Best sport climbing workhorse of a rope?

+1 to Mammut, have a 9.8 and 9.5 rope by them. Have put the 9.8 to good use this season and still feels new and handles well

Also definitely recommend Mammut's 9.8 dry, I've whipped on it more times than I'd like to admit and it's in great shape

Agree w/ other posters that something's up if your sheath is going bad in a matter of weeks. The green rope in this picture is a Mammut Infinity 9.5 that's 5+ years old and has seen sharp granite, limestone w/ cacti, sandstone, etc. 

Brandon Ribblett wrote:

Sterling’s and mammut are really fine and durable ropes. Most likely your blowing through your rope because all of the sand that covered the ropes in the south east 

It's not obvious to me that sand would contribute to shorten the life of the rope. It'll definitely contribute to wearing out belay devices, and carabiners. Thus I guess indirectly the rope?

I have made the same experience with the new Mammut Crag Classic 9.5mm ropes. The mantel wears out quite quickly. On two of them it was somewhat ok and they lasted a while before I need the cut them. But once they got a bit fuzzy it was only 3-4 more falls before they would be core shot. 

But on a Crag we care version (the one with leftover fibres for the mantel) the wear was truly horrible. After just 3 climbing days and not many falls, I had to cut the end off. The wear wasn't just fuzzy but more like a harder crust had formed 2m from the end where the wear of the draws happens and the fibres looked slightly melted. A friend had the same happen. There seems to be something off with the production process. Mammut was great though and send me a new 9.5 dry rope. It seems a bit more durable but I also haven't used it that much sportclimbing so far.

Franck Vee wrote:

It's not obvious to me that sand would contribute to shorten the life of the rope.

IRRC particles can in the sheath and can act like little shards of glass (sand is just glass, right?), leading to a shortened life faster than say, soil.

index ape wrote:

IRRC particles can in the sheath and can act like little shards of glass (sand is just glass, right?), leading to a shortened life faster than say, soil.

I once thought the same thing. Then I started paying attention when cutting old ropes. After cutting a dozen + ropes of varying degrees of dirtyness (I never wash my ropes to be honest), I have never seen a core that wasn't white as fresh snow. I've also never seen a core that showed any discernable levels of frayed/fluffy strands  where the core meets the sheath. Or anywhere for that matter.

Franck Vee wrote:

I once thought the same thing. Then I started paying attention when cutting old ropes. After cutting a dozen + ropes of varying degrees of dirtyness (I never wash my ropes to be honest), I have never seen a core that wasn't white as fresh snow. I've also never seen a core that showed any discernable levels of frayed/fluffy strands  where the core meets the sheath. Or anywhere for that matter.

Same. I cut open the sheath to check when I chop my ropes. Core always pristine. Makes me feel better about waiting a little longer with fuzzy ropes. This video also reassured me. Many strands of the core can be cut, and ropes would still safely catch a standard lead fall. Not that I've ever climb on a core shot rope, but still reassuring.

Is this a case for using TWIN rope climbing?  --they usually show a greater number of falls, and better cut resistance; they'd be (doubly) turning a smaller diameter rope over the 10mm-ish 'biners --a compound advantage (smaller dia over 'biner, AND half load per strand)!

*kN*

Franck Vee wrote:

It's not obvious to me that sand would contribute to shorten the life of the rope. It'll definitely contribute to wearing out belay devices, and carabiners. Thus I guess indirectly the rope?

This video reminded me of this thread. Good watch.

I've always tried pretty hard to keep my rope out of the dirt, always using a big tarp, etc., and I think it's really helped with my rope longevity.