Rope advice

Submitted by LocoDuck on Fri, 11/17/2006 - 10:41
So here's my story. Winter 04/05 I picked up some Beal 9mm doubles (Verdon II?). I love the things, for their size they are pretty light, and as a first set of doubles they have proven themselves burly on ice and rock. Last night I was forced to cut about 10m off the end of one of them, from what looked like rock-fall damage to the core. So my question comes in as, do I chop the other one to match (at about 50m), or do I just replace the one cord, only to have them wear out at different times? Are 50m doubles going to be limiting in Hyalite? (From the climbs I've done so far it doesn't seem like it) Here are what seem like my two options: 1) Replace one of the doubles to end up with two 60m cords 2) Chop them both down to 50m, with the future potential of picking up a skinny single (Joker?) and pull-cord (6mm?) for those times when a 60m is required? (Are skinny ropes and pull-cords the new "in" thing to do?)

Hi Eric, Well, I would leave the other rope at full legnth. This is my thinking: usually at the top of a climb, the anchors are a little bit back from the lip. Your knot connecting the ropes doesn't have to be right at the anchor- it acan be 15 feet down. that means you can stretch your rappels to 55 m, which is a little better than 50 m. Yo uare still limited on leading to the 50 meter length of your shorter rope... but you can always lead the last 10 meters on a single skinny rope- Yee Haw. No, there don't seem to be too many places in Hyalite where 60m is necessary. The counter argument to this goes like this: hey, your ropes are kinda old anyway- time to phase 'em out. Might as well replace the one now, the other one in a year or so. Avoids the big financial hit all at once. Jim

Eric, To follow up on Jim's advice. I prefer a single dry rope with a thin pull cord. The second can trail the tag line, saving you weight (8 + 8 = 16 mm) and still allowing you to exit most cimbs. Keep 'em long. Conrad

Thanks for the tips. I've been thinking about the single + tag-line for a while, maybe I've found a good excuse to finally go it. See you on the ice, -Eric
Spray