Rope with high sheath percentage

If you really only care about sheath percentage I’d look at the Edelrid Canary Pro. It is 47% sheath.  I don’t know of a rope with a higher percentage.  It is an extremely durable rope for its size.  

Mikey Schaefer wrote: If you really only care about sheath percentage I’d look at the Edelrid Canary Pro. It is 47% sheath.  I don’t know of a rope with a higher percentage.  It is an extremely durable rope for its size.  

That being said if you are looking the best mini traxion rope you should be looking at all of the other variables.  I’d recommend the Sterling Safety Pro semi static rope.  It’s got enough stretch that mini traxion falls are soft but not bouncy.  I’ve own a couple thousand feet of it and have been amazed at how well it holds up.  I’ve got one 200m piece that is 8 years old now and has probably been used or fixed for a few hundred days at least.  It’s got some furry spots but is far from its end of life.

What are you thoughts on Unicore v. high sheath percentage for cutting resistance? Nervous juggers of fixed lines would  like to know (asking for a friend). :)

ps For those who don't know who Mikey is he is one of the producers of the film and cameramen(?) who rigged  El Cap to shoot Alex on his solo of Freerider....besides other general Valley badassedry....ie Father Time.

Harumpfster Boondoggle wrote:

What are you thoughts on Unicore v. high sheath percentage for cutting resistance? Nervous juggers of fixed lines would  like to know (asking for a friend). :)

ps For those who don't know who Mikey is he is one of the producers of the film and cameramen(?) who rigged  El Cap to shoot Alex on his solo of Freerider....besides other general Valley badassedry....

I don't know that much about the unicore but I would assume if you see white core even on a unicore you still get rid of the rope. The unicore is just there to prevent issues like sheath slippage I believe not increase the resistance of the life.

ViperScale . wrote:

I don't know that much about the unicore but I would assume if you see white core even on a unicore you still get rid of the rope. The unicore is just there to prevent issues like sheath slippage I believe not increase the resistance of the life.

Unicore is to prevent catastrophic failure of the rope when the sheath is cut.

Thick sheaths do the same by resisting cutting to begin with.

Both are trying to make a tougher rope. My question to Mikey is if he has any experience with them both to share.

The issue is not whether to retire a rope or not, but which may be the safer rope when fixing lines.

Mikey Schaefer wrote: If you really only care about sheath percentage I’d look at the Edelrid Canary Pro. It is 47% sheath.  I don’t know of a rope with a higher percentage.  It is an extremely durable rope for its size.  

That being said if you are looking the best mini traxion rope you should be looking at all of the other variables.  I’d recommend the Sterling Safety Pro semi static rope.  It’s got enough stretch that mini traxion falls are soft but not bouncy.  I’ve own a couple thousand feet of it and have been amazed at how well it holds up.  I’ve got one 200m piece that is 8 years old now and has probably been used or fixed for a few hundred days at least.  It’s got some furry spots but is far from its end of life.

Since multiple people have commented on the use of a Semi-static rope, and you all seem to have experience with them, I think that is the direction I may go. I don't mind a springy catch, but the durability seems to be less for this type of rope. 

I'm headed off to the Black Hills for a long weekend tomorrow, and I'll check them out online when I return.

P.S. Look for a review of the Sterling Fusion Ion 9.4mm rope when I get back    I'm going to be climbing both longer routes in Custer and sport routes in the Monument, so I should get a good feel about the handling properties. I had an earlier version of this rope, and it was a little anemic on durability. But this newer version upped the sheath percent to 39%, so maybe that will solve it.

I also have a Mammut Infinity 9.5mm duodess dry rope I am going to take out to Estes Park in September. I bought it for my nephew, but then he went and got engaged to a non-climber, so I kept it.

I don’t have any experience with the Unicore ropes that I am aware of.  I’ve generally only climbed on Petzl/Edelrid ropes for the last while unless it was a partners rope. I use to use Sterling ropes when they were free but now just use some of their static ropes.

And as far as durability of the semi-static vs static I can’t say I’ve noticed one to outperform the other in real life use.  I blew through an Edelweiss Speleo 10mm which is a pretty low stretch rope after a few weeks of use and have had a Sterling HTP which is low stretch rope survive hundreds of days of use.  At some point I’ve probably handled or owned static ropes from every major manufacturer and have logged close to if not more than a thousand days of use on static ropes.  My purely anecdotal evidence suggests the Sterling Safety Pro holds up as good if not better than most other ropes.  I’ve had about the opposite experience with the Sterling dynamic ropes though.

Buck Rio wrote:

I also have a Mammut Infinity 9.5mm duodess dry rope I am going to take out to Estes Park in September. I bought it for my nephew, but then he went and got engaged to a non-climber, so I kept it.

Hahahahaha petty!

Ted Pinson wrote:

Hahahahaha petty!

Nah, I gave him a triple rack of cams, nuts and hexes, along with draws and runners a few years ago, my sister and BIL got him a rope about the same time, so he has nothing to complain about. 

But I know how it goes, new wife, pretty soon kids, he isn't going to climb any more or nearly as much and he doesn't need a new rope.

Mikey Schaefer wrote: I don’t have any experience with the Unicore ropes that I am aware of.  I’ve generally only climbed on Petzl/Edelrid ropes for the last while unless it was a partners rope. I use to use Sterling ropes when they were free but now just use some of their static ropes.

And as far as durability of the semi-static vs static I can’t say I’ve noticed one to outperform the other in real life use.  I blew through an Edelweiss Speleo 10mm which is a pretty low stretch rope after a few weeks of use and have had a Sterling HTP which is low stretch rope survive hundreds of days of use.  At some point I’ve probably handled or owned static ropes from every major manufacturer and have logged close to if not more than a thousand days of use on static ropes.  My purely anecdotal evidence suggests the Sterling Safety Pro holds up as good if not better than most other ropes.  I’ve had about the opposite experience with the Sterling dynamic ropes though.

This is good to know stuff. My use won't be as intense as yours, but I took a brief look online to see if there are any static ropes on sale (didn't see anything).  I like Sterling ropes, apparently my use profile matches up with their construction, 'cus I have had really good luck with their dynamic ropes.

Maybe checkout the Maxim Glider  "incorporates a unique 1 over 1 sheath weave rather than the common 2 over 2, which makes the rope handle smoother and last longer"

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/climbing/climbing-rope/maxim-glider

Mikey Schaefer wrote: I don’t have any experience with the Unicore ropes that I am aware of.  I’ve generally only climbed on Petzl/Edelrid ropes for the last while unless it was a partners rope. I use to use Sterling ropes when they were free but now just use some of their static ropes.

And as far as durability of the semi-static vs static I can’t say I’ve noticed one to outperform the other in real life use.  I blew through an Edelweiss Speleo 10mm which is a pretty low stretch rope after a few weeks of use and have had a Sterling HTP which is low stretch rope survive hundreds of days of use.  At some point I’ve probably handled or owned static ropes from every major manufacturer and have logged close to if not more than a thousand days of use on static ropes.  My purely anecdotal evidence suggests the Sterling Safety Pro holds up as good if not better than most other ropes.  I’ve had about the opposite experience with the Sterling dynamic ropes though.

Thanks Mikey. Ya, I'm looking for a tough rope for riggin' and scubbin' new routes.

Buck Rio wrote:

Nah, I gave him a triple rack of cams, nuts and hexes, along with draws and runners a few years ago, my sister and BIL got him a rope about the same time, so he has nothing to complain about. 

But I know how it goes, new wife, pretty soon kids, he isn't going to climb any more or nearly as much and he doesn't need a new rope.

As someone with a non-climber wife and a 2 year old returning from a 4 day trip in CO, I beg to differ, but I also digress. ;)

Ted Pinson wrote:

As someone with a non-climber wife and a 2 year old returning from a 4 day trip in CO, I beg to differ, but I also digress. ;)

Well then, consider yourself lucky...I have seen it go the other way more often than not.

So I bought a 120 foot chunk of 3/8" static line from REI last night @ $.85/ft  I had a 20% discount so it was only $82. The brand I think was BlueWater, it came off a spool, so its hard to say.  Stuff is dead-tuff feeling, very cable-like, not too easy to put a knot in, but I don't really need to put more than one knot in it.

I'm sure it will soften with use, but this will also do double duty as top rope anchor. I'll use my old spongy one for the actual TR. I'll probably get about 10 ft of tubular webbing to thread over it for edges.