UKC

Hi, I'm considering buying my first outdoor rope and would appreciate some advice as to the spec that I should be looking for.

It's mainly for climbing/scrambling on ridges from gd2 up to Vdiff around Scotland, but also visiting local crags when I can't get further afield. I was thinking about a 40m rope between 9 & 10mm diameter but not sure if it'd be more prudent to buy a 50 or 60m one. Also, any opinions on whether to pay extra for a dry rope for scrambling in the wet, or are they just for icing conditions? I already own a 25m wall rope & don't intend to own more than 2 ropes at a time, hence wanting 1 outdoor rope that does everything.

Many thanks in advance, all advice will be gratefully received, cheers, N

As long as you're not planning on falling off endlessly on toprope then the Petzl Volta fits your description pretty perfectly. For what you described 50m should be enough. Dry treatment does have a significant effect on lifetime and handling so is worth the investment especially for more mountainous terrain. 

Thanks for this, very useful & very similar to other advice that I've been given, so a bit of a consensus to go longer than 40m and to pay extra for dry treatment for use in the mountains 👍