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I'm playing around with some old pit rope trying to find the best set up for a rope ladder. My main objective is to do this without cutting the rope (aka cargo net style), I've got decent results using directional eights then binding the loop to the center using a clove hitch. Anyone have experience setting up a usable rope ladder?

Thanks,
gjm

Tie square knots about 12-18" apart. The knots become steps. Not as good as a cable ladder, but it might work in a pinch.

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Thanks for the replies, I think the square knots would be a great quick solution, never thought of using them that way. That Ashley rope ladder is something else! Would definitely need a bunch of rope and time, I dunno if pit rope is going to cut it for that, seems to need some tight bends. I'm going to give both a try.

Thanks,
Gjm

Geeezzz! From out of the history books, gjm6syn6, brings up a question of making up a rope ladder; and, that's exactly what we used, to drop pits before going into SRT, back in '69. I'm probably not understanding what you're trying to make up, what with "square knots," "clove hitch," "directional eights," and all, but we used to make up rope ladders with oak rungs and five-sixteenths nylon rope like Scott wrote, place them about 12-18" apart. We used a basic figure eight knot, slid the rungs on and moved on to make another figure eight knot, and so forth. It worked fine and dandy; and, when we had deeper pits than 40-feet, we attached another section of ladder to the one we were using, so we'd have 80-feet or a 120-feet, etc. We did use a belay line with a guy staying topside...or if all of us were on a long trip, we'd belay from the bottom, after the belay rope was put into the top run area with a biner.

Now, if we're trying to make up a rope ladder, just using rope, then I see where you might be coming from...and don't believe we would have used such a contraption. Of course, we did a lot of vertical work back then, so making loops and such just didn't appeal to us. As far as Scott's comment that they wouldn't be as good as a cable ladder, I have to disagree, for our rope/oak rung ladder was the cat's meow for the most part. We used the cable ladders after they came out, but never made or purchased any of them, but found the way of climbing with them, a little awkward. Our ladders were 12-14" wide. Can't recall right off hand, but...if someone wants to buy a section, I still have one that's in neat condtion. The cable ladder is narrow and placing the foot behind the ladder and so forth, just kind of upset folks. I have some pictures that I'll see about posting...and if you want to do a PM, write away!

I've used a pair of aiders I tied myself out of webbing quite a few times for solo aid. I imagine you could do the same thing with rope. You could probably just use your directional knots. Try to make the loops on alternate sides. Also duct tape or something else in the bottom of the steps to stiffen them up a little is nice. Might not be much of a problem with old pit rope though. It's not a "ladder" configuration, but it does work.

I'm not looking to whip something up to go caving with, the rope works great as it is. Though it would be nice to have a nice fat rope ladder to negotiate those 20/30' nuisance drops sometimes. It'd probably get pretty bulky carrying the thing around!

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Definitely for what you're going to use it for, Gary is correct. Go buy a 30-hunk of cable ladder or whatever length it comes in and it'll be ready to do your pit dropping.