Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q's

Ethan_Wall

Ethan_Wall

Location
Pittsburgh Pennsylvannia
Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'s

Hello,

I have scoured the internet for answers to my rope stretch question. I have been looking for an SRT line to ascend and work the tree with the rope wrench. I have mainly been looking at rope stretch and elongation. I have tried two different ropes with the wrench so far, Arbormaster and HTP static. Both of these climbing lines I did not like. The Arbormaster had too much bounce while the HTP didn't have enough and had a poor feel to it. So I decided I would look into rope stretch to find a happy medium and find a rope that had the perfect balance. The Sherril Tree catalog (Climbing Rope Chart) was were I went first. What I found there was extremely confusing. I started to realize these number (Elastic Elongation At 540 lbs) didn't make sense. It lists that KM111 a static line has 2.4% stretch, while Arbormaster a semi static line has only 2.20% stretch. Are these numbers correct? I felt like a few of the other numbers were off as well.

Does anyone know where i can find numbers with accurate stretch? Are these numbers correct? I'm basically looking for a semi static rope with the least amount of stretch, but not as little as HTP.

And My last question....
I recently read the article, Comparability Of Toothed Ascenders With Arborist Climbing Lines by Brian Kane. I realize kernmantle ropes are the way to go with toothed ascenders, but could a double braid be used because core and cover share some of the load. Although not ideal it would still be better than using a 12 or 16 strand where it is cover dependent.
Any thoughts? Are other people out there using toothed ascenders with double braids lines?
 
Re: Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'s

My fav ropes:

Tachyon
KMIII

Its good to have some stretch in the rope. otherwise get steel cable...not good in a fall.

There are many threads on SRT rope, take some time to see what others have said.

Take a close look at how Brian setup his tests. Large loads with long falls. Extreme conditions and we'd expect disasters. I'd like to see tests done using other rope tools in more typical situations.

You're right...kernmantle ropes are the most compatible. I don't have a problem using double braids though.
 
Re: Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'s

Thanks for the help tom. I agree with you on having some stretch in the system. I have followed a few of your other posts on other boards while searching for these answers.
 
Re: Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'s

Not all companies use the same process when measuring elongation. That's why it can sometimes be a real pain to corrolate all the varying numbers. Two ropes that have very similar characteristics, depending on how they measure the elongation, can have different numbers. Semi-statics that have lower enlongation numbers than other statics were probably tested with a lower weight. For example, an 80 kilo weight (common in drop testing) as opposed to a 540 pound weight. The percentages there would be quite different.
 
Re: Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'s

While climbing SRT I primarily use Petzl ascenders (Croll, handled ascender, Shunt etc.) and I really like climbing on Tachyon. It has a great feel and works quite well in mechanical devices and friction hitches. After climbing on several kernmantle ropes, I have found the Tachyon to be the best...IMO.
 
Re: Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'

Yale Cordage publishes elongation curves in its catalogs. Sometines the curves are small and hard to read. No information is given on repeat loadings.
 
Re: Rope Stretch? Ascender Compatability? A Few Q\'s

Ethan
The best thing you can do is climb on some differnt ropes and then make a decision.
As you can see a bunch of the guys like Tachyon and personally I think it bounces like a yo-yo and all kinds of energy is wasted during an ascent from that, again others say they get in a rythm with it. I tried snake bite and that was like a cable and also I felt knotability was poor. I am extremely happy with poison ivy as it has just enough stretch, is approved by the manufacturer for toothed ascenders and is very supple so it knots real well. I bet there are those who hate it too for many of the same reasons as I listed for other rope as well as others. I am dying to try Imori and I hear it is a love hate rope with SRT...you either love it or hate it. I'm just gonna have to buy a 200'hank and give it a try, sure hope I love it. Anyway see if you can climb some other folks ropes and find what you like!
Scrat
 
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