Looking for the ideal rope.

[Willber]

Compared to what?: Body thrusting, or climbing branches? How do you do your initial canopy access? Between my foot ascender and my hand ascender the weight is negligible, and I don’t even notice their presence half the time.

No, I try to not body thrust, I simply grasp the rope hand over hand, pulling myself up. The trees around here have branches that start around 30ft from the ground, I just throw the climbing line, with a heavy steel carabiner, up over the lowest branch then "datch" it down and simply hook it onto my ZigZag then start pulling up with my hands.
It's also that I can ascend pretty quickly, so I don't need the ascenders to get way up to the crown top, and they become a hinderance, to the point of in inadequacy, if you are do pruning far out reaches of the crown.
So, I just never use them.

 

[Stumpsprouts]

1st platinum teufelberger
2nd gleistien lizard
3rd nothing else is close in my opinion, mushy, flattens etc
the platinum that i use the 10.5 both the nylon and the poly types work well in ART products, Taz lov, brief try on akimbo and rrpro worked well also.
great in the hand, longest lived ropes i've ever owned, well worth the money in every respect.
Firmer, lighter, stronger, safer
I am quite convinced the clutches and wear on my devices are far less due to the solid nature and tight weave of the Teufelberger Platinum plus NO milking
It's not for everybody, grip it in the knuckle not the palm, and use of handled ascender for any long travel up to save wear and tear on joints.
I guess its has lower coeffecient of friction, redirects pull out easily tailing and pulling the belly out etc is easier.
My work is mostly crown reduction on over extending limbs and leads in hardwoods and occasionally large Norway spruce and white pines.View attachment 79526View attachment 79526

Oh my. What a catalpa!

 

[islandarb]

No, I try to not body thrust, I simply grasp the rope hand over hand, pulling myself up. The trees around here have branches that start around 30ft from the ground, I just throw the climbing line, with a heavy steel carabiner, up over the lowest branch then "datch" it down and simply hook it onto my ZigZag then start pulling up with my hands.
It's also that I can ascend pretty quickly, so I don't need the ascenders to get way up to the crown top, and they become a hinderance, to the point of in inadequacy, if you are do pruning far out reaches of the crown.
So, I just never use them.

How long have you been climbing? Just curious.

 

[moss]

@Willber what gloves are you wearing?
-AJ

 

[Willber]

How long have you been climbing? Just curious.

Oh, 3 years, but I would climb trees frequently as a kid. And, the creeping occurring with the Scandere in the ZigZag, is not because the ZigZag is worn or defective, no rope I have even creeps, never mind as bad as the Scandere. I'm convinced it's because it flattens severely in DRT.

 

[Willber]

@Willber what gloves are you wearing?
-AJ

Well, with my old Beal and with the Scandere, I can use these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/MECHANIX-WEAR-SpeedKnit-8482-High-Abrasion-LG-XL/1002632066
The nice thing about these gloves is they're very abrasion resistant, after many days of use show no indication of material being lost on the grip surface.
With the TowerLine and Direction Up I have to use a more grippy latex palm glove.

 

[moss]

Well, with my old Beal and with the Scandere, I can use these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/MECHANIX-WEAR-SpeedKnit-8482-High-Abrasion-LG-XL/1002632066
The nice thing about these gloves is they're very abrasion resistant, after many days of use show no indication of material being lost on the grip surface.
With the TowerLine and Direction Up I have to use a more grippy latex palm glove.

Ok then. I was thinking that the grip issue was more about gloves than whether a rope flattens or not. Tachyon is fairly stretchy but stays more round then any other line I've climbed on due to I think the third inner core which is there for that very reason.
-AJ

 

[moss]

Yale Imori is the grippiest rope I've ever climbed on.
-AJ

 

[oldoakman]

Maybe it is the zigzag. Geared up I am exactly twice your weight and i do flatten lines but not to the point that they creep. I climb on yale 11.7's and xstatic mostly. I do have a scandere line but i dont like the bounce. I use Rope Runner, Rope Runner Pro, Rope Wrench and HH2 devices.

 

[evo]

Pretty static when using double rope or DdRT, 16 strand, a true workhorse with great grip.
There aren’t many ropes with the detailed construction you are talking about..
I have various flavors of Yale 11.7, xstatic, and a chunk of kernmaster all poly. All great ropes for the most part.
My tie down ropes are imori, kernmaster nylon core, tachyon, and a chunk or three of 16 strands.
I’ve never used a zigzag but if you need something that specific the tool sucks or your are looking at it wrong

 

[Tuebor]

Maybe the 48 strands of Scandere are making the jacket too smooth and stiff for the ZigZag to grip.

 

[Chris Schultz]

I agree. Sounds pretty odd. Need clarification. I am 174. None of my 11.7s ( my staple ) and I own a lot, flatten to any degree either in a wrench or runner.

My blue moon flattens out pretty bad with the rope runner….. really noticeable when a hitch I used a day before will creep after a rope runner climb.

 

[Willber]

Yale Imori is the grippiest rope I've ever climbed on.
-AJ

The rope flattening does cause a bit of loss of grip, because in essence the diameter is becoming smaller through one cross section of the rope, and the wider cross section isn't helping with grip the orientation, of [the now oval] rope, can be, not were it's best to get a good grip. Also, think about it's almost as if the rope becomes a ratchet strap, which we know is not grippy to climb.
I was thinking about getting the Imori, but decided against it because it, was more stretchy than I would want, and it bunches up - too loose of a braid for self tending in tight pruning areas.
I don't believe the rope I'm hoping to find exists, that's why I hope to get a local manufacturer to make it, and hopefully they listen, because if such a rope doesn't exists, people(climbing customers) may realize this rope is ideal, so I shouldn't need to preorder tens of thousand of dollars worth of this new rope, it may catch on.

One thing that baffles me, is there are so many similar ropes in the market today, for instance Poison Ivy and Blue Moon, Edelrid Direction Up and Vortex, Adrenaline and Xstatic, (yea I know Xstatic is a bit more static, but they're just not purposely different enough), it seems these rope companies are just playing the imitation game, trying to fit in to a fad, that doesn't really have a utilitarian ideology, to create a well thought out rope.

And, quite baffling, is no other climber I've talked to sees the need for such a rope, though I think it would catch on if the average climber gave it at least a hard thought, if not, certainly a climb.

 

[moss]

.And, quite baffling, is no other climber I've talked to sees the need for such a rope

The answer to your bafflement is that many climbers like the qualities of their favorite rope(s). Likely can’t be convinced something’s broken if it isn’t.

But speaking of baffled, I’ve always wondered why some number of climbers are so concerned about rope flattening. I believe some amount of flattening is necessary to run the mechanical multicenders smoothly in SRS mode. I suspect this is why the Yale 11.7mm double-braids are so popular and why they’re so widely imitated, low stretch and run like butter.
-AJ

 

[Dan Cobb]

I don't believe the rope I'm hoping to find exists, that's why I hope to get a local manufacturer to make it, and hopefully they listen, because if such a rope doesn't exists, people(climbing customers) may realize this rope is ideal, so I shouldn't need to preorder tens of thousand of dollars worth of this new rope, it may catch on.

And if your ideal rope doesn't sell well, at least you won't take a financial hit. It will just be the manufacturer stuck with the development, testing, approval, marketing and production costs.

For some unfounded reason, I'm thinking rope manufacturers do market research to determine their product offerings. Perhaps they've found that the "hand over hand + mechanical" climbing market is too small to be profitable.

I suppose this thread is a form of market research for your ideal rope. Based on what's been posted, I'm not yet convinced that your ideal rope would be a prudent investment.

 

[islandarb]

What has me baffled is this post. No disrespect but all the complaints you are giving of a rope are moot in my opinion. Throwline is a wonderful thing and so are ascenders. When you are climbing 10 years lets revisit this post. I think you might have a different opinion.

 

[islandarb]

Here is me ascending a large mahogany for roof clearance pruning. I am surely not pulling myself up on MRS to a low crotch and advancing. I get a high shot then advance there and in this case advance 15ft to ideal TIP. A running bowline with yosemite tie, then switch to a quickie. This is 60' then TIP at 75 there abouts. Oh yeah I did not prune the Flamboyant in the background, landscapers deal with those trees with polesaws and ladders lol. They are hacked. I get subbed in for the larger trees, islandlife.

 

[islandarb]

Here is a training run for a comp. I was 50 then. 4 years ago. 45' as that is 5' short of the usual height.

 

[islandarb]

Last one my son at 8. 2 years ago. Ascending this way is energy efficient. Just saying.

 

[islandarb]

What I am getting at here @Willber is try getting a chicane and using ascenders for initial ascent. Then switch over to DRT with just the Zigzag and ditch the ascenders with chicane. You will save your shoulders and arms a lot of wear and tear as your career rolls on. As for rope I cannot advise there. I think you are overthinking things. I use no gloves and never have problems with grip because of minimal flattening. Wish you all the best figuring things out. We all have that journey. Welcome to the BUZZ.