Would this harm a rope?

[GypsumWolf]

So if you were to completely soak your rope then stick it in a freezer and it completely froze all the soaked rope into a pice of ice then you took it out of your freezer then put it in the hot sun to dry would it harm the rope?

[adleedy]

Not sure if it would harm the rope or not, but Why would you want to do this?

[Scott McCrea]

So if you were to completely soak your rope then stick it in a freezer and it completely froze all the soaked rope into a pice of ice then you took it out of your freezer then put it in the hot sun to dry would it harm the rope?

I've never heard of such test results. Let us know how it turns out.

[chh]

I don't think it would do much to the rope, but it might harm your saturday afternoon. Now trying to use it in that state might be a different story. Ropes weaken a little when they are wet, so I imagine they would do that when frozen. But, people use skinny ropes all the time on glaciers, ice climbing, mountaineering, etc. I think the workability of a frozen rope would suffer long before the strength of the rope. I've dealt a little with frozen ropes and/or rigging gear, but that was all in patches on the rope and not the whole thing. But, I'm an armchair philosopher in such cases. I've no scientific proof to say it wouldn't hurt the rope, but I've also no empirical proof to say that it would.

Why on earth do you want to freeze your rope?

[BrianC]

I have had ropes completely freeze after doing a wet pit then putting it in the back of my truck! It would thaw out later. Never noticed any problem afterward! I'm still here!

[ian mckenzie]

A not-unknown scenario in Canada. I don't think the frost-wedging within a rope would do much harm; individual fibres won't absorb water, and there should be plenty of stretch room inbetween them, otherwise rope wouldn't bend. Short exposures to sunlight are okay too.

[GypsumWolf]

Not sure if it would harm the rope or not, but Why would you want to do this?

I was just wondering. I am not actually planning on doing it ... yet.

[Ralph E. Powers]

Not sure if it would harm the rope or not, but Why would you want to do this?

I was just wondering. I am not actually planning on doing it ... yet.

How about just keeping it hypothetical and leave it at that... or if you MUST then cut a short length and do that... short enough where you wouldn't be able to use it in a cave but long enough for you to say tie it on a tree limb and hang from it... from your harness of course. At least you can get the "short" version of what it will do to your rope(s)

[FiddleCaver]

Hey, you stole my question. I am curious about this as well. There certainly are situations where this would be unavoidable.

[ek]

I don't think it would do much to the rope, but it might harm your saturday afternoon. Now trying to use it in that state might be a different story. Ropes weaken a little when they are wet, so I imagine they would do that when frozen. But, people use skinny ropes all the time on glaciers, ice climbing, mountaineering, etc. I think the workability of a frozen rope would suffer long before the strength of the rope. I've dealt a little with frozen ropes and/or rigging gear, but that was all in patches on the rope and not the whole thing. But, I'm an armchair philosopher in such cases. I've no scientific proof to say it wouldn't hurt the rope, but I've also no empirical proof to say that it would.

The 2002 English edition of Alpine Caving Techniques (p. 62) says that ropes are actually stronger when frozen because when they are shock loaded, the ice absorbs some of the energy by melting. It goes on to say, however:

in the event of streaming (alternate freezing and melting) of the rope surface, the build-up of ice on the rope can not only prevent the use of our vertical gear, bu can also create a considerably heavier load on the rope that leads to breakage;

the rope can become stuck by the ice to the cave wall, preventing its use;

traverse lines can become stiff, which has an adverse effect on our cowstails, as discussed in section D3.

This is all separate from the matter of whether or not freezing and thawing of the rope causes damage to the rope, however.