This is a fantastic rope! It's more Supple (sp?) than the old marathons, and still is just as durable. No one makes a better rope.

This is my second rope (my other is a Beal) and by far the best I've ever used (I've also used ropes from Blue Water, Mammut, and others). The Marathon Pro is incredibly supple with no break-in. No kinking on the first use and significantly less twisting after. This is also the first rope I've used that didn't handle noticably different when wet (my first use was early spring with snow at the bottom of the crags). It knots beatufully and handles smoother than anything else I've rapped on or belayed. At 70m the total weight is still around 4.4 kilo keeping it managable. This 10.1 is only a couple oz heavier than the 9.8mm Nitro and Velicoty. Highly recommended for TR, sport and trad.

I got a Sterling Marathon Pro for Christmas this past year...I haven't been out climbing on it as of yet, but my previous two ropes have been Sterlings and I have no doubts that this rope will live up to my expectations.

" Outrageous joshy8200. You gave a product a "5" and in the same breath admit you've never even used it. I will temper the insanity by giving it a "2." My review is based on the exact number of days testing the product." caughtinside

Yes. I do as of 3:06pm est on 4-4-05 give my brand new Sterling Marathon Pro at 5 rating. My previous ropes were both Sterlings (an 11mm and 10.2 Bandit, which I will probably look up or post a rating on sometime soon...and will definitely give both 5's).

Since this posting can be easily editted...if for some reason this rope fails to live up to my VERY HIGH expectations of it....I will promptly update it and my rating of the product.

Until that time, I know that Sterling Ropes ROCK. They handle extremely well...they ALL have DRYCORE, Better Braid Technology (prevents fuzzy sheaths). UPDATE (10/24/05): So I've now put this rope through the ringer this season...and it has out lived every expectation that I have ever had for a rope. I've hang dogged sport routes at the Obed, I've redpointed project routes in NC, I've abused it on NC granite (Looking Glass, Stone, Rumbling Bald), I've cragged on it at Moore's sharp quartzite, and used it on the long routes of Red Rocks. The rope has taken this use and is still smiling for more. The sheath has little more than some normal wear. My first rope was a Sterling short rope from gearexpress.com. My Sterling ropes have outlasted EVERY other brand of rope that partners I climb with use. This year for Christmas...I will be looking for another Sterling!

[b]Full Disclosure: The company that manufactured this equipment provided it free of charge to RC.com and RC.com then provided it as compensation to the reviewer for his or her review. This company does not currently advertise on RC.com.[/b]

[img]http://photos.rockclimbing.com/photos//510/51075.jpg[/img]

I fall a lot. I fall in the gym and outside. I fall on toprope, sport routes and trad routes; it doesn’t matter. I fall enough that it’s probably a good thing I don’t boulder very much or climb aid.

With all of the flight time I log, I tend to be concerned about my cord, which is one reason why, for several years, I’ve been a one-rope kinda guy. But I’m not going to tell you which rope that is, because I’m here to review a different rope… a [i]better[/i] rope. [i]This[/i] rope is Sterling’s Marathon, specifically, the (new for this year) 10.1mm Marathon Pro.

Like many American-based rope companies, Sterling has undergone a few changes recently due to decisions by both Allied Signal and Honeywell to stop manufacturing the high-tensile-strength nylon from which most American ropes have historically been made. Like many of those companies, Sterling also turned to European manufacturer, Rhodia, for its yarn. Different yarns have different qualities and the yarn that goes into each Marathon sheath is 50% thicker than most other companies’ yarn. So for Sterling, the switch in string necessitated a change in their conditioning process to preserve the qualities that so many have come to know and love.

Somewhere along the line, Sterling invested in the equipment necessary to perfect a super-secret method of thermo-dynamic conditioning that heats both the core and sheath equally. This means that as your rope heats, cools and passes through different ranges of humidity, it’s core and sheath expand and contract equally, virtually eliminating all sheath slippage. But more importantly, it allows Sterling to ensure a level of consistency between batches of rope that some makers can only dream about. (According to Sterling’s website only one other rope maker uses this technology, and they ain’t sayin’ who it is.) If I buy another Sterling rope – same model – as the one I’m currently using, I can be assured that it will handle exactly the same as [i]this[/i] cord, which, by the way, is stellar.

I recall several years back when a friend bought an early generation Sterling rope. Until then, I had never heard of the brand, so I was skeptical. We dragged that rope up coarse slabs all season long. We jugged it, fell on it, rappelled endlessly on it and even toproped it into the ground, sometimes working cruxes until we fell over and over and over again. We abused it like Rush Limbaugh abuses pain pills, and that rope was as durable as steel rebar.

But unfortunately, it also handled like rebar. Tying into it was like tying into a live python. After tightening a typical figure-8 follow through, I could still see daylight through every bend and fit a finger through a few of them, too. That impression of Sterling rope stayed with me for years, and fear of buying what would essentially perform like another 60m-long nylon [i]stick[/i] is partly what kept me loyal to my old brand for so long. I had experienced a rope on Viagra and it did not please me.

Well, as (ahem) [i]hard[/i] as my old partner’s Sterling was to manage, my new one is just plain dreamy. It’s like tying into a silk scarf and belaying is like taking a breath of fresh air. And after several months of solid use, this rope shows few signs of wear – exactly what one would expect from a rope called “Marathon.”

[img]http://photos.rockclimbing.com/photos//510/51052.jpg[/img]
[size=9]Rob Leisey takes Sterling’s new tech out for a spin at Sauratown, NC.[/size]

Some longtime Sterling users will wonder why this new rope is 10.1mm thick instead of the old familiar ten. Don’t worry, that’s just a direct result of the new yarn, which is a little [i]fluffier[/i], for lack of a better word, than last years’. (I guess Europeans like fluffy yarn.) This fluffiness translates to an even thicker sheath without any noticeable addition in weight, which will please Marathon fans. Longtime Sterling users and frequent flyers like myself might also notice a slightly softer catch. The new, lower impact force – despite the increased girth – is yet another pleasant surprise thanks in equal parts to the new yarn and new conditioning process. And according to Sterling engineer, Jim Ewing, the new fibers will return to their original stretchiness quicker and after more weightings than previous models.

With its thick sheath and new conditioning process, the Marathon Pro is an excellent rope for projecting single-pitch trad and sport routes, when the numbers of falls and takes are obscene. At 63 g/m, the Marathon Pro is only one gram heavier than Sterling’s 9.7 Evolution. And with an impact force of 8.6 kN, it gives a softer catch than every other model of single rope that Sterling makes. All Sterling ropes come with their patented Dry-Core technology, so even if your big ol’ sheath gets a little sloppy, your core stays high and dry, preserving the rope's strength. If that’s not enough, Sterling also offers a completely dry rope.

Sterling gives the Marathon Pro a low recommendation for aid and wall climbing, so if that's your bag, maybe check out an Evolution Quantum, Sterling's 10.7mm cord. But as a humble trad/sport climber, I can’t find a single thing not to like about this rope. I flied and tried… over and over again.

[list]Diameter: 10.1mm *
Type: Single *
UIAA Falls: 6 *
Impact Force: 8.6 kN *
Static Elongation: 8.4% *
Dynamic Elongation: 35.3% *
Sheath Slippage: 0mm *
Weight: 63 g/m *
UIAA and CE certified[/list]