Rain?

MickCPitlick

MickCPitlick

Location
New Jersey
I know that cavers climb in wet conditions, probably same can be said for rain forest climbers. But what about it? My rope wrench came with a warning not to use wet. Here are the questions:

1) How does water affect climbing rope strength? Working life?
2) How does water affect hitch cordage and grab?
3) How does it affect mechanicals?
4) Can I leave my line and gear out overnight (if it rains) and how long does it have to dry out before I use it?

{Another question: UV rays - do they degrade textiles? Can I leave a line out all summer?}
 
I have climbed with it several times in the rain , didnt really give any of that much thought. I just try and climb slower and use good work positioning with my lanyard and red directs. I never leave gear in trees over night , maybe a throwline-there's just no reason too in my book.
 
MickCPitlick said:
I know that cavers climb in wet conditions, probably same can be said for rain forest climbers. But what about it? My rope wrench came with a warning not to use wet. Here are the questions:

1) How does water affect climbing rope strength? Working life?
2) How does water affect hitch cordage and grab?
3) How does it affect mechanicals?
4) Can I leave my line and gear out overnight (if it rains) and how long does it have to dry out before I use it?

{Another question: UV rays - do they degrade textiles? Can I leave a line out all summer?}
Click to expand...
!. The strength of nylon is impaired while it's wet. 2. Sometimes the hitch is not reliable when wet. 3. If it's steel, it'll rust. 4. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, like getting out of Dodge when there's a storm for instance. I try to put my gear away dry, or give it a place to dry out before I use it again. If I'm at work, and a storm is heading my way, I'll pack up my stuff and get it under cover. Working when it's wet can be dangerous, so be careful.
 
Yes, UV degrades textiles...nylon more so than polyester.

I leave cheap throwlines in several trees I climb regularly that were difficult to get the line where I wanted it. I would not consider leaving a climbing line in a tree overnight, let alone for longer periods.

Ignoring weather related degradation, how would I know if a squirrel decided to "sample" the rope or a mouse decided to take chunks for it's nest. I've had a squirrel chew the electrical wires off of the fuel pump on my pickup and all sorts of things around the yard as well as a mouse chew through a spark plug wire where it build it's nest.
 
Last edited:
I have black paracord up in several trees that I like to climb. That way I don't have to bother tossing a line up each time I want to climb. I don't mind leaving that. It's not easy to see if you aren't looking for it.
 
Modern climbing gear seems to be pretty resilient to moisture. Of course the lubrication of water affects every point where friction occurs to some degree. So the safe thing to say here is be careful and move slowly 'til you get the feel for it. In my experience, I end up worrying about it much more than it actually affects the operation of my climbing set up. I just don't think the slight lubrication of soaked textiles makes a whole lot of difference at the relatively low forces experienced in most climbing systems. Much more frustrating (in my experience) is how the rain affects my grip on ropes, tree parts, and saws. That coupled with slippery footing on tree parts, are the real concerns with climbing in the rain.

Having said all that, rigging operations are a different story. Running a rigging rope through/around a friction brake of any kind can be drastically altered depending on the rain/moisture. I think the greater forces involved mean that the moisture present can and does reduce friction, sometimes drastically. I remember once it was drizzling out. The kind of rain that doesn't soak you very quickly. But, if your in it for several hours, you're gonna get drenched without realizing it. We were lowering spar wood with a port a wrap. We wrapped the barrel of the device for normal lowering of a piece that size. We were shocked when the ground man was unable to slow it's descent and it sailed down to the ground at full speed - the rope and port a wrap were wet. There were no obstacles or dangers so, no harm no foul. But, it woke us up. For the next piece, the groundie added an extra wrap. Well, the log dead-stopped and shook the shizzle out of the climber - spurs kicked out, tweaked his back. Again, we were shocked. We analyzed the situation and the only thing we can figure out is that when we lowered the first piece, the rope was soaked. It had been lying out in the drizzle for a while. We think during the sailing down of the first log, the water got wrung out of it. The second log followed shortly after. It was only drizzling so the rope was still relatively dry, so the extra wrap was too much.

We chunked the rest down without rigging. Be careful when rigging in the rain.
 
I'm much less worried about getting my textiles wet than I am about leaving them in the sun for extended periods of time. It's my understanding (and I'm no chemist so don't take this as gospel) that plastics (polyester and nylon ropes are plastics basically, right?) doesn't biodegrade, it photodegrades. Old manila ropes were natural fibers which, when wet, would grow stuff - mold, mildew, I don't know. And those organisms would degrade the rope in a relatively short period of time. They would biodegrade it. Plastics photodegrade, which means extended periods of harsh sunlight makes plastic brittle. then large pieces of plastic (fibers/strands) become small pieces of plastic.

I am aware that nylon, when wet, has significantly reduced strength. Most arborist ropes are mostly polyester though right. I'd have to look up the construction of some of the more static lines to double check. Does anyone know exactly why nylon ropes are weaker when wet?
 
That's an interesting paper. Thanks for posting the link. But, it doesn't really explain the actual reason(s) why nylon ropes are weaker when wet. Unless I missed it in there somewhere, which is entirely possible.
 
I am of the same thinking about wet or sun as far as my ropes go, Chewie. Don't mind the wet as much as sun. But also never leave my ropes wet to get mildewed.
 
Like braking in the rain. the water needs to evaporate before the braking action starts. The worst part of running ropes in the rain is descending rope on rope. The hitch wrings out the water and sends it right down your arm.
 
treehumper said:
Like braking in the rain. the water needs to evaporate before the braking action starts. The worst part of running ropes in the rain is descending rope on rope. The hitch wrings out the water and sends it right down your arm.
Click to expand...
Right!
 
I left a length of NE Ropes Fly in a white oak for several months. It was base anchored for SRT. I took it down and did a thorough inspection. Especially checked for loss of suppleness, the primary obvious effect of UV damage. The leaves in the crown did reduce sunlight on the rope. The rope remained surprisingly supple and suffered no damage from tree critters. I'm not saying this is a good idea but it is impressive how well the rope survived a long stay in a tree. I would not climb on a rope left for multiple days in a tree without inspecting it first.
 
I've climbed in heavy rain with hitch and ZK-2. Agree that the greater challenge is slippery bark. The hitch behaves pretty badly, seems to release hard then slide too easily. My belay hand had to work harder to keep things under control. It was workable but not pleasant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom