Climbing Rope

I

IJB

Location
Ontario, Canada
Howdy Folks ~
I'm in the market for a new climbing rope... been using exclusively 1/2 inch line up untill now, however am thinking of moving to a lighter line this time around. Can anyone share some insight on "The Fly," "Poison Ivy," and/or "Velocity?" Please... It'd be much appriciated.

I preffer a low stretch rope if possible, unlike my current and very elastic 'red/white/black' Samson Arbormaster rope.
 
Blaze gets my vote.

If this thread doesn't blossom into an in depth discussion about the 11mm ropes, you'll find more discussion in the archives.

Welcome to Treebuzz!
 
My vote would be the fly, it handles well and holds up to the wear and tear really well. I believe the new colors are handle slightly different from the original red. I like the orange better than the red. I haven't tride the green dragon fly but I'm guesssing it is the same as the orange.

The blaze is second. Its a great rope to climb on works great for footlocking with ascenders. I find the rope burns up too easily and doesn't hold up as well. Short term its great.

The velocity,hmmm.... I dont know what to say. I got it when it first came out and hated it. It's a sticky rope, pain in butt to splice. The cover is too soft and bunches under your hitch making it harder to descend. They did take my advice on changing it, making it less sticky and tightening the cover and adding more core yarns. I do have a new velocity ready to go in my bag and with me everyday but I just haven't gotten on it yet. It does seem different and less sticky, I'll keep you posted.
 
Thanks for the info folks.
I've had Blaze in my hands at a store but noticed it was a little on the soft and mushy side. The soft jacket translates into bunching under my prusik to me. I prefer a tightly woven jacket and firm/dense overall feel, with low stretch and elastic bounce... I don't climb with mechanical ascenders either, so that's not much of a concern to me.
 
I like the velocity well enough, still tuning the hitch to like it constent friction. I havent felt the Blaze, Sherrill didnt have any 200' lengths or reels when I made my last order. The jacket will firm up a bit with use, the bunching your talking about can be fixed (likely) by using the rope a couple days, then "milking" the cover away from the splice or from one end to the other.

The Posion Ivy line may be a good choice for you, it was my first under 1/2" line and I liked it fine, its noticably bigger than 11mm. I sure like how lite the velocity is and how smoothly it normally goes through the hitch, like water pouring through the hitch.
 
I climb with both Blaze and Velocity. Blaze milks badly the first dozen or so climbs thus bunching below my hitch. I have milked approx. 36" of cover from my current 150' length of Blaze. The first hank of Blaze I climbed on milked approx, 20" per 150'. Blaze swells slightly but handles abuse well. My experience with Velocity... 150' has not milked, does not swell, not as rugged as Blaze, can be finicky regarding hitches, final bury of splice takes less effort than Blaze. Blaze has more of a tendency to hockle. On a side note... anyone care to talk about the "balance" in double-braid ropes after milking? Is the rope equalized after milking or does milking cause an inbalance (cover now taking more load than core)?
 
I climbed on blaze for a while and it was and still is great. I just got ahold of some posion ivy and have climbed on it a couple of times and am liking it so far. The little bit extra in diameter is amazing.
 
I finally used my new velocity and I have to say so far no complaints. It hadled fine. The eye splice from the factor is a bit too tite for me use it as I like. I put a litte bow shackle with a flush pin and that worked pretty good. Couldnt really use it with a rope guide like that. But its fine for natural crotches.
 
I have Poison Ivy and Velocity. The Velocity is firmer rope. I like them both. I like th eV a bit better for ascender use and the P.I. a little more for trad DdRt....but in truth I like 1/2 inch rope better for DdRT. The smaller diameter ropes are cool for using with mechanical devices and the weight savings would be really cool in high climbs or 'hike in to climb' situations....But I seldom climb above 50 feet here.
 
When just getting off the ground using the Pantin foot ascender, the smaller diameter lines have way less drag than half inch stuff. The line begins to fall thru the Pantin sooner, requiring less tending, and therefore less effort.

Whether in single rope technique, or body thrusting, the thinner lines work better in this tool.
 
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