Cleaning poison ivy sap off a rope

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	chris magness · May 9, 2019 · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 590 You have an extreme example here: visible sap and oil? Pressed into the rope? I can't see how you'll ever clean it effectively. Some people are very sensitive to PI- it's time for a new rope, not that I wouldn't want to climb on your cord from a safety perspective, I just wouldn't want to touch it. I mean, I don't. And if I were your partner, I wouldn't. Even if you cleaned it. In short, respect your partners and buy a new rope. 2 Flag Quote
	Jared Chrysostom · May 9, 2019 · Clemson, SC · Joined Oct 2017 · Points: 5 Burn it 0 Flag Quote
	Francis Likes to climb · May 9, 2019 · Québec · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 155 i shore wrote: Surely if you wash your rope using detergent a couple of times and then leave it a year or so before reuse the risk must be minimal (you'd have to get another rope in the meantime but eventually you'd get a long life out of both ropes). Throwing it away seems pretty wasteful. The tree surgeon, who should know, says he's found just washing works. However you may be particularly sensitive to urushiol. I'm replying with no personal experience of poison ivy (thankfully). Good idea to retire a rope for a year! 0 Flag Quote
	Brandon Fields · May 9, 2019 · Boulder, CO · Joined Apr 2016 · Points: 5 Great excuse to buy a new rope! Seriously though, I react so badly to poison ivy that I would probably give it away to someone who wants to try and clean it and buy a new one. 0 Flag Quote
	Blakevan · May 9, 2019 · Texas · Joined Sep 2015 · Points: 56 This guy does a pretty good job of explaining why it's hard to get off skin etc. 2 Flag Quote
	Lena chita · May 19, 2019 · OH · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 1,757 Update, in case anyone is interested: I decided to wash the rope (while using another rope in the meantime). My arborist friend told me not to be silly, poison ivy washes off just fine, and he would be out of business if he had to throw away clothes and ropes every time he wrapped the rope around a tree trunk and it crushed some poison ivy leaves. He also loaned me a PMI rope washer. It attaches to the garden hose. I did the first wash outside, using garden gloves. Then I doubled up and daisy-chained the rope, and threw it in the front loader washer with Sterling rope wash, according to Sterling instructions (delicate wash cycle with warm water, and I threw in two extra rinses on top of the wash cycle. (I Decided not to use Technu, because I wasn’t sure whether the pH was too low). The gardening gloves and rope tarp got washed in the same wash. After this round it machine washing, I felt comfortable handling the rope without gloves, though I scrubbed my hands immediately afterwards, as a precaution, in case the rope wasn’t fully cleaned yet. I undid the daisy chain, staggered the rope ends by couple feet, and re-daisied the rope, before throwing it in the washer for another round of washing with a new packet of Sterling rope wash, and extra rinses, feeling rather silly at this point. After this, the rope daisy was draped over a rack, and left to dry overnight. I ran the washing machine through a cleaning cycle, out of abundance of paranoia. Yesterday I took the mostly-dry-but-still-damp rope, flaked it, and ran the entire length of doubled-over rope across my forearm. I didn’t wash the skin area until the next day. I had no reaction. :) In case anyone missed it, I am very allergic to poison ivy, so no reaction from me = good thing. All my partners have been made aware of the poison ivy incident, and not a single one of them told me that they would refuse to belay me with this rope. 7 Flag Quote
	Tim Stich · May 19, 2019 · Colorado Springs, Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,516 Nice to hear it all worked out. 1 Flag Quote