How long are your half/double ropes?

Looking at getting a set of halves, for their obvious advantages in many scenarios, and thinking a pair of 50m ~8mm's would be cheaper, lighter, and slightly easier to manage at belays than 60's.

I very rarely see routes that require rappels longer than 165', and was wondering how often you are glad you are carrying around that extra 20m of line. Does anyone even buy 70m+ halves? It seems like pulling a knot that far is a recipe for disaster?

For the record, I already have a couple of 60m single ropes.

I've got 2 50 meters. My only complaint is not running 60m lead pitches. I havent lead to 2 70s, but that just seems like WAY too much imo. 2 50s is hella-light. I'd stick with either 50s or maybe 60s if you are constantly running it to the end of your 60m single.

There were many times last summer when having double 60m routes was useful. The extra length was great for combining pitches on the ascent. The extra ten meters saved us a couple pitches and a bunch of uncomfortable stances on Pingora alone. Another good reason for 60m lines is that it allows you to skip anchors on rappels that are set up for a single 60m. That halves the number of raps you have to do.

Halfs.....half the length
Doubles.....double the length

:-D

PS: 60 m is my choice

Doubles -- double the time it takes to rappel.

60

70m ... ive been glad of them to skip a rappel or two ... or linking pitches

This thread addresses your question:

mountainproject.com/v/half-…

Edit: I just noticed you have the same last name as the OP on the other thread, strange...

Alicia,

Thanks! I did search for a similar thread before posting, but obviously not very hard.

I appreciate all the responses

-Simon

Simon Hatfield wrote:Alicia, Thanks! I did search for a similar thread before posting, but obviously not very hard. I appreciate all the responses -Simon

So, I have to ask, are you related to the other Hatfield or is this name just way more common than I realize?

p.s. it was not super obvious if you searched double ropes. It was at least a couple pages in, so no worries.

My guess is that 15 out of 16 times the 50m work; then you hit the 60m route/rap. Depends where you climb. This happened to me not that long ago, I'd buy 60m since new routes are getting longer.

70 meter half ropes....

I recently bought 60m twin ropes. I tested them out on snake dike in yosemite. The first pitch wanders and I was suprised to see how close I was to the end of the rope when I got to the belay station. The rest of the pitches would have easily taken a 50m rope.

If you don't mind the occasional simult climb or funny belay spot then I think you could get away with 50m doubles.

I've found 60m doubles to work fine everywhere. 190 feet for rapping has always been more than needed.

By the way, even when I could rap on just one of the pair, I've found it better to use both. Rather than pulling 30m of rope through the rap anchor, you just thread an end, tie 'em together, and go. And the fact that the ropes are typically too long for the rap in question means that the going-off-the-end accident, a relatively common one for experienced climbers, is far less likely, and you also eliminate that type of accident when it is caused by uneven ends.

The downside, of course, is the potential for hanging up the joining knot, so in some areas---Red Rock comes to mind---it might be better to use just one rope when you can, although I have always used both in Red Rock (joined by an EDK of course) and, although I have hung a rappel once at RR, it wasn't at the knot and I've never had an EDK hang anywhere.

own 70m doubles and dont mind the extra 30 ft allows for linking pitches nicely. A friend has 80 m doubles which makes linking pitches on Laurel Knob pretty awesome, but they are a total pain in the ass. Stick with 60-70m doubles

The Brits tend to like their 50m doubles, but that's mostly because the trad there is short with wandery gear.

60m doubles has been just fine for me in pretty much all the places I've climbed with them, including the Gunks, Cannon, Cathedral, Red Rocks, and Yosemite). Never really felt like I would want longer in doubles/halves. I'm not particularly worried about buying longer having to cut off ends or anything, since it's pretty rare that I'll be falling on them enough for it to matter. Hauling around and managing an extra 20m of rope sounds like a pain in the ass with little to no benefit that I can see.

70m (and 80m for that matter) are generally more useful on singles. For long multi-pitch, ideally I'd like to choose between a single 70m or a pair of 60m doubles. The 70m is often plenty to be able to reach longer rappels if needed, route dependent.

rock_fencer wrote:own 70m doubles and dont mind the extra 30 ft allows for linking pitches nicely. A friend has 80 m doubles which makes linking pitches on Laurel Knob pretty awesome, but they are a total pain in the ass. Stick with 60-70m doubles

Rope drag! I can't imagine smearing up Laurel with that much rope running across the slab. If you want to link pitches, simul-climb. I use 60m 7.8 Monster from Metolius. Feels like climbing on cordalette. The drag can get pretty bad even with those two skinny. I wouldn't want any more. Those ropes are so strecthy, that if you only need 10' or so more feet then you will get it through stretch.

Alicia Sokolowski wrote: So, I have to ask, are you related to the other Hatfield or is this name just way more common than I realize?

He's actually my conjoined twin, but we've stopped talking to each other since this dispute. Maybe I'll just get a 50m and HE can deal with the 60...

[I've never met the guy, but its not an uncommon name]

I have 70 meters for Squamish and love 'em for linking pitches and quick rappels. They can be a pain when the pitches are shorter and not easy to link, though.

I also have an 80m single that is stellar for linking 2 or 3 pitches at a time or clipping into the middle and bringing up 2 seconds on < 40m pitches.

I would definitely recommend not getting anything shorter than 60 meters.

Simon H wrote: Looking at getting a set of halves, for their obvious advantages in many scenarios, and thinking a pair of 50m ~8mm's would be cheaper, lighter, and slightly easier to manage at belays than 60's. I very rarely see routes that require rappels longer than 165', and was wondering how often you are glad you are carrying around that extra 20m of line. Does anyone even buy 70m+ halves? It seems like pulling a knot that far is a recipe for disaster? For the record, I already have a couple of 60m single ropes.

As primarily a sport climber I use 70m all the time.
Out on trad days I find 70 to be just long enough to run fast and link pitches.
Doing double 70m raps has never been a problem.
In red rocks now and very glad both parties had 70m ropes we were able to keep the up and down moving and no snags worth mentioning.

Side note , I have about 30 50m ropes in a bin cause 50 is only good at short crags and when we cut the 20m off we retire the ropes.