The answer is still no damage

You can use this if you're concerned: https://www.coleparmer.co.uk/chemical-resistance

Check off the ingredients of the sunscreen against nylon. I suspect it'll be fine, especially if you give the rope a good clean before next using it.

I saw the original post of Facebook. There the universal reaction was "you're going to die!!!!!" Amusingly I suggested ask on UKC and said I bet they'd get the opposite reaction. Nice to see you lot are not letting me down!

Cheers.  For the record car battery acid is the main nasty thing to beware of getting anywhere near your ropes.  This why I get grumpy with people who drop my ropes in the road or on a car park floor.

[edit] Probably Black Diamond QC not the BMC

I can't remember exactly or find the link, and I doubt if rope technology has changed significantly since then despite the improvements and lighter weight options (so read the rope manual for your own rope), but 15 years or so ago now BD did a lot of other destructive rope strength tests, first exposing the ropes to water, sea water, and most memorably immersing a rope in urine (ew!).  This caused a 30% drop in the total number of falls held.  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:e1iszKfpTVMJ:rockandic... 

I'm not sure how technology has changed but from a quick look the BMC Technical people're now also saying beware of certain house hold cleaning products.

That and DEET, which dissolves nylon.

It would at 10,000psi

A slick of it in your rucksack isn't likely to do any harm, I'd wash it off and enjoy the new smell.

jk

UV can damage ropes, eventually.  So instead of washing it off perhaps you ought to rub it in. 

Yes.  DEET destroys all plastics, which is why you can only buy it in glass bottles.

Must be some it doesn't, as I've just bought a plastic spray bottle of 50% DEET repellent.  No, not to use when climbing

In testing I've done suncream makes no measurable difference to the strength of climbing slings (I've not tested it on ropes). However, DEET doesn't either. That was based on normal pull tests and on drop tests. The DEET was concentrated and sprayed all over the slings and left to soak overnight so a pretty harsh test. However, despite the testing indicating that DEET shouldn't damage slings (and potentially therefore ropes too), like you I'd still be averse to spraying DEET all over my climbing gear, especially when you see what it does to some clothing and plastics.

Am I remembering this badly... or was there an article some years ago pointing out that uric acid is bad for your rope?

so don't piss on your rope and don't use it to wipe sweat off

There are, nylon is one of them.   I was taking the piss (sorry).

Edit to add:  It will eat the membrane out of your expensive goretex jacket if you're not careful though!

Can you provide a link to your test data? Thanks.

Adblue? 

Is urea neutral and is there a way Adblue can change into something more damaging? 

Not sure if you're joking or not, but DEET doesn't have any negative impact on nylon.