Sterling 12.5mm WorkPro.

[rico]

Another thing I love about 16 strand is that it tends to be tough as nails. As someone who spends his life is spurs it is inevitable that I gaff my rope from time to time. 16 strand seems to take the occasional gaffing in stride, while 24 strand double braids can be fucking destroyed if you even think about touching it with a gaff.

 

[RBJtree]

Another thing I love about 16 strand is that it tends to be tough as nails. As someone who spends his life is spurs it is inevitable that I gaff my rope from time to time. 16 strand seems to take the occasional gaffing in stride, while 24 strand double braids can be fucking destroyed if you even think about touching it with a gaff.

16 strand is cover dependent for strength too which lends to easy inspection in the case of gaffing damage. I looked up the xtc and it does list as being lower stretch than the other 16 strand ropes and all poly. Makes me wonder how it is to climb on, but I have way too much climbing rope to buy more now.

 

[RyTheTreeGuy]

16 strand is cover dependent for strength too which lends to easy inspection in the case of gaffing damage. I looked up the xtc and it does list as being lower stretch than the other 16 strand ropes and all poly. Makes me wonder how it is to climb on, but I have way too much climbing rope to buy more now.

Blasphemy! Who has ever heard of too much rope...lol

 

[Jonny]

The 16 strand XTC ropes are the same, right?
The different vendors might call them 12mm or 1/2” which aren’t the same measurement as 1/2” is closer to 13mm, but there aren’t actually 2 different diameters of 16 strand XTC Fire available, correct?

 

[RBJtree]

Blasphemy! Who has ever heard of too much rope...lol

My bank account has heard of too much rope.

 

[Joeybagodonuts]

I would like to add the weave pattern affects the grip too. Take a look at the orange km3 (13 mm) vs the black km3 max (11mm).

100%... I feel as if, the nubbier it is, the less pressure you need to apply with your hands.. obviously all this is within reason.. take something the size of hitch cord & try to grip it it's gunna want to slip through your hands regardless of it's weave.. but yeah, a nubbier weave helps for sure! It's one of the reasons i like 12m km3 for a spar lanyard, Size + weave..

I imagine since it is all poly that the bounce is minimal?

I don't know about the bounce either, but as far as elongation goes, it seems to have a decent rating on paper when comparing it to others.. at 10% abs it's somewhere around 1.6%. Which is very close, if not at, it's recommended max working load. Im pretty sure you'll usually see other brands 16 strand somewhere around 3% elongation @ 10% abs.. I always just assumed the XTC was the same as the others... Unless I'm reading these charts wrong, knowing this now makes me wish i had gone with it over the teufelberger 16 stand i just bought.. Guess that's what i get for assuming.

The 16 strand XTC ropes are the same, right?
The different vendors might call them 12mm or 1/2” which aren’t the same measurement as 1/2” is closer to 13mm, but there aren’t actually 2 different diameters of 16 strand XTC Fire available, correct?

As far as i know Bango, they are the same.. if you read the model descriptions on Yales XTC-16 page, they'll explain the White version as some economical choice & go into detail about the construction. If you read onto spearmint & then to the fire, they explain how construction is the same in these alternate colors & it's just a matter of visibility & color coding.

This is unlike the XTC-24 family where you have two distinct different sizes, 11 & 11.7 as I'm sure your aware of.

The difference's your reading on vendors sites is just the vendor using round about terms for something that should be advertised with precision... Shit.. I've seen tachyon listed as 3 different sizes now... 11.1, 11.5, & most recently 11.7.

 

[surveyor]

The 16 strand XTC ropes are the same, right?
The different vendors might call them 12mm or 1/2” which aren’t the same measurement as 1/2” is closer to 13mm, but there aren’t actually 2 different diameters of 16 strand XTC Fire available, correct?

It is confusing, what with ropes sized 7/6", 1/2" etc. and then 11mm or 12mm, or fractional mm.
It might should be viewed as approx., as a comparison between sizes by the same manufacture. 11mm fly for instance seems more like 12+mm to me, on top of which the ropes character often changes with use as the XTC seems to swell and stiffen with use (as do other ropes)
Perhaps the vendor could answer the question of wether there is actually both a 12 and 13 mm Yale XTC

 

[JeffGu]

I have a ton of Yale XTC-16 in several colors. It's all nominally 1/2" and I can't tell one color from any other, as far as performance. Some of it I bought to climb on, some I bought to use as 1/2" rigging lines. Works good for both.

I had bought a lot of 12-strand ropes for light rigging, and tend to use them first (on the notion that I'd rather burn up the cheaper ropes, first) and decided to turn some of the unused hanks of XTC-16 into climbing setups, just for shits and giggles.

XTC Fire 150' hank was first up, simple Hitchclimber setup. I put it in a tree in the backyard because we've had a break in the horribly cold, miserable weather... was about 50 degrees F out and I almost hate to admit it... I had a blast with it. I'd forgotten just how nice these ropes really are. They are MUCH easier on my hands.

XTC is all poly, but because of the construction, it still has the necessary elongation to absorb energy if you fall. But, not as much as the nylon core 16 strands. I tried it SRT because I really don't remember XTC as being all that bouncy. To my surprise, it's only a little bit bouncier than what I've been using for SRT, and it really doesn't bother me. I don't exactly race up the rope, anyway, so a little bounce is nothing. I think @rico might not like it, because he goes miles up into the stratosphere in those monster trees he plays in.

The ZZ/Chicane setup works on it, too. A little more friction on ascent... but again, nothing worth crying about. My problem is my foot ascender, SAKA, etc. are toothed cam devices, which I really hate to use on a cover-dependant rope. They didn't seem to hurt it with my slow, easy ascents... but I think I'd like to sell my liver for scientific research and get a couple of the Notch Jet Steps and rework the ropewalking setup with them. They're not as likely to affect the rope negatively.

If these 16-strand ropes make a comeback in a big way, I don't think I'd be all that surprised. They've been popular for good reasons. They really are nice ropes, tough as nails. I can feel the bumpier texture on descent, but that's also not really anything that bothers me. In fact, the frequency of the vibrations is actually more pleasant than the kernmantle ropes, to me. Not as "whiny" if that makes any sense.