Climbing lines I've used

Crimsonking

Crimsonking

Been here a while
Recently I've tried kernmaster and htp, and thought it would be fun to rant and rave about these and other ropes I've used. Also, I know when people are in the market for a new line, others' experiences are very important in the decision making process. Please add to this thread with your own experiences.

Now, it's only right to start with my first rope:

Imori- 12mm 24 strand, but lighter than yale's 11.7 lineup. It has some bounce, but not as much as tachyon imo. Soft feel with a scratchy texture which great for grip and toughening the hands. Hitch cords can be finicky until you find the right hitch/diameter/length. I found most hitches to bind easily, and tied a tv that would only engage with the wrench engaged (I know, naughty). Not great with mechanical devices.

Tachyon- 11.5mm 24 strand, like a bungee cord, and hard when loaded. I know many like this rope, but ehh, not for me. At all. It stretches much too far for my liking and is difficult to grip.

Arbomaster- 12.5mm 16 strand. One tough rope. I use this rope solely for natural crotch ddrt during removals. It has a tight weave and just feels sturdy. Sap doesn't seem to affect it as easily as other ropes, and comes off quickly on the next climb.

Yale 11.7mm- 24 strand, great color options. It's a low stretch (less than some "static" lines) rope that is good to grip. I would call it a great all around rope- for srt and ddrt.

Vortext- 12.7mm 24 strand, HEAVY. It has a cloth like feel, which is great. This coupled with the diameter make it very easy on the hands. But... Any amount of hauling or redirecting can be wearisome. Very sturdy rope.

Kernmaster- 11mm kernmantle. This rope reminds me a lot of imori with its bit of bounce, easy grip, and scratchy feel, only it's great in mechanicals. It has great knotability, superior among statics I've handled. I enjoyed trying it out, but for me it takes second place to...

Sterling htp- 11mm kernmantle, NO bounce. I used to like a little stretch, but once I tried this line I was hooked. Lightweight, easy to grip, and great with the wrench. It is unforgiving on sudden stops during descent, but that just challenged me to be smoother. Some complain about the cable-like feel it gets when loaded, but I've never seen that become a hindrance to climbing. Its knotability isn't great, but can be overcome by using the knots it likes with proper lockoffs and backups. The lack of stretch really helps with work positioning. This rope is my new favorite climbing line.
 
I own Vortex, plus a Mamut 70 meter long mountaineering rope, rated as a "dry" rope, and rated for at least 10 falls before it's required to be retired. I guess the "dry" designation means that it dries out faster after being soaked, which is important to the wilderness types that are more likely to get caught in drenching rainstorms in the middle of a climb.

I like my Mamut rope; it's a bit stretchy, being a dynamic rope, but that does not bother me. The fact that it is dynamic means I'm less likely to be injured in a fall, and less likely to break out some of the smaller suspension points I'm willing to try using climbing SRT. The Mamut rope seems pretty rugged, too. I don't know the exact name of the rope anymore; I don't think they still make this exact variety anymore.

I like my Vortex rope, too, but I find that it picks easily; that could be operator factor, though. It is nice and fat and easy to grab. Having said that, the Vortex rope may have changed recently. Here's a link to another recent thread here on the Buzz that discusses the issue.

http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/posts/435946/

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on their favorite ropes; this ought to be fun.

Tim
 
JTree said:
Thanks for this! We needed a centralized thread for rope reviews
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've always wanted to hear details and comparisons so to avoid making an almost $200 mistake. Thankfully I've gotten to try a few out, so now I can help others out as they choose. I'm also eager to hear about ropes I haven't tried.
 
I've used exactly 3 makes of rope in my career:

Samson Arbormaster: A good "starter" rope for those first getting in to the trees. It will take a beating, last a lifetime, and feels good in the hand (insert penis joke here). Not the smoothest in most devices which is why I went to 24 strand.

Tachyon: Nice tight cover, but streeeeeeeeeetches like silly putty, especially in SRT. I won this rope at a comp, so thankfully no out of pocket expense.

Atlantic Braids 11mm: By far my favourite rope. Won a couple of 150' hanks through a Facebook contest and was pleasantly surprised. Has some stretch, but not enough to bother me; will milk a bit, no biggie; good feel for an 11mm in big hands; and it's very nice to be using made in Canada ropes.

I do have some Yale 11.7 sitting in the basement that I'll get to eventually, but not until the AB is gone.
 
For 16-strand ropes, I like the Samson Arbormaster, Yale XTC and the New England Hy-Vee. I like the XTC the best. Not as stretchy as the others. But, they're all tough as nails, hold up beautifully and are a joy to climb on. But, as others have mentioned, not terribly smooth with mechanicals. I still prefer them with a hitch climber setup, DdRT. They just feel so safe. They make decent rigging lines when they get old.

Lately, I'm playing with more SRT stuff and 24-strand ropes. The All Gear (Cherry Bomb and Blue Craze) ropes are nicely priced 11.5mm that I find work really well for both SRT and DdRT. I moved one of my ZigZags over to the Cherry Bomb and it tends slack so well it's almost silly. Not any smoother than the XTC, though, oddly enough. Still, I like the setup.

The New England KM Max 11.1mm rope is great for SRT (and pretty bad for DdRT) and has very little stretch. Currently using it with the Rope Wrench and Arb Pro 9mm cord, and it is working very nicely. 32-strand kernmantle construction makes it very smooth. For fun, tried it with the wrench and ZZ but it's too small. Super smooth, but slips.

I recently picked up a 200' hank of the Yale Aztec 11.7mm with a spliced eye, and I really like this one. Put the other ZZ on it... really smooth, tends slack great (better than the 1/2" ropes, not quite as good as 11.5mm ones) and almost no stretch to it. Using it DdRT at the moment, but I think this one would also be great for SRT.

I have a couple of oddball ropes, but really not worth mentioning, as they're not generally used for tree work.

The ropes I'd like to try out sometime are Imori, Vortex and Cougar. Maybe down the road, when I find a better hiding place for this stuff... one the wife won't stumble across and start asking those silly wife questions like how much did you pay for this and do you really need forty of these and blah blah yada yada yada.
 
The three ropes that I have used for long ascents in big trees are HTP, Escalator, and Platinum. Of these three I think that Escalator is the best because it has almost no stretch, even when you are bouncing on the rope at the bottom of a 270' ascent. In comparison, HTP is moderately stretchy, and Platinum is like a bungie cord. These differences are not so noticeable when you are doing short ascents, but they are huge if you are going to be climbing big trees. I stuck the Platinum back in the bag after only two tests in big trees and now I only take it out to show people how stretchy it is. One low-stretch rope that I have been wanting to try is Yale Valkyrie. Can anyone enlighten us about that one?
 
ARLO said:
...at the bottom of a 270' ascent.
Click to expand...

In Nebraska, if you're making a 270' ascent, you're trespassing on somebody's grain silo. Nice perspective, though, about the ropes... what's "stretchy" on 70' of rope would be a rubberband at 270'. I'm actually glad to not have to think about that very much.
 
ARLO said:
The three ropes that I have used for long ascents in big trees are HTP, Escalator, and Platinum. Of these three I think that Escalator is the best because it has almost no stretch, even when you are bouncing on the rope at the bottom of a 270' ascent. In comparison, HTP is moderately stretchy, and Platinum is like a bungie cord. These differences are not so noticeable when you are doing short ascents, but they are huge if you are going to be climbing big trees. I stuck the Platinum back in the bag after only two tests in big trees and now I only take it out to show people how stretchy it is. One low-stretch rope that I have been wanting to try is Yale Valkyrie. Can anyone enlighten us about that one?
Click to expand...
I saw Valkeryie in the Wesspur catalog and asked some folks on Facebook if they had tried it and Will Koomjian said it's his favorite Wrench rope. He stated that is more pliable than Escalator but a similar construction, poly 32 strand cover over some low stretch high modulus core.

I have tried almost every rope and they're each great for specific applications but not for all applications, except one ...... Cougar!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom