looking for a double rope...

My partner has been talking about starting to use 60m doubles, both for rock and for ice. If we each buy a rope, that'll help cut the cost down. I'm more partial to ropes that last longer.

Anyone have some good (or bad) experiences with double ropes that they would like to share to help us buy some good ropes? Thanks!

My vote is for Mammut Genesis - handle well and last long. Whatever you get, don't buy Petzl Dragonflys, they're terrible.

Blue Water Excellence is my vote

Metolius Monster 7.8. Also rated as a twin.

Thanks for all the input so far.

For those of you that recommended stuff, how long have you owned the different 1/2 ropes you mentioned, and would you say they get regular use? Thanks!

Also, I've been partial to Sterling ropes for quite some time... anyone have any experience with their half/double ropes?

+1 for Mammut Genesis being a great rope. I've gone thru 2 sets and am on a third (albeit a single now). They have a great hand, and they hold up to abuse quite well. I rarely used mine for pure rock routes, saving them instead for alpine and ice, so I can't really speak to their every-day use.... mine usually came out of rotation because of sheath damage from rock fall or crampon/ice tool. Anyway, I recommend them. I actually climb on it as a single pretty often as well.

That said, the Genesis is an older rope model and newer lighter models have sprung up in the past couple years that could be more versatile. I like the concept of some of these newer cords being both half and twin rated.

HTH

I think the Mammut Serenity 8.9 can be used as single, double or twin and allows each of you to buy a rope you could use independently. I own one and its great, doesn't seem too fragile. Originally purchased as a second rope for team of 3 multipitch but it is now used as single for multipitch with long approaches. I don't climb that hard so falls are rare. So light, minimizes rope drag. If someday I try doubles I would get another.

I got the Petzl Dragonflies for a trip to red rocks and have been using them ever since. As far as climbing with doubles in general, I'm a total convert and absolutely love using them.

As for the dragonflies, pros are lightweight, well handling, very low impact force. Only con I can see so far is that the sheath is already a bit beaten up, but still has lots of life in it - for your first set of doubles however you may want to go with something thicker and more durable.

Mammut Genesis 8.5's have been a workhorse rock climbing rope for me. The latest model is a little thinner and handles a touch better than the older versions. Wear is especially good; I retired my last set because of age, but they still look fine.

dolgio wrote:My vote is for Mammut Genesis - handle well and last long. Whatever you get, don't buy Petzl Dragonflys, they're terrible.

+1 on both counts.

I'm on my third set of Genesises and all of them have held up superbly. I've heard horrible things about Petzl rope sheaths, though I don't have personal experience to share.

--Marc

petercoe wrote:Blue Water Excellence is my vote

+ fuckin 1.

I love my BW half ropes, they handle great and are light but not so thin that I'm convinced they'll break if I fall on them.

I've owned and climbed with em for 4 years now, I usually climb with single rope, but I bet they see 20-40 pitches a year. Never used a sterling half, but I bet they are good, They always turn out a great product.

rgold wrote:Mammut Genesis 8.5's have been a workhorse rock climbing rope for me. The latest model is a little thinner and handles a touch better than the older versions. Wear is especially good; I retired my last set because of age, but they still look fine.

Add me to the +1 list. Also owned Sterling and they were durable as well, but I like the way the Genesis pair handles better. Haven't climbed on the Blue Waters in a long while (friend had a set), but I remember them being nice with a very soft hand.

as a bonus all mammut half ropes have been tested for use as twins as well

i have a pair of mammut phoenix 8mm ... havent used much yet, saving them for alpine this season

I love the Edelweiss Oxygen 8.2 mm. They have been amazingly durable. I've had them for 3 or 4 years, using them for alpine rock climbs in RMNP (around 12 routes). We used them exclusively on a three week alpine trip to Southern Argentina (14 routes?). These routes are certainly never easy on ropes, and they've seen a few days of multipitch cragging as well. I've even top-roped a few sport climbs with them. They still look brand new. I'll be getting another pair if this pair ever wears out.

Also, I find their size perfect. They are thick enough to inspire confidence and don't weigh too much.

Using double ropes is already a bit heavier than just a single rope, I would never want to lug two 8.9's to a climb or up one. If you are going to get double ropes, I suggest getting traditional doubles not a jack of all trades. You will probably end up bringing the traditional doubles more often.

Here is a picture of the ropes in action:

Thanks for all the great info folks! I've got a couple more questions on how to use them, now that we've got some coming our way (picked up some ~50m sterlings for $150 total cost for both ropes, new), but I'm going to bump an older thread focused on technique.

Thanks!

ps- feel free to keep posting feedback in this thread; I love hearing the good and bad personal experiences with different brands. Also, anyone have ice experience on doubles?

Spri wrote:Thanks for all the great info folks! I've got a couple more questions on how to use them, now that we've got some coming our way (picked up some ~50m sterlings for $150 total cost for both ropes, new), but I'm going to bump an older thread focused on technique. Thanks! ps- feel free to keep posting feedback in this thread; I love hearing the good and bad personal experiences with different brands. Also, anyone have ice experience on doubles?

Depending on where you climb, you may find 50m ropes a bit limiting. Especially for ice. I climb with my Genesis both on rock and ice. There isn't much benefit for using doubles on ice over a single except for redundancy - I would probably get a set of ropes that are also rated as twins. Now I've seen some leaders routinely clipping both half ropes into a piece of pro as twins - they just don't buy the argument that increases the impact forces, but I would not want to test that theory on an ice screw and wold NEVER clip both ropes together that are not rated as twins.

Yeah, I realize that 50m is somewhat limiting, but Sterling was selling 2 50m ropes for a grand total of $150, which is hard to beat. If we end up really liking double rope technique, I'm sure we'll invest in better, lighter, and 60m doubles. But it was a good cheap way to figure out if we like it or not.

Where did you get that deal? I think it was a great way to go for the price and because I think rope stretching 60m pitches are over rated for moving fast.

dolgio wrote:My vote is for Mammut Genesis - handle well and last long. Whatever you get, don't buy Petzl Dragonflys, they're terrible.

Yeah, my dragonfly got a core shot from god knows what on the second trip out... no falls, no particularly sharp edges on the rap... I think they handle great and they are light weight, but they just don't last. I only take them on alpine trips now.

David Appelhans wrote:Where did you get that deal? I think it was a great way to go for the price and because I think rope stretching 60m pitches are over rated for moving fast.

The Sterling Rope website's outlet, where they sell "shorts". The ones we picked up were 48m (150 feet instead of 156), so they are a little shy. You can check out what they have here:
sterlingrope.com/products/3…

specific to double ropes that they are selling, which you can select up to 150' of:
sterlingrope.com/product/34…
sterlingrope.com/product/34…

Lucie and I have gone through ~10 pairs of doubles over the years. Unless we're single pitch cragging, we ALWAYS climb on doubles, whether on rock or ice.

We used to use and love Edelweiss Stratos (8.9mm) for rock. Those were fantastic ropes, a bit wiry, but far more durable than anything else I've ever used. They also stretched less than most doubles (which can be good and bad, see below). Unfortunately, they stopped making those a few years ago...

Instead, Edelweiss started making the Sharp (8.5mm, I think). We've had one set of those and they were horrible (which was a big surprise to us after loving their other doubles so much). Handling was nice and we liked the smaller diameter compared to the Stratos, but we ended up with an insane amount of sheath slippage after only a few weeks. I cut off several feet of the sheath from both ropes, TWICE, before they finally stopped slipping. And then they wore out pretty quickly too.

For ice, we've used Mammut Genesis (8.5mm) forever (4 pairs to date) and have never had anything negative to say about them.
For the last couple years, we've been using them on rock as well. They are amazing ropes. Mammut is the only brand we've used with which we've never had any issue whatsoever (and we've had a few of their singles too). It's pretty much the only brand I feel like buying anymore.

We've tried other brands two or three times (Roca 10.5mm, Petzl 10.5mm, and New England), and were always disappointed. Durability is simply not on par with Mammut IMO.

I've read a lot of bad comments about the Petzl Dragonfly but have not used them myself.

The only thing you'll have to keep in mind is that doubles stretch a lot more than singles in a fall. That's of course a good thing for your pro (lower peak load), but also means that you are more likely to hit stuff on the way down, especially when close to the ground/ledge. Just keep that in mind and place protection accordingly. Doubles rule!