climbing rope life?

Maui Palm & Tree Care

Maui Palm & Tree Care

Location
Pukalani, Hawaii
i know there are so many variables that come into play as to how long a rope will last from person to person so i thought it would be a great question to ask when you guys retire your climbing lines on average.

i personally climb on samson arbormaster 16 strand BWR for the most part and have used it for about a year now. i wash it regularly and mostly climb with a FS with a few natural crotching here and there. so far so good. might get another year out of it before i retire it.


how long is your average climbing rope life?
do you natural crotch or false crotch mostly?
what do you climb on 12,16, 24 strand?
what model or make do you use mostly?
do you frequently wash your lines or let them get dirty until you retire them?
 
I'd say climb on it until you see significant wear, picking, or bulges in it. I have some true blue that I recently cut shorter because of a bulge, luckily it was near an end. Now it's my mid length line (80 or 100ft). That rope is probably 5 years old, all natural crotch, never washed (except by the rain :D). If you take care of your equipment, keep an eye on it, and trust it, it can last a long time.

I have recently gotten better about rope care, I keep my 120' XTC Fire in a bag now, as it's usually my go-to rope. plus coiling all that is a motherfudger. Just got 600' of arbor plex for $50, GREAT rigging line!
 
I keep all my ropes in bags, wash them a few times a year and do probably 75% of my climbing with a friction saver. They all vary between 1 and 3 years old and look more or less brand new. Inspect daily, watch for wear and retire/cut out damage as needed. Constantly buying new gear, so stuff naturally gets phased out anyways.

Drives me crazy when my climbing line lays against my saw hanging off my hip!
 
My ultra short rope is a piece of PI I bought in 2007 used it day before yesterday... and I just retired a 90' chunk of Velocity that was less than a year old because it had a bad nick in the wrong spot.

Rope is cheap. Replace it when you lose confidence in it.
 
When I first started using a friction saver I thought I'd see how much use I could get from a new line. It was Blue Streak and I used a fs on all but maybe 10 climbs. Kept it in a bag and got over 2 years hard use out of it. Replaced it when Poison Ivy came out but kept it for light utility stuff. I still have 40' of the spliced end dedicated to a 3:1 I made up.
 
i have a hank of velocity that i have only used as an access line that i have had for three or four years and it looks brand new. as far as my other ropes go i use a friction saver 95% of the time and they are always stored in bags away from any chemicals, so they tend to be in fine shape when i retire them and move on to whatevers new on the rope market...im a bit of a gear head.
 
I retire my tachyon rope by lending it to my brother for a TCC. He does the rest by leaving it somewhere during the preliminary events. Poof. Gone.

SZ
 
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I've retired two 150' tachyons with rope bags this way.

SZ

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Bring one to the student comp on the east coast next fall at TCIA...I would love for some free rope and rope bag!

P.S. I will find some use for that double braid...can you say practice splicing!
 
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