Uses for a dynamic 100m rope

To those of you have put a 100m dynamic rope to use, what did you do with it? Are you happy you got it, or have you found it has gone unused? The rope stretch for a follower and rope drag for the leader seem like they would get pretty prohibitive.

Mond, that makes sense, as noted in my original post, and is why I'm wondering if people have found good niche uses for them.

Cragging at Indian Creek. Its better than taking up 2 ropes for a 180' climb. 

Also used it at a sick crag at Hatcher Pass Alaska for some single pitch climbs.

I feel like there were a couple people using 100m ropes in the Creek for top roping?  (that was a long time ago so not sure if that is a thing still.)

I've actually got a 100m rope that was given to me maybe 10 years ago?  I don't think I've ever used it.  I've always said I'm "saving it" but no idea what I'm saving it for.  I should just chop 15m off of it and use it as an 80m with some room to cut off the tails after they get worn.

I don't know about the in the States, but there are numerous lines at various limestone crags in Europe that having a 100m rope is really convenient for.  I've never seen one that you can't just lower twice with an 80 to get off of, but I imagine they're out there.  Whether or not the convenience is worth the money and weight would be a bit subjective.   Using it for multipitch climbing seems like a misapplication of the tool.

I pretty much only use 90s or 100s!

Beal opera only so it’s nice and light, I can keep it for many years because I just wind up slowly chopping the ends down. Once one gets to around 70 or 80 I just start a new one and use them selectively based on objective.

For big routes a long rope is amazing (if you fix and follow). It’s a great buffer for rapping, and when free climbing it’s not super uncommon to have pitches where it’s helpful to lower. Also for big wall stuff it just gives you more ability to fix upward.

Just this past week we were able to lower off the shadow (in one pitch from the ground) with a 90.
made the day way more convenient.

I welcome the slightly added cardio of carrying a longer rope. I can probably do the math on a thicc 70 vs a thin 100 in terms of total weight.

Edit: Looks like ~20% heavier to have a 8.5 100m vs a 9.5 70m

edit 2: I’d add that this would be pretty annoying if I was belaying the follower on some popular multipitch, or simulclimbing, but for my usage at least I don’t really ever do that. When cragging, my “annoyance” is having to pull a bunch of rope through so someone can top rope on the other end, but honestly this is a very minor inconvenience. 

Matt Carrollwrote:

Beal opera only so it’s nice and light…

Edit: Looks like ~20% heavier to have a 8.5 100m vs a 9.5 70m

That is some serious “climber” math!!  Do you not let yourself buy 8.5mm x 70m ropes?

And I wonder how much stretch an Opera has with 100m of rope out?  I’ve climbed just a few times on an Opera, and honestly I was kinda terrified and historically I’m not too squeamish about rope diameter.  (I’ve simul rapped parts of El cap on a 6mm Esprit).  The Opera I used just looked at sharp rock and started getting fuzzy and funky.  The Edelrid Canary being used as its partner rope didn’t even look phased after identical amounts of use. (Sorry for the thread drift…)

I could see the long rope being useful in Europe for steep sport climbing.  In the states where the climbing isn’t generally as steep and the team I’m with wants to TR some pitch that is longer than 40m, the leader just fixes the rope and raps.  Everyone else micro traxions and the last person just does the two raps to get off.

Huh my experience with the opera has been that they are super robust, but maybe I’ve just been getting lucky.

In a place like Patagonia i can imagine it getting destroyed, but for Squamish / Index / Yosemite I’ve never had any issues with premature wear.

wrt buying a 70 directly, I probably wouldn’t ever buy one at this point. Just seems like a bad deal compared to starting with a longer rope, and I wind up with them occasionally as my long ropes get slowly cut down.

idk, this whole system seems so perfect to me, but I recognize that it might just overlap really well with my niche set of climbing constraints. 

Will WBwrote:

Mond, that makes sense, as noted in my original post, and is why I'm wondering if people have found good niche uses for them.

That was a bot.

A friend use to use a 100m half rope for alpine routes - the second would just tie into the middle. Probably not a method everyone would like but he did. 

There's a handful of extensions in ORG that are nice to have a 100m for.  When it's crowded or especially windy it can be a pain to lower-pull-lower, even on an 80

Damn Will, you get yourself a 330' rope!?
Stretch would be insane, and just a lot to faff with. I'd prob just make a 70 and 30 out of it, or a 60/40.
One normal length rope for stuff and a gym/alpine rope with the shorter one.

There are surely some objectives that a 100m dynamic line would be good for, but seriously niche.

Very very niche, but I can certainly see good use cases, if one was inclined to burn the cash. Obviously rapping on it would be very convenient.

Splitting it off-middle seems like a good alpine use for parties of 3. Leader finds the middle mark, then actually ties in around the 42-45m mark, and leads 42m before 1st follower begins simuling, then 2nd follower begins simuling on longer strand, 16-18m after the 1st... or pitch it out as long as pitches are 48m or less... def have to be a gear whore to buy something so niche - speaking of, mikey, I'd actually consider buying yours, haha.

Used to use 100m and 120m dynamic rope in a half/twin rope configuration for multi pitch climbing in the Alps. 50m rappels are pretty standard there, so either you bring 2 x 50m or 2x60m or you bring a 100-120m rope.  also usefull for party of 3.

I think the answer here might be- "it's basically a heavy 80m that you can sometimes use for extra long rappels, but will probably never lead a 100m pitch on."

That still seems fairly useful to me

If your home crag is close enough to the road that the weight doesn’t matter, extra long rope gives you plenty to chop off when it gets damaged. If the 100m isn’t any more expensive $/m than shorter lengths, and you fall enough that you want to maximize $/climb, dealing with the hassle of a longer rope is often worth it.

@Mike, no I did not. But I came across a pretty great deal on one and didn't know that was even a thing. I figure if they're making it, someone is buying it and so I wonder why. 

Interesting to hear the thoughts, ideas, and examples. Thanks all for entertaining the question.

Crown Royale is 100m.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/202598665/crown-royale

If it’s cheap enough I’d get it and cut it in half. Two 50m ropes would be way more useful