of the ropes you're considering, i've had the Petzl Nomad and a Mammut, although not that model. i prefer the handling of the Mammut. the Petzl kinks more than other ropes when used with a tube-style belay device and is downright frustrating with a gri-gri. the petzl does have a softer catch, though.

Justin, If you liked your 10.3 Slimline Elite why not get the 9.8 version? It's a great rope for most applications.

The Infinity is a great rope, but at 9.1 kN for an impact force you better not plan of falling on a lot of thin pro with this rope. If you don't fall much this rope will last longer than the others due to it's high % sheath construction.

The Slimline elite has a higher than average sheath %, but has close to the lowest impact force rating(in it's class) at 7.3 kN. These ropes used to be marketed by Yates as the Big Wall and Speed Wall ropes.

I might as well throw in my two $0.02.

I have climbed on many ropes and owned a few different brands that you have listed, by far, my favorite rope is from Edelrid, which seems to be little known in the US. Granted, I have really never encountered a rope that I absolutely hate.

http://www.edelridna.com/index.php?target=products&product_i>>>>>

They are a little pricey, but my first Edelrid is still holding up well. I like the feel of it over other ropes, it glides though my GriGri easier for lead belaying on sport.

I do prefer the 10.x mm ropes, I just feel they last longer. I have absolutely no evidence or proof on that. :-)

Ice and I don't mix well, hence why I live in Southern Arizona, so I have never done that. My Edelrid has been my main "work horse" for both sport and trad, and it's coming up on time for retirement:

http://www.roperugs.com/

Edelrid makes many different types of ropes into the 9.x mm range too.

Also to note, most people when they get on my rope always complement it.

John...

I earlier put in a vote for an edelwiess, but recently two of my friends got the Sterling Velocity 9.8, and I have to say it's one of best looking ropes I've ever seen. Theirs seem to be holding up pretty well thus far.

Good question Justin, if they got rid of it it must have been recently as I had one last year and I have a friend still climbing on one. See if Yates still has some listed on their site.(edit: just checked and it looks like they don't carry it either...too bad)

My last two ropes have been Lightning Pro's, which I like as well as the 9.8 Slimline. So if they did stop production I don't think you would regret buying the Pro.

Allright Justin, here it goes.

CHEAP and LONG! 70 meters and none of that extra money "dry-crap". Judging from your profile, if your rope is wet, you made a mistake. Go for the best deal you can finagle, at anyplace you can finagle it and call it good. All this roundabout, ass-grabbing, rope God crap info is crap. Get the best you can afford and start climbing, like climbers do.

If we need another long winded "here's what I think you should buy" thread, man up and start it. Just don't take this for 3 pages of advice crap route.

SERIOUSLY, if you walk into any store that sells rope, and start yammering about the 2 or 3 pages of personal (not yours) info you have regarding every little detail so you can send your projy-wojy rope stuff. Your rope might show up with poop on it. (Back me up on this one Russ).

P.S.- Buy MAXIM, they love Pugs.........

any rope that can resist my im-petulance-resulting-in-use-of-belay-knife is a good rope.

That, and one that gets you back on terra firma at a rate of speed less than gravity.

Or, one that's near a bottle of scotch; that's good too

If you want some more wordy info check out this post and make sure to read the comments for some other people's experiences.

http://dreaminvertical.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/sweet-gear-a>>>>>

As mentioned in the blog I really like the Mammut Infinity but John (vegastradguy) is right that it is more of a 9.7 than a 9.5.

I too have a Sterling Ion which is much thinner. I like it but it is really kinky. It literally ties its self in knots.

Has anyone played with the Mammut Revelation 9.2? Sounds like a really nice skinny rope for long trad routes.

Cheers,

Luke

I've got that 9.8 Sterling velocity and have really been impressed. I have really abused it so far and it is in terrific shape. It has seen about 4 months of heavy climbing, including many laps with the minitraxion, sharp teeth biting all over it, still looks solid. Good hand too, medium. Not too stiff, but no noodle either. Bonus is it's made in the USA (which is a selling point with me.)

I avoid mammuts, I think they are overpriced, get stiff and impossible to feed through a grigri, and as mentioned are always bigger than their stated diameter.

I have owned a couple maxims, ok ropes. Generally on the lower price end, with decent but not great durability.

Favorite rope ever has been the beal booster 9.7, light and springy but not as durable as the velocity, but I see that's not on your list.

Good luck with your next rope.

EDIT to add:
It is my opinion that all rope kinks and twists are caused by user error, either an offset redirect or an offset anchor setup. Not to say anyone is dumb by doing this, I do it all the time and my rope picks up kinks and twists, I just deal with it and work them out.

I wound up buying the Sterling Evolution Velocity 9.8. I chose to go with the philosophies that:

• I probably won't notice a huge difference in the softness of a catch; 1.n kN is probably not going to mean the difference between blowing gear and having it hold. I really should (and do) rig my gear to hold a whipper, even when it's small gear. If it's not bomber, then I don't bother.

• I didn't want to go super-thin since I will setup a toprope for a single partner and I to do a couple laps on here and there; I also want to have confidence that my rope won't instantly sever if it does happen to go over a sharp edge.

• Sterling has an overwhelmingly positive reputation as a rope manufacturer; and has a reputation for long lasting ropes. All manufacturers have dissatisfied parties, but Sterling, anecdotally, seems to have more satisfied customers than dissatisfied or indifferent.

• I found it for a pretty good price. This was Hank's philosophy: light, long and cheap! And it's ultimately what it came down to: price. Everything stops at the buck.

Nice i just got the same PINK! rope and i love it... I love all the ropes ive gotten from sterling (7 or so over the last 10ish years)

[edited on 08/30/2009 to change reference from Edelweiss to Mammut]

Pardon the cross posting to the "Edelweiss Ropes?" thread, but I think others can learn from my error.

Yesterday, I was at the Bent Gate and resolved the mystery of my kinky Mammut rope - a 9.2mm x 70m Revelation bicolor from 2007. I The executive summary: READ the uncoiling instructions.

In this comedy of errors, I asked one of the guys at the Bent Gate about this "Edelweiss" rope, (forgetting that it was a Mammut). Well, he had the same problem I did, but with an Edelweiss.

My Mammut was packed on a carboard and plastic "spool", and the instructions specified to uncoil the spool by spinning it to remove the rope. Don't merely pull the rope off the spool and straighten out the kinks as you go. This twisting problem is several orders of magnitude worse than any twisting you might experience from uncoling a rope after coiling it into a mountaineer's coil (last time I did this was some 20 years ago). Well, I have to confess that I didn't notice these unpacking instructions until about half way through removing the rope from its packaging.

It took me some 60-80 pitches along with one washing to straighten it out (pulling the rope through top anchors when the opportunity presented itself). Only now is it to behaving like a "normal" rope.

The fellow at Bent Gate made the same error and experienced the same headaches. His rope also came on a spool as opposed to being lap coiled the way most ropes are. He verified with the Edelweiss rep that it takes that long to undo this error. This was driving both me, my buddy, and my wife nuts, and I was ready to relegate it to towing cars.

It seems as if the rope companies have recognized this potential for user unpacking error (how many of us read unpacking instructions for a rope?), because I didn't see any Edelweiss or Mammut ropes in the shop that were spooled into a coil.

My hope is that you'll learn from our knucklehead errors.

Cheers,
Thom