80m

just ordered an 80m Mammut after having to cut down my 70m

who has 80m and what do you like/dislike?

I dislike an 80 for short crags. Save for that, my 9.2mm 80M bicolor (Blue Water Icon) is my favorite rope ever.
Some will say it weighs a lot. It weighs less than my 9.5mm 70M, my 9.8 60M, or the 11mm 50m I learned to climb on. Plus, the only thing hanging on you when climbing is the part you lead on, so it is lighter and has less drag than any of those on lead.
Some will say you don't carry that much gear (to lead an 80M pitch). Phooey. I guess I either carry a lot or don't place much.
Some will say not to fall with that much rope out. They'd be right. Don't. Keep track of where low cruxes are and don't screw your partner either. Build a belay when it is appropriate.

You know you can do the Diamond in 4 pitches now, and rap lots of stuff that used to require twins.

Enjoy. And carry long runners to keep that thing straight.

The skinnier you go, the less painful it'll be to flake out. I got a 9.4. My fattest rope is a 70m 9.5. Seems more painful to flake the 70m. Dry treated rope will make the rope slightly more rigid, allowing flaking to be even easier, and less rope drag during the climb.

Some bastard stole mine along the trail. Man! I miss it.

Tony B wrote: You know you can do the Diamond in 4 pitches now, and rap lots of stuff that used to require twins. .

Do you rap the diamond with a single 80m?

Likes: linking pitches, not having to bring a second rap line for lots of routes, lowering off of long single pitches (think Indian Creek), clipping a skinny rope.

Dislikes: spending 30% longer flaking and coiling the rope every time.

Another cool feature, you can bring an 80m lead line and a 60m tag line to link pitches and then do full 70m raps on a big route.

long sport pitches, long creek pitches, linking on walls, rapping without a tag. mine is a 80m 9.4 Beal Stinger, my next will be a 90m 9.1 Beal Joker for long sport climbs.

You could probably take every old forum post about whether to buy a 70m or a 60m rope, replace 70 with 80, replace 60 with 70, and have it match the current arguments word for word.

I'm so old, I remember when the debate was "50m or 60m?"

As said above, 80m is great if...

-You want the option of doing a LOT of Indian Creek rope-stretching pitches with one rope.

-you want the option of linking lots of pitches on moderate multipitch.

-you want a project rope that you plan on hangdogging or taking lots of short falls on, so you can just gradually cut down the worn ends.

-if you want to get out the knife and cut you two or three Rumney ropes.

You are right. However, if you live somewhere where a 80m length is useful,and find that style or terrain cool. You should buy one, end of discussion.

Its not the only rope I own. I have 3 60ms, two 60m 6mm tags, and the 80m. the 80m gets a lot less time than the 60's day by day. I still value the the 80, which will be a 70 soon... all that whipping way up.

the main reason I ordered an 80 was to link pitches in Cochise and surrounding areas. After living in SD (Custer/Rushmore) and having two rope repels the idea of having a lead 80 with a tag 70 sounds very appealing to link raps too.

thanks for all the input peeps

D

Pnelson wrote:I'm so old, I remember when the debate was "50m or 60m?"

Foof. You youngster. BITD it was "45m or 50m?", with 50m having been the brand new thing.....and the actual debate was "150' or 165'?" - no one used those fancy meter measurements. You could still easily buy a 120' as well, and they were all 11mm.

Don Ferris wrote: Do you rap the diamond with a single 80m?

I haven't. I walk off the North Face.

Rob Warden...Space Lizard wrote: my next will be a 90m 9.1 Beal Joker for long sport climbs.

They are already making 100m's.
I've discussed that with a partner before - where is the practical limit of "too much" though. I think 80M is getting close for me. I'm getting to the place where much longer and I won't have the gear for it or too much drag. With 260' of rope I'm already linking 2-3 pitches per lead... not sure if 300' or 330' is going to get me much further, but for raps.

Tony B wrote: They are already making 100m's. I've discussed that with a partner before - where is the practical limit of "too much" though. I think 80M is getting close for me. I'm getting to the place where much longer and I won't have the gear for it or too much drag. With 260' of rope I'm already linking 2-3 pitches per lead... not sure if 300' or 330' is going to get me much further, but for raps.

I think a 100m skinny would be perfect for Indian Creek as there are a lot of 50m single pitch routes you could lower off of. Other than that can't think of anything other than specialty sport climbs. At some point it's easier to bring two ropes.

all i want out of the 90m is to keep it an 80m after it gets a haircut. there are a few things that the whole length may be useful for. however, i want extra skinny rope for when it inevitably needs to be trimmed.

Tony B wrote: They are already making 100m's.

Isn't that just called a spool?

Something I'm surprised I haven't seen any mention of is trouble with longer ropes and rappelling. The more rope there is between two anchor points, the more stretch there is. The rope will stretch before pulling through, say, rap rings. If there's anything that causes rope drag along the way, even the rope pigtail or twisting around itself, that can cause pulling the rope to be near impossible. Just a week ago, we finished up some single pitch routes on a tower in Phoenix. Greever's Needle. There are a couple of 70m stretchers on the Tall side. My newb cousin raps off the top. I pulled and pulled and pulled, til all the stretch was hardened to nothing more. We went back for it the next day, as it had gotten dark on us. The rope was twisted at the top, and the rope was running over the edge now, after cleaning our gear off of it, unfortunately. And it was a round edge, not even sharp. Rope is a love/ hate relationship.

Marc801 wrote: Isn't that just called a spool?

Spools are usually 200m or 600ft.