Rope Failure?

[tlinn]

So today I was rapping and jumaring on my "cleaning" rope which is about 5 years old and heavily used. After rapping down the route I went to pull the rope and noticed that I had worn it through to the core! The spot was near the middle of the rope so I cut it in half and fixed the last two pieces of 30 meter cord to get me down in two more raps.

 

So this got me thinking. Short of ropes getting worn over edges through jumaring and doing pendulums, etc. do ropes ever fail through normal free climbing use? I remember reading in the Squamish guidebook that someone had scorched two new ropes and survived but I haven`t heard of that before.

 

Spray on.

[archenemy]

I retire a climbing rope after two years and any haul line, cleaning rope, whatever, after four. This is no magic number, it is just what I feel comfortable with.

 

I suppose ropes fail occasionally, but that danger is considerably smaller than others you face while climbing. Nonetheless, I know that I don't want thoughts of rope failure on my mind, so I change out ropes pretty frequently.

 

I have also retired a rope just because it was looking frayed after only a few uses. I know that is was only superficial and didn't affect the core or the overall integrity of the rope in a substantial way, but it gave me the willies and distracted me. It was a Beal, and I will not buy another one--even though other folks have had Beals and liked them just fine.

 

that's my thoughts on that even though I have nothing scientific to back it up with.

[G-spotter]

I remember breaking a retired VOC climbing wall rope in a tug of war.

 

I agree with Archenemy that Beals suck.

[Mos_Chillin]

For sheath wear, Bluewaters are very durable I have found.

[gary_hehn]

My choice has been to free climb with two 8.5mm ropes. Hey, we back everything else up, why not the rope? I use them for five years before retiring them, unless they scare me before then.

[colt45]

I had the sheath fail (rip open after a fall) near the end on my old sport climbing rope--so I chopped it back a few feet. The majority of the rope's strength is in the core so I just keep an eye out for sections that feel soft or flat.

 

It is often said that there has never been a case of a rope breaking in a fall, unless the rope was cut on a sharp edge or chemically damaged (e.g. battery acid). I can't confirm that this has "never" happened, but I have never heard of a single case.

 

Incidentally there was just a post on another forum about a rope that broke during an extremely short fall with no sharp edges, in a climbing gym! But my guess is this rope had previous damage that was not noticed. Link here. (in the photo of the rope, note that part of the sheath and several of the core strands have an extremely clean cut...) The rope in question was sent to BD for examination so there should be some answers soon.

[tlinn]

Thanks for the discussion. Yeah, I think that two ropes are a good idea for ice climbing at least. G-Spotter, didn`t you have a chunk of limestone hit your rope in Marble Canyon one time?

I can believe it that some of the old VOC ropes are a little questionable...probably date back to the start of the club. Maybe even before Roland Burton`s time.

[colt45]

I found an article by the head of the UIAA safety commission on rope failure: according to him the only cases of rope failure in the past 20 years have been due to either (1) cutting on a sharp edge, (2) acid damage, or (3) using a twin or double rope as a single strand. He has also tested 25-year old ropes, and says that in every case they still held a UIAA test fall!!

[G-spotter]

I have had, or seen, 4 ropes get chopped by rockfall or by trundled rocks over the years. One on Athelstan, one on YBR, one on Arts Ass and one on Watchman's Ridge (except that one was Don's rope not mine).

[rleary]

what exactly causes acid damage?

[ZimZam]

what exactly causes acid damage?

 

To much blotter or microdot.

[G-spotter]

Reading the same post about melting snow with your breath on 15 different climbing websites in a row

[snoboy]

I have had, or seen, 4 ropes get chopped by rockfall or by trundled rocks over the years. One on Athelstan,

 

I lost the tail of my rope on Athelstan too...

[G-spotter]

I't should really have been 5 but somehow the gods smiled on Cayoosh Wall.