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Ice Climbing Ropes
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Hey everyone, I'm in the market for my first primarily ice/mixed climbing rope, which I'll be using exclusively for Top Roping. I browsed a few forum posts related to this over the past 2-3 years, so I was able to see what folks have previously suggested; I still am curious about what I might hear by resurrecting the topic, as it has been over 4+ months. Some context: I'm climbing in Minnesota on the weekends just to get lots of reps and hone in on techniques to form good climbing habits, as well as building endurance. It's Minnesota, so single pitch. From my experience, single ropes are less of a hassle at this point, so I'm going to be settling on a single rope (later down the road get a double or half and practice rope management). Sounds like a dry treated rope is the logical choice too, but I'd be open to hearing any arguments about this. I'm not too concerned about the rope weight or diameter, since it's a first rope after all. I think any rope between 9-10 mm should work just fine for what I'm doing here. From my understanding, the main source of rope damage is impaling it with sharp things, so I'm thinking having a longer rope, 70m, also makes trimming the ends less of an issue if it gets to that. I'd love to hear from more experienced folks. Thank you for your time! Have a great weekend everyone! |
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I just picked up an Edelweiss Rocklight II Dry (9.8, 70m) for my girlfriend's first ice rope. It was super stiff out of the package, but worked into a nice feel after a few laps. It clips well when leading, top ropes great, and was only $140 at WildyX here in Denver. After a handful of trips with it, I'm super impressed. Definitely work on NOT impaling your ropes with sharp things ;) and make sure if your anchor is a ways back from the edge of the ice, you extend it out as close to the lip as you can (over the lip if possible) to avoid the rope getting dragged back and forth through ice/snow. Belaying on a frozen and stuck rope sucks. |
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Hey Josh, don't over-think it! Just buy a single rope that is dry treated. |
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I just went through this same search and ended up with a mammut eternity 9.8mm dry 70m. My local REI had them clearance for $160 at the time. So far it's held up great and the dry treatment has been phenomenal. |
Nick Sweeney wrote: Also, this ^^^ |
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Beal Tiger 10mm Unicore Golden Dry would hold up well for TR on single-pitch ice. I've also had good luck with Mammut ropes. Anything in their Dry line from 9.5-10.2 is what I'd be looking for. |
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If you’re going to be top roping off anything but bolts buy a 100 ft of static rope, a double length sling and three lockers that are the same design. You can quickly setup a safe and redundant anchor anytime with this gear. Don’t be the guy toproping off a bunch of slings girth hitched together. I would have to recommend a 9.8mm dry treated rope. Anything smaller might suck to lower a heavier partner and anything thicker sucks to carry. I have a Bluewater 10.2 70 that I use to toprope. I try not to pack it any further than like a 1/4 mile! |
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I have been enjoying the Sterling Nano XI it is super light (52g/m) and has one of the best UIAA Certified Water Repellent ratings, so your rope won't be awkward to use and or freeze. https://sterlingrope.com/store/climb/ropes/dynamic/fusion-series/fusion-nano-ix |
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If you are going to top rope ALOT, go with the bigger rope. You will be happy. Yeah, you need to man up and carry it, but it’s not that big of a deal. I use a 60 10.5 for rope soloing and double rope TR. Most CO routes you will top rope will require double 50’s, maybe 60’s. A single 70 will get a few done, but not many. Just depends. A good thing about a fat 70 is it makes a nice single lead rope. Just gotta look at your needs. And as Bill mentioned I use a semi static for my anchor setups for TR, very versatile. |
Bill Kirby wrote: That drives me crazy lol.... Every other anchor was like that at Ouray, girth hitched like 8 slings together. haha |
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Stay somewhere in the middle on rope diameter 9.5-9.8 when you get down around 9mm it's not really recommended for TR and above 10mm and just a little ice coating will make it hard to pass thru device even with dry rope. As far as piercing rope, I have seen at some speed comps when the tools are flying they put several feet of light plastic tubing or 1" tubular webbing on rope before tying in. In general, on TR ice the belayer needs to watch and not be taking in slack when the climber is swinging tools so that the rope isn't moving in mid swing |
