Black Diamond climbing ropes

My workhorse 9.4 is a Roca purchased through fixe. A few hundred pitches into it, no fuzz, still good. I've taken a few whippers, including a 50 footer on it. It's first year it had a soft catch, it is now used mostly for projecting, but point is, when i need a new rope, it will be a BD 70, color be damned!
.$02

ViperScale wrote:To bad for the rope I would want from them only comes in a color I don't really like. I would try out a 9.6 60/70m if they made it in blue or green. My first rope was a blue water that I really liked, lasted for years and is still in near perfect condition minus a cut in sheath from getting stuck on a rappel. I replaced it with a sterling one that turned into a fuzz fest after a year of climbing, kinks like crazy, and likely won't get another from them.

It does come in green. My 9.6 70m dry rope is bright green.

John Wilder wrote: The UIAA fall rating is essentially a waste of text on the rope- its not at all useful in any way at all for the consumer. Ignore it in favor of Sheath percentage, impact force, and weight.

Correct. It is more likely to be NEGATIVELY associated with "burliness" conditional on rope diameter. Higher % core increases UIAA fall rating, but reduces the amount of sheath (by definition), which means the rope can stand up to less abuse. In other words, if you were to have two ropes which were the same in every way (diameter, construction, materials, etc.), but one has a higher fall rating (achieved by decreasing sheath %), the one with the higher fall rating is likely to stand up to LESS abuse than the one with a lower fall rating.

I have said this many times, but I firmly believe that the UIAA fall rating should be removed from packaging, since it is far more misleading than helpful to consumers. Those that understand what it actually means ignore it, and those that don't understand will be mislead. It is worse for the consumer to have this there.

Micah Klesick wrote: It does come in green. My 9.6 70m dry rope is bright green.

yeah, but only the dry treated version. As lame as it sounds, I probably would have already purchased the 9.6 60m if the non-dry treated rope was the same green color as the dry version. The nasty mustard yellow on the 9.2 is enough for me to not buy it as well and I really don't care about dry treatment so it's not worth the extra money to me on either rope for the better color.

patto wrote:That said these are all the steps of milking a brand label for all the short term profit you can. Long term they are diluting the brand's reputation, it usually doesn't end well for the serious users of their products.

Their skis are made somewhere in Europe, their bindings are made by fritschi diamir, beacons by pieps, tent line bought from bibler, etc... So long as the product lines they chose to distribute or rebrand are good & fit with their other products, I think it's a win for everyone.

Patrick Shyvers wrote: Their skis are made somewhere in Europe,

Their Helios line is made by Blizzard in Austria, not sure about the rest of the line.

I got this BD 40M gym rope, and I've noticed an issue that I haven't seen in 30 years of climbing. By the time you lower the leader, the sheath on the rope is bunched up behind the atc while the core is stretched. It's almost like a sock pushed down over you ankles. And the sheath will stay all saggy for a while. There is also a weird kink in the rope. It's brand new and hs all of 8 hours of use. Should I be sad? Fear for my life? Thanks!

freddie hutch wrote:

I got this BD 40M gym rope, and I've noticed an issue that I haven't seen in 30 years of climbing. By the time you lower the leader, the sheath on the rope is bunched up behind the atc while the core is stretched. It's almost like a sock pushed down over you ankles. And the sheath will stay all saggy for a while. There is also a weird kink in the rope. It's brand new and hs all of 8 hours of use. Should I be sad? Fear for my life? Thanks!

I would contact Black Diamond about this. That's not normal. I'm sure they would be happy to replace it for you under warranty. 

freddie hutch wrote:

I got this BD 40M gym rope, and I've noticed an issue that I haven't seen in 30 years of climbing. By the time you lower the leader, the sheath on the rope is bunched up behind the atc while the core is stretched. It's almost like a sock pushed down over you ankles. And the sheath will stay all saggy for a while. There is also a weird kink in the rope. It's brand new and hs all of 8 hours of use. Should I be sad? Fear for my life? Thanks!

That's not just a quirk of a new design. That much sheath slippage ain't normal. Give 'em a call and tell their warranty folks what's happening.

I've been using the 9.6 as my main rope for trad and sport for the last 6 months and really like it.  Seems to be holding up as well or better than my friends petzl nomad with similar use.

Anyone have experience to share with the 7.8 half ropes? 

Josiah Ferguson wrote:

Anyone have experience to share with the 7.8 half ropes? 

One of my climbing partners has a set of the 7.8 half ropes. I climbed a few pitches of ice with them. My initial impression was favorable. They handled well through an ATC and the coating did a good job of keeping them relatively dry. On one pitch they got quite icy (wet ice and -5 F temps) but almost all the ice came off when rapping and the ropes were barely wet when we pulled them out to dry at the hotel. 

They are pretty easy to get tangled up but that is to be expected with 140 m of skinny rope. They led to an entertaining less than vertical rap. 

StuartB, that pic looks like classic Nipigon!  

Jon, Very good guess! I think you even know the guy in the picture;)

Josiah Ferguson wrote:

Anyone have experience to share with the 7.8 half ropes? 

I've been using a set as twin/half rock ropes for about the past 10 months. My impression has been overall very favorable, besides the tangling issue when rappelling. I notified Black Diamond of how bad they were tangling (they had been named kinky and twisty), and sent them in for warranty. They sent me a new pair of ropes, and I haven't had the same issues since. 

Bumping this older thread. 

Im interested in the half ropes for ice and alpine rock, I see the 7.8 halfs have been replaced by a new 7.9 half rope.  Has anyone been out on these new lines?  

And now some of you guys should have a fair amount of use on the older 7.8 how have they held up?  

Thanks

I have several BD ropes (the blue and orange, I dont recall the diameter off the top of my head) and my overall impression is good. I cannot comment on the twin or half ropes. 

Rock fall induced core shot, two days ago, on a BD 9.9mm line.

I’ve been using BD ropes for a couple years now and Im happy with their performance. Im often super hard on my ropes and they’ve stood up to lots of use.

I climbed on the bd red (9.5?) for about 9 months. My overall impression was “meh”. Seemed to get dirty and very frayed in a relatively small amount of time compared to other brands i’ve tried. The middle mark was impossible to see after a couple weekends of use. Great for the price, easy to find ‘em 25% off. I cut it in half and still use it as my gym rope. In terms of overall quality, companies like Sterling Bluewater and Mammut do it better, they’ve been in the rope game much longer. Just my 0.02

Just climbed on the 9.2mm x 70m yesterday. Had a great hand feel, soft and supple.