Half ropes in the region of 8.5mm have long been a popular choice for trad climbers, and for good reason. Generally this sort of thickness offers a good balance between durability, handling, and weight. Additionally, if you're attempting to follow your friend who climbs two grades harder, you can shout "take" at the top of your voice, sit on the rope, de-pump, and not feel like you are relying on a shoelace-thin strand of rope that could be cut at any moment by the next sharp edge! The Tendon Ambition 8.5mm hopes to join the club of trusted trad ropes, and in my opinion it's off to a solid start.

Tendon is a well-established Czech brand that has been designing and manufacturing ropes in the EU for decades. In recent years they have not been as present in the UK market due to various outdoor industry complications, but now they're back. This is great news, because the brand has a good history, with a diverse range of ropes.

On paper the Ambition 8.5mm fits the bill for what most UK trad climbers are after, and at 45g/m this rope is a good weight for the diameter. For this review I have the Ambition that comes with 'standard' treatment (not dry treated) but Tendon also does a version that comes with some fancy sounding durability tech called 'Complete Sheild'. Apparently Complete Shield has "tiny particles of TEFLON®Eco are applied to the rope sheath and core [to] make a film of almost impermeable protective layer". This fancy-sounding treatment meets the UIAA standard for water repellency, so that's the one to go for if you're winter or alpine climbing.

The Ambition 8.5mm is available in lengths from 30m - 200m; we'd generally go with 50m for the majority of UK summer trad (unless you want to run together the two pitches of Cemetary Gates on the Cromlech and find you've run out of rope for the belay), or perhaps 60m in winter. It comes in two bold colour options, blue and yellow, which should be hard to confuse with anything else (for the benefit of the colour blind).

It's also worth mentioning the price. At £100 per 50m rope (you will of course want two), we'd say the Ambition 8.5mm is very good value for a trad rope.

In use

Tendon say the Ambition is designed to strike a balance between durability and weight, and I would agree with that. After nearly a year of regular use these ropes are only showing a small amount of wear and still feel good to climb on, tie knots, handle at belays and feed out through a belay device. They haven't fluffed up or become stiff.

As many climbers that have handled lots of rope will know, different models can feel thick or thin for the specified diameter. The reason for this is long and complicated but basically comes down to a tolerance in the UIAA test that sets the rope dimension. When it comes to the Ambition I feel they are at the thinner end of 8.5mm but this is an anecdotal conclusion drawn simply from climbing with them.

Handling-wise, the Ambition 8.5mm feels supple and easy to manage. It knots smoothly and feeds through belay devices without any issues, even after a good amount of use. I've had no problems with them becoming big knot balls after abseiling, or twisting them into giant corkscrews.

The sheath seems well-made and has held up well against abrasion from rock and rough surfaces. When it comes to my feelings on long-term durability, I suspect they are probably going to have a marginally shorter life than some other 8.5mm ropes on the market, but they only weigh 45g/m which is at the lighter end of the spectrum, so perhaps this would be no surprise. They are also very competitively priced so it feels unfair to give them too much of a hard time on long-term durability. The Complete Shield version might fare better.

Summary

Overall, the Tendon Ambition 8.5mm is a great half rope for UK trad climbers, offering a good balance of reasonable durability and low-ish weight, at a very fair price. If you have a few more pounds in your back pocket it might be worth investing in the 'Complete Shield' (dry treatment) version at £127.50, as I do think this would add to the long-term durability, particularly if you wanted to winter or alpine climb. The rope handling throughout the review has been great, whether it's tying knots, belays or abseiling. This is a rope I'll keep using until it totally dies on me.