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Suggestion for an El Cap IAD rope?

Original Post
Alex Guzman · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 0

Hey all,

I’m basically looking for a rope for niad, half dome, etc. I was using a beal stinger because I like the idea of unicore when I’m jugging. Unfortunately,  I blew through a rope in just 5 IAD walls with literally no other climbing. I understand that walls are really hard on a rope but I’ve gone through several of those ropes in short succession prior to this. Anyway, I’m looking for something unicore or similar bonding, 9.4 ish that has a high sheath percentage. Thanks! 

Christian Hesch · · Arroyo Grande, CA · Joined Aug 2017 · Points: 55

I have used a Bluewater Argon (8.8mm, 70m) for at least 5-6 iads, plus at least 300-400 other pitches… and it still looks/feels so good that I can’t justify retiring it. Feels more like a 9.0-9.2 in the hand, but for some reason it is ridiculously bomber. I have lowered out over some heinous edges, and it’s been jugged on for a minimum of 250 pitches. One very mild fuzz spot that I trimmed, but sheath at fuzzy spot seems nearly perfect, so take that for what you will.

I bought it from the guy who sells BW ropes straight from the factory, I think it’s Just Rescue on ebay, or try this website 

https://bmorescue.com/ 

Ross Goldberg · · El Segundo · Joined Oct 2017 · Points: 203

Maybe the Edelrid ropes with aramid woven in? Supposed to be super durable.

that guy named seb · · Britland · Joined Oct 2015 · Points: 236

Can't speak from experience, but... 

The EDELRID Eagle Lite Protect Pro Dry 9.5 mm, it seems like the burliest rope on the market for the weight. I think is probably the best rope for the job, personally I'm not convinced by the unicore ropes and I'd rather avoid catastrophic failure of the sheath rather than avoiding the sheath slipping down a bit. 

that guy named seb · · Britland · Joined Oct 2015 · Points: 236

Interesting little find so I thought I'd update for those curious, I recently got my own eagle lite protect pro rope and I noticed something very interesting, it has barely any aramid in it, so I look at the edelrid website and what do I find, the 8.9mm Swift protect is actually slightly more cut resistant than the eagle, how about that aye. They now have a metric on the ropes that says how cut resistant the rope is, the eagle is 29 and the swift is 30(the highest of all their dynamic ropes) . 

This does have a little more nuance mind you, the eagle handles really really nicely where as the swift handles a bit like an abrasive cable, the eagle also has an impact for of 8.7kn and stretch of 32% compared to the 9.9kn and stretch of 29% for the swift.

It's nice that edelrid have the numbers to let customers make a more informed decision but it's a bit vacuous without knowing what that difference of "1" means. 

Christian Hesch · · Arroyo Grande, CA · Joined Aug 2017 · Points: 55

Less elongation seems like a good thing for lots of jugging and a “no falls” kind of day, and I would assume the reverse if falling is a concern.

The previous generation of the Argon was listed at 35% (current gen is 28%!), and that might be what helped me essentially walk away from an 80footer on that rope, it’s def a soft catch if you think you might be falling on it

Undocked Piggies · · People's Republic of West M… · Joined Dec 2016 · Points: 931

The mamut alpine sender. 9.5 70m? Used it once w Miles and that thing is a cable. He had just done a bunch of other walls with it and there were no serious signs of wear. 

that guy named seb · · Britland · Joined Oct 2015 · Points: 236

I heard back from Edelrid and got a great response, it's a rather lengthy response so to sum it up, the number for cut resistance is cm of travel through their proprietary cut resistance testing machine at a 80kg preload. So, the difference of 1 is 1cm, nice to know. 

They mentioned in the design process they really wanted to make a nice, supple rope with the eagle lite protect, this I think they have definitely achieved, I think it's a bit of a shame it's not even burlier than the thinner rope but It's undeniably a lovely rope to use.

Brandon Gonzalez · · Brooklyn NY · Joined Jun 2019 · Points: 10

> the number for cut resistance is cm of travel

I'm excited that they have a standardized metric publihsed. E.g it's pretty interesting that the Heron 9.8 (cv: 28) has ~1.5x the cut resistance of the boa 9.8 (cv: 19) based off the website specs. Curious what cause the difference since there's no discernable difference between the two based off the website other than 1% sheath proportion (does that 1% get you 1.5x more cut resistance?) and dry coating.

that guy named seb · · Britland · Joined Oct 2015 · Points: 236
Brandon Gonzalez wrote:

> the number for cut resistance is cm of travel

I'm excited that they have a standardized metric publihsed. E.g it's pretty interesting that the Heron 9.8 (cv: 28) has ~1.5x the cut resistance of the boa 9.8 (cv: 19) based off the website specs. Curious what cause the difference since there's no discernable difference between the two based off the website other than 1% sheath proportion (does that 1% get you 1.5x more cut resistance?) and dry coating.

Check out the edelrid "knowledge base" cut resistance videos, they're an interesting watch but sadly leave you coming away with no real answers, probably because it's really damn complicated. 

Jabroni McChufferson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2024 · Points: 0
that guy named seb wrote:

Check out the edelrid "knowledge base" cut resistance videos, they're an interesting watch but sadly leave you coming away with no real answers, probably because it's really damn complicated. 

Have you looked at the mammut protect? 

Ricky Harline · · Angel's Camp, CA · Joined Nov 2016 · Points: 147
Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

Have you looked at the mammut protect? 

Not a fan personally after seeing a brand new one get the sheath cut at my quartzite crag. Tbf quartzite is a worst case scenario and is brutal on all ropes, but I was left unimpressed. 

It got cut while I was on follow, too. Was not exactly a good time fun party. I think I prefer edelrid's aramid rope which I have and has not been cut by my quartzite 

Jabroni McChufferson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2024 · Points: 0
Ricky Harline wrote:

Not a fan personally after seeing a brand new one get the sheath cut at my quartzite crag. Tbf quartzite is a worst case scenario and is brutal on all ropes, but I was left unimpressed. 

It got cut while I was on follow, too. Was not exactly a good time fun party. I think I prefer edelrid's aramid rope which I have and has not been cut by my quartzite 

That’s good to know. Other than totally failing did your protect line pig tail really bad?  Mine is the worst iv ever used

Makes you wonder though did the core protect actually work in this case and with another rope would it have cut more of the core?? Glad you’re safe! 

Ricky Harline · · Angel's Camp, CA · Joined Nov 2016 · Points: 147
Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

That’s good to know. Other than totally failing did your protect line pig tail really bad?  Mine is the worst iv ever used

Makes you wonder though did the core protect actually work in this case and with another rope would it have cut more of the core?? Glad you’re safe! 

So it was my buddy's rope and he had put maybe a few pitches on it. It was my first time tying in with it ever and it got cut in our first climb of the day. 

I don't know how much it helped. None of the core strands were cut. The edelrid seems more cut resistant to me, I think I'd just go with that if a skinny ropes with high cut resistance is a priority. 

Tbf it's a new route and my edelrid hasn't been on it, so maybe the same would happen. I dunno. But I'm skeptical it would. 

If there's interest I could take an edelrid offcut to that sharp edge and load it and see what happens. 

Jabroni McChufferson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2024 · Points: 0
Ricky Harline wrote:

So it was my buddy's rope and he had put maybe a few pitches on it. It was my first time tying in with it ever and it got cut in our first climb of the day. 

I don't know how much it helped. None of the core strands were cut. The edelrid seems more cut resistant to me, I think I'd just go with that if a skinny ropes with high cut resistance is a priority. 

Tbf it's a new route and my edelrid hasn't been on it, so maybe the same would happen. I dunno. But I'm skeptical it would. 

If there's interest I could take an edelrid offcut to that sharp edge and load it and see what happens. 

To me it seems to have worked.

Time to put the edelrid to the test 

Ricky Harline · · Angel's Camp, CA · Joined Nov 2016 · Points: 147
Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

To me it seems to have worked.

Time to put the edelrid to the test 

It so happens I'm doing some development at that crag anyway, so I'll do the test in the next couple weeks and update y'all with the results. 

Charles Rackson · · Boulder, CO · Joined Aug 2016 · Points: 125
Christian Hesch wrote:

I have used a Bluewater Argon (8.8mm, 70m) for at least 5-6 iads, plus at least 300-400 other pitches… and it still looks/feels so good that I can’t justify retiring it. Feels more like a 9.0-9.2 in the hand, but for some reason it is ridiculously bomber. I have lowered out over some heinous edges, and it’s been jugged on for a minimum of 250 pitches. One very mild fuzz spot that I trimmed, but sheath at fuzzy spot seems nearly perfect, so take that for what you will.

I bought it from the guy who sells BW ropes straight from the factory, I think it’s Just Rescue on ebay, or try this website 

https://bmorescue.com/ 

I've had a similar experience with my Bluewater Icon 9.1 (discontinued) over the last 8 years. I've done a fair bit of jugging on it, and I've climbed on the order of 700 pitches with it. It's been inexplicably durable, and is only now getting a bit fuzzy while multiple other ropes had to be retired. 

Thanks for your review of the Argon, Christian! I'll try one when (if) my Icon dies.

Jabroni McChufferson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2024 · Points: 0
Ricky Harline wrote:

It so happens I'm doing some development at that crag anyway, so I'll do the test in the next couple weeks and update y'all with the results. 

Any test results?  I have a 70m canary and a 60m mammut core protect so very curious 

Ricky Harline · · Angel's Camp, CA · Joined Nov 2016 · Points: 147
Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

Any test results?  I have a 70m canary and a 60m mammut core protect so very curious 

Had two development days planned at that crag on two consecutive weekends and both partners got sick and had to bail. I've still got a fixed line hanging there I need to get soon so I'll get around to it soon, but it may be another week or two yet. 

moresus hildady · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2025 · Points: 0

I think your going about this all wrong. V3 In the gym is plenty of experience to set this thing up TR solo. No partner, only need a 3200’ rope ect. As an added benefit, most of the v2 gumbos will mistake soloed for free soloed. If you pull it off, you’ll be a regular Alex handlow.

Alex Guzman · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 0
moresus hildady wrote:

I think your going about this all wrong. V3 In the gym is plenty of experience to set this thing up TR solo. No partner, only need a 3200’ rope ect. As an added benefit, most of the v2 gumbos will mistake soloed for free soloed. If you pull it off, you’ll be a regular Alex handlow.

Ive already got the name

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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