70M Ropes

[bonathanjarrett]

Anyone out there buying and using 70M ropes? What for? Any thoughts?

[flashclimber]

They are nice for climbs like Godzilla 5.9 and Wings of Desire .11b. both are 30 meter climbs!

[Jason_Martin]

There's definately been a movement toward 70 meter ropes among certain climbers. The reason? There are definately climbs out there that you can get up and down by using a 70 meter rope. In other words, you don't have to carry two ropes up the route to get back down. This makes sense and can be an advantage to owning a 70 meter rope.

 

There will be a contingent of people who argue that a 70 meter rope is better for alpine rock climbing. I'm not one of those. Especially in the Cascades. Many of our classic routes are blocky and require short pitches so that corners may be negotiated. As a result, a 70 meter rope is not very effective.

 

For some alpine ice routes a long rope might be nice. If you are planning on doing a lot of routes where you might be climbing a number of 60-70 degree alpine ice pitches where you want to have a belay but don't want to belay all over the place and you want to eliminate as many pitches as possible, a 70 meter rope might be nice.

 

Due to the weight of a 70 meter rope, it cannot be recommended as a second rope for rappelling.

 

If this is your first rope, I would recommend buying a 60 meter rope. If you have two 60s already and are simply looking for something to fill out your arsenal, then maybe a 70 might be something to look into. This will be a rope that you will keep for a long time because you will only use it once in awhile.

 

Jason

[slothrop]

Ya don't need a 70m rope to rap off of Godzilla, just make sure you even out the ends of your 60m rope.

 

Are there many climbs put up where 70m ropes are required to reach between fixed belays? Any around here? It would suck to have to start buying 70m ropes because route developers used that length as a standard.

[Jason_Martin]

Are there many climbs put up where 70m ropes are required to reach between fixed belays? Any around here? It would suck to have to start buying 70m ropes because route developers used that length as a standard.

 

There are a lot of routes that you can rappel with a 70 meter rope because the pitches are 35 meters. This is where a 70 becomes a luxuary. Though I don't see evidence of route developers putting anchors 70 meters apart, there is ample evidence of 35 meter pitches.

 

Jason

[Alex]

Anyone out there buying and using 70M ropes? What for? Any thoughts?

 

Best use for a 70m single is long water ice climbs with walk off, long alpine ice faces, and long steep aid pitches

 

Anything else, use a 60

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

- Karate Wall

- To Bolt

- Full Heinous

- Bolt From the Blue

- Just Do It

- Heresy (just kidding!)

- Namaste

- Huecos Rancheros

- others?

[chirp]

Birdland!

[cypress]

If you ever plan on going down and climbing El Petrero Chico in mexico, a 70m is nice. The routes are long and the pitches/ bolts are pretty far apart. Lotsa people just throwing up bolted routes there, pretty irregularly .

Just a thought.

[Dr_Crash]

So, when the Bugaboos climbing guide (the Canadian one) shows 60 m pitches, do they mean the distance really is 60 m between belay and anchor or that 60 m of rope arenecessary (and therefore the distance is somewhat less than 60 m)? I am not sure Beckey and Chouinard were climbing with 70 m ropes.

 

drC

[Jason_Martin]

So, when the Bugaboos climbing guide (the Canadian one) shows 60 m pitches, do they mean the distance really is 60 m between belay and anchor or that 60 m of rope arenecessary (and therefore the distance is somewhat less than 60 m)? I am not sure Beckey and Chouinard were climbing with 70 m ropes.

 

This means you should have a 60 meter rope to get up and if you are rappelling the route, two 60 meter ropes to get down.

 

Jason

[thelawgoddess]

i use a 70m rope for most of my rock-climbing endeavors and know a number of other people who do - although they all live in the slc area. i have mainly used it for cragging and multi-pitch day routes. (i have used it for ice climbing in the past, but i have since acquired 60m half ropes that i prefer to use for that purpose.) you really don't NEED a 70m rope, but sometimes it is a very nice thing to have around (like what jason said above about being able to rap 35m pitches without having to have 2 ropes, as well being able to link pitches of that length when leading multi-pitch routes). when i replace it, it will be with another 70m rope. my partners usually have 60m ropes that we can use if we're doing really short stuff.

[Sol]

just bought a 70m for use with my silent partner. if the gears good, and i have enough, i skip the standard belays on the route and simply make a belay when i run out of rope. helps link pitches together, and makes every pitch long and efficient. i think 70's are good as your special projects, secret weapon rope, too heavy and prone to cluster for any application where its added length will not be utilized. one nice system i saw once was these valley speed demons using two 70m 8mm double ropes.