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Re: [bor] Sun and time affecting strenght of ropes:
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sspssp
Sep 30, 2008, 12:04 AM
Views: 5281
Registered: Jan 2, 2003
Posts: 1731
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bor wrote: Hi, does anybody know how are weather and time affecting strenghth of the rope? Can anybody tell you for sure how your rope will be affected? Probably not. However, I've seen lots of ropes in Yosemite that have been left in place for a long time (fixed ropes on El Cap and others). Many of these ropes get in very ratty shape before they are replaced, yet climbers are still jugging and/or rapping on them (and not killing themselves as far as I know). I don't know how often they get replaced, but I really doubt it is annually. They tend to stay up there until the core is showing in many places (as far as I can tell). Although some of the ropes are static, most are old dynamic ropes that somebody no longer wanted to lead on (and so left as a jug/rap rope). Replacing the rope frequently is no doubt the smartest/safest thing to do. However, fixed ropes seem pretty durable even when they look pretty bad. I was rapping a fixed rope (it looked old and felt "soft", although I have seen worse) on the East Ledges descent (of El Cap) and had the sheath of the rope come completely loose from the core of the rope. By the time I came to a stop, there were several feet of rope above me that had no sheath (just the individual strands of the core). The sheath was just a big wad of nylon below my rap device. At the time it was a little spooky. However, after telling my story a few times, I found out from other veteran Big Wall climbers that that scenerio is neither that unheard of nor that gripping of a story. As long as no sharp edges are involved, climbing ropes are pretty tough.
(This post was edited by sspssp on Sep 30, 2008, 12:07 AM)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by sspssp
() on Sep 30, 2008, 12:06 AM
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Post edited by sspssp
() on Sep 30, 2008, 12:07 AM
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