Shrinkage

Due to a core shot, I recently cut the ends off from my not-quite-two-year-old, nominally 70m 10.2mm Maxim rope.

The following points of data may be of interest to fellow OCD climbers:

When new, the rope measured just over 72m in length.

I cut a total of 21' in length from the rope. The measured length is now just a hair over 58m (190.5 feet).

Before the cutting, the rope length would have measured at about 64 1/2 meters.

youtube.com/watch?v=pm3F9pi…

"I don't know how you guys walk around with those things?!"

wouldn't do most any trad route here in Red Rocks with anything less than a 70

What would you say are the contributing factors to the shrinkage?

Rope cores will shrink up over time unless they've seen a good deal of whips, in which case they can stretch.

That's why you sometimes see the straw wrapper effect on the tails of beater ropes; the core is shrinking and the sheath is not.

Evan

Price , The biggest contributing factor to shrinkage -- swimming in a cold pool .

Kevin McLaughlin wrote:Price , The biggest contributing factor to shrinkage -- swimming in a cold pool .

Agree. After a cold ice day, a good session in the hot tub helps me return to the normal length. It's tough though to dry out the rope after it's been in the tub with me.