Ridgewalking Rope

[Dangerjudy]

I've been meaning to get a 120ish 11m caving rope to take ridgewalking. A friend told me that he carries smaller diameter rope (8mm) on ridgewalks because it is much lighter and packs smaller, yet standard Petzl ascenders work on it. I'm trying to decide if that is wacky or clever... thoughts welcome...

[Vertigo]

Short pit rope. 8mm cuts too easily. Also, make sure to trim down your climbing system. I like the Texas system for ridgewalking.

[Scott McCrea]

Hi Judy,

This is probably one of those questions where the best answer is: "If you have to ask..." 8mm rope will not tolerate much rub. But it is more durable than webbing. 8mm is also scary to hang from, if you are used to 11mm.

I use a 50' piece of 8mm for a push-rope, usually when surveying and not really expecting anything vertical. It fits nicely in the bottom of a pack and is nice as a handline or when you just HAVE to do that pit (lots of padding).

[chh]

I think 8mm is a "clever" diameter, but maybe more for an in-cave rope than a ridge walking rope. I personally don't like an 8mm to come into contact with anything other than carabiners, and for ridgewalking sometimes the most expediant thing to do is just tie off, pad, and chuck a rope over. For skinnier diameter ropes you may have to carry a few more things with you as a result, so the tradoff might not be that huge between 8mm and 9 or even 10mm. I think it depends on how often you think you might use it. If you're going really light, 8mm, knots and munters I think it would work well as a "just in case" thing with the optimum weight savings. However if you think you are going to be using it more frequently, instead of a "once in a very blue moon" thing, I might go for something between 9 and 10mm. I used a buddy's 9.5 as a light rope for a little while and liked it alot. It was the right amount of light enough to carry 100 feet, and burly enough not to worry about it much, at least for me.

Borrow your friend's 8mm and throw it up in a tree and see how jugging on it makes you feel. For some the strength isn't so much the issue as the heeby jeebies you can get jugging on 8mm

Enter normal disclaimers about the skinny ropes and sharp rocks and the difference it will make with your rappell device here_______

Have fun!

[wyandottecaver]

For a mainline? I have never used 8mm. I have used 9mm. technically you could rig 8 or 9mm "european style" with rebelays and there should be no issue. I suspect however we are talking the American style of drop it in and go. In that case I wouldn't mind 9mm PMI Maxwear, but 8? I'd say you probably wouldn't die....most of the time.....Probably.

Ridgewalking by definition implies finding stuff you have no information about. In this case that means how "nasty" a drop it might be as far as rope wear is concerned. bad lips, sharp edged flutes, nasty rope sucking notches, all on a weighted 8mm rope?

I would say either accept your gonna have to come back later with a rope or accept your gonna have to carry a "standard" rope ridgewalking.

[Marduke]

I'd go with 9mm instead.

[Anonymous_Coward]

8mm is fine if it is babied. (rebelays, no rub points, etc.) This is why it would suck for ridgewalking. Get something you can just chuck into the hole and go.

[NZcaver]

I agree with Andy. I used 8mm *once* for SRT but we did baby it. It was also pretty fast for descending with a bobbin, and I had to use a Munter hitch on the braking carabiner too.

I would suggest 9 or 10mm for ridgewalking. Or if you'd like to feature on the cover of the ACA, perhaps a length of clothesline?

[mgmills]

I've been meaning to get a 120ish 11m caving rope to take ridgewalking. A friend told me that he carries smaller diameter rope (8mm) on ridgewalks because it is much lighter and packs smaller, yet standard Petzl ascenders work on it. I'm trying to decide if that is wacky or clever... thoughts welcome...

Wacky not clever for all the reasons already stated. Going into the unknown you want something "bomb proof".

[Cody JW]

I ridge walk some but most of the time go by myself. I like to carry a light pack ,I use a small old hydration pack (for bicycling) with no bladder and just carry a bottle of water GPS , flagging , altimeter , camera and a small notepad and pen with a fennix handheld to look into holes. I never took gear on a ridge walking trip.

[Dangerjudy]

Well I considered clothesline. I also considered a hose pipe but that's even heavier than 11m

Seriously though, good info here. What about 9mm? Also is there a significant weight savings between 9, 10, and 11mm?

[trogman]

I've carried a 9mm for years ridgewalking, along with a minimal rappelling/climbing setup. I just recently bought a Piranha figure 8, which should cut the weight a little more. (I haven't tried it yet) I have a cell phone camera, so I use that to snap quick photos of leads. I also use the voice recorder on my cell for recording info about leads. The one thing that I have grown to depend on is my laser measuring device; it gives a quick pit depth w/o actually going down and also allows me to get a rapid estimate of cave length.
As far as the rope goes, I just use it to scout out leads. Usually I end up coming back later anyway. A caver friend of mine always told me that if you ridgewalk and carry a rope, you won't find anything. While that hasn't proven to always be true, oftentimes when I carry a long, heavy rope I end up not finding a thing. About 50' or so is probably optimal.

Trogman

[Dangerjudy]

What brand of 9mm rope do you use? Thoughts on the Peztl Vector rope?


Also I am intrigued by the idea of a laser measuring device. Never heard of such a thing.

[Tim White]

I hope you are not missing the point here. You are going to have to take great caution in your style of rigging when using 9mm rope for a significant drop. Rebelay's that require knowledge to set and extra equipment. If you are just looking at carrying a 50ft piece or so of rope for a handline, etc. then 9mm is adequate.

Can you please explain your intended use of a small diameter rope for ridgewalking? Without this information, no one can give an adequate answer to your questions.

[Dangerjudy]

I hope you are not missing the point here. You are going to have to take great caution in your style of rigging when using 9mm rope for a significant drop. Rebelay's that require knowledge to set and extra equipment. If you are just looking at carrying a 50ft piece or so of rope for a handline, etc. then 9mm is adequate.

Noted, Tim.

Can you please explain your intended use of a small diameter rope for ridgewalking? Without this information, no one can give an adequate answer to your questions.

Simply, a rope to ridgewalk with, to check leads. Not a handline. A rope to descend into a lead, with a rappel device, to see if it 'goes'. And with subsequent ascension of said rope with ascending gear.
As I stated in the first post, I wondered if the idea of a smaller rope is clever or wacky. I can see that the majority opinion is 'wacky'.