Are middle marks aid?

I feel like the middle mark just makes climbing too easy. Some ropes come with no middle mark, so obviously some rope manufacturers agree with me. However, a lot come with middle marks, so what's the right answer?

-500/10

Rope is aid

Middlemarks save lives.  It just happens that I sell single-use packets of middlemark rope dye, which will soon be on every mountainshop's counter in a handsome display box.  No more expensive and awkward pen: just an affordable, rope-safe, mess-free* packet.

*depends on user clumsiness.

Your logic needs aid!  

Middle marks are obviously aid, they’re something other than hands and feet that helps you in your climbing. 

A middle mark is absolutly aid.

Reduces arm effort to find the middle of the rope for raps.  Likewise saves time there. And time later when I don’t have to get out my headlamp - or worse - because I messed up in finding the middle mark for rappels.

Har har

Middle marks are aid, but only if they’re in the actual middle of the rope. If you’ve lopped an end off, the middle mark is now anti-aid. It makes things more difficult and opens you up to all kinds of adventures.

No. 

I will admit this here for your judgment.

On the descent after a 4-5 pitch ice climb, after dark, I made a variation to finding the middle of a rope whose mark had faded during set up of a rappel.

It didn’t slip or anything, but let’s just say the way I was flaking it, that it could have easily been dropped leaving us stuck at the belay two pitches up.

Could I have handled the rope differently and found the middle without that possibility? Yes.

Another contributing factor to this was the availability of an open system anchor (carabiners) rather than a closed anchor (rings).

If the middle mark on the rope had been easily visible, my usual flow of multi pitch rappel setup would never have put us in that situation in the first place.

Could I have adapted to the situation better than I did? In hindsight, yes of course.

But I still make sure my middle marks are fresh after that.

I’m a big fan of the Triple Black Bars marking so it really stands out. 

Just put bright colored thread through the middle in a coupe spots. Use a blunt nose needle for the work.
Then you can move the middle mark(s) when/if you have to chop the ends. Also gives a nice tactile feedback when you hit the middle if you're running the rope through your hands.
Add as many little threads as you like, where you like.

Posting on mountain project is aid 

If middle marks are aid, bi-pattern ropes are going to blow your mind. 

Alex Fletcher wrote:

I will admit this here for your judgment.

On the descent after a 4-5 pitch ice climb, after dark, I made a variation to finding the middle of a rope whose mark had faded during set up of a rappel.

It didn’t slip or anything, but let’s just say the way I was flaking it, that it could have easily been dropped leaving us stuck at the belay two pitches up.

Could I have handled the rope differently and found the middle without that possibility? Yes.

Another contributing factor to this was the availability of an open system anchor (carabiners) rather than a closed anchor (rings).

If the middle mark on the rope had been easily visible, my usual flow of multi pitch rappel setup would never have put us in that situation in the first place.

Could I have adapted to the situation better than I did? In hindsight, yes of course.

But I still make sure my middle marks are fresh after that.

I’m a big fan of the Triple Black Bars marking so it really stands out. 

Woosh!!!

Thank you for posting this Alex! I had freshly marked middles on my ropes for my recent holiday trip to Cochise and it made rappelling so much easier. I'm going to follow your lead and add two more marked bands to the ropes to make it extra clear.