[Adam Lincoln]

I give up. 

Ok ill bite.

I guess it depends what the longest route is you’d like to do.

Kilnsey and Malham have routes where you would need a 70m but also could get away with a 30m

As for ropes, ive gone off the Simonds of late. Having been a die hard fan for years now.

Rock and Run often do deals on Mammut ropes and a 50m galaxy i think it is would be a good option. If you know you are going on a longer route pack the 80m simond.

Mammut ropes do just seem to last from my experience. Maybe a tad on heavy side but very durable.

[SA Chris]

question for Maaaargret??

[Bradders]

I give up. 

Ok ill bite.

I guess it depends what the longest route is you’d like to do.

Kilnsey and Malham have routes where you would need a 70m but also could get away with a 30m

Well, already having the 80m rope I'm okay for the longer ones if I get keen for them. Thought that was fairly obvious.

All I can tell you is there were a bunch of occasions last year where I thought "this would be easier / less faff with a shorter rope".

Anyway, got there in the end, thanks for all the advice folks.

My question is how did you go a whole season without chopping?

Lots of 2nd go redpoints after sitting on a bolt 1st go so probably didn't actually fall on it very much. Would be my guess anyway.

[Will Hunt]

Looking at buying a new rope. The contenders are made by either Fixe or Simond. Any idea which of these brands might have nicer handling?

[Paul B]

I'd say Simmond although I've not had that much experience of Fixe. My Simmonds handle really well IMO.

[Will Hunt]

Cheers. That makes it an easy decision since the Simond is cheaper (quite ridiculously so).

[Duma]

Pretty sure there's nothing to compare with simond value wise, and only a couple of the very pricey options performance wise.

[Muenchener]

Looking at buying a new rope. The contenders are made by either Fixe or Simond. Any idea which of these brands might have nicer handling?

The pink SImond 8.9 is one of the best ropes I've ever had. The green 9.5 otoh is very tangle-prone. Disappointing. But maybe I unpacked it wrong

[jwi]

The green 9.5 Simond feels a bit thicker than 9.5 should feel as well. It stacks smoothly on multipitch routes for me. I have never used it for single pitch climbing.

[petejh]

Another vote for the pink Simond 8.9, great rope, great price.

I do however wonder how Simond manage to manufacture such a good polyamide rope and sell it for such a low price...
...my hunch (zero evidence, I haven't looked) involves a Chinese manufacturer (that possibly uses coal as its power source) and opaque raw materials supply-chain, and not great environmental practice when disposing of the by-products of the manufacturing process. I could be completely wrong.   
https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/polyamide-fabric

While the methods used to make polyamide fabrics may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, they are all alike in being derived from polyamide monomers. In some cases, polyamides may be derived from other sources, but the most common source of these monomers is petroleum oil.

This fossil fuel is also known as crude oil, and it is the base material for a number of different types of plastics and fuel. Petroleum oil is a non-renewable resource, and great lengths are taken to obtain it. Additionally, this base ingredient is inherently a pollutant, which means that the process of producing polyamide fabrics cannot be considered to be environmentally-friendly.

A slightly more ethical option - it's still a rope made from plastic fibres made from processing of crude oil - might be Edelrid:
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/how-climbing-ropes-are-made-at-edelrid/
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/eco-friendly-sustainable-climbing-ropes/
https://www.bluesign.com/en

[Will Hunt]

Thanks Pete and all. Too late for this time but I will bear this in mind for next time.

[SA Chris]

I do however wonder how Simond manage to manufacture such a good polyamide rope and sell it for such a low price...
...my hunch (zero evidence, I haven't looked) involves a Chinese manufacturer (that possibly uses coal as its power source) and opaque raw materials supply-chain, and not great environmental practice when disposing of the by-products of the manufacturing process. I could be completely wrong.   
https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/polyamide-fabric

Decathlon claim to have a green ethos, don't know to what actual depth that goes though; all members of the group and everything they do may not be included

https://sustainability.decathlon.com/

[jwi]

Another vote for the pink Simond 8.9, great rope, great price.

I do however wonder how Simond manage to manufacture such a good polyamide rope and sell it for such a low price...
...my hunch (zero evidence, I haven't looked) involves a Chinese manufacturer (that possibly uses coal as its power source) and opaque raw materials supply-chain, and not great environmental practice when disposing of the by-products of the manufacturing process. I could be completely wrong.   
https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/polyamide-fabric

While the methods used to make polyamide fabrics may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, they are all alike in being derived from polyamide monomers. In some cases, polyamides may be derived from other sources, but the most common source of these monomers is petroleum oil.

This fossil fuel is also known as crude oil, and it is the base material for a number of different types of plastics and fuel. Petroleum oil is a non-renewable resource, and great lengths are taken to obtain it. Additionally, this base ingredient is inherently a pollutant, which means that the process of producing polyamide fabrics cannot be considered to be environmentally-friendly.

A slightly more ethical option - it's still a rope made from plastic fibres made from processing of crude oil - might be Edelrid:
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/how-climbing-ropes-are-made-at-edelrid/
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/eco-friendly-sustainable-climbing-ropes/
https://www.bluesign.com/en

All Simond/Decathlon ropes are manufactured in France (by Cousin if you remember those horrible ropes). There is some form of recycling program of the ropes as well.

Source: https://www.grimper.com/news-100-cordes-simond-francaises-eco-concues

[petejh]

Another vote for the pink Simond 8.9, great rope, great price.

I do however wonder how Simond manage to manufacture such a good polyamide rope and sell it for such a low price...
...my hunch (zero evidence, I haven't looked) involves a Chinese manufacturer (that possibly uses coal as its power source) and opaque raw materials supply-chain, and not great environmental practice when disposing of the by-products of the manufacturing process. I could be completely wrong.   
https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/polyamide-fabric

While the methods used to make polyamide fabrics may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, they are all alike in being derived from polyamide monomers. In some cases, polyamides may be derived from other sources, but the most common source of these monomers is petroleum oil.

This fossil fuel is also known as crude oil, and it is the base material for a number of different types of plastics and fuel. Petroleum oil is a non-renewable resource, and great lengths are taken to obtain it. Additionally, this base ingredient is inherently a pollutant, which means that the process of producing polyamide fabrics cannot be considered to be environmentally-friendly.

A slightly more ethical option - it's still a rope made from plastic fibres made from processing of crude oil - might be Edelrid:
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/how-climbing-ropes-are-made-at-edelrid/
https://blog.weighmyrack.com/eco-friendly-sustainable-climbing-ropes/
https://www.bluesign.com/en

All Simond/Decathlon ropes are manufactured in France (by Cousin if you remember those horrible ropes). There is some form of recycling program of the ropes as well.

Source: https://www.grimper.com/news-100-cordes-simond-francaises-eco-concues

I'm more talking about where the polyamide (from which ropes are manufactured) is made, not the ropes themselves. I guess this is where a company being bludesign certified helps - knowing the source of the raw materials that make up the product and how those raw materials were processed. Like knowing whether the tin sticking all the electronics together in your laptop came from artisan miners dredging the seabed off Indonesia, or from a responsibly run underground mine. But good to know about Cousin-Trestec, thanks.

Not trying to be preachy btw, I have a simond and think it's great. But my next rope might be a bludesign one as I think it's far past the time we pushed these things more.

[SA Chris]

I know it's a case of "by degrees" but most climbing ropes* are made from oil derivatives anyway, is it possible to trace if the crude originally came from the North Sea, KSA or Venezuela?

*(not recycled ones obviously)

[petejh]

Yep all ropes made from crude oil (even the recycled ones, originally..), but not all manufacturers of polyamide will be equal. Some will use coal power, some hydro. Some will have a poor record for how they deal with contaminated water i.e. leakage into rivers, some won't. Etc. etc.

[SA Chris]

Fair enough, but just different shades of black (stuff) surely.

[Bradders]

Looking at buying a new rope. The contenders are made by either Fixe or Simond. Any idea which of these brands might have nicer handling?

The pink SImond 8.9 is one of the best ropes I've ever had. The green 9.5 otoh is very tangle-prone. Disappointing. But maybe I unpacked it wrong

Second that, glad it's not just me. Mine is extremely tangle prone.

[Duncan campbell]

My green one is fine… is it kinked  or just tangly?

[spidermonkey09]

My green one is fine… is it kinked  or just tangly?

Mine was fine too. I've always found kinked up ropes out of the packet to be fine if you commit to spooling them out 10 times in a row.

[cheque]

I've always found kinked up ropes out of the packet to be fine if you commit to spooling them out 10 times in a row.

A pull-up bar is a useful tool for this.

[Adam Lincoln]

I've always found kinked up ropes out of the packet to be fine if you commit to spooling them out 10 times in a row.

A pull-up bar is a useful tool for this.

Or wrap the rope in some thin card board with a hole in when you get it and pull rope out through hole.

[Duncan campbell]

I've always found kinked up ropes out of the packet to be fine if you commit to spooling them out 10 times in a row.

A pull-up bar is a useful tool for this.

Or wrap the rope in some thin card board with a hole in when you get it and pull rope out through hole.

this seems like great knowledge!! so before you do anything to the rope just wrap it in cardboard and pull it out a hole in the cardboard?! You don't need to do anything to it?

[Adam Lincoln]

I've always found kinked up ropes out of the packet to be fine if you commit to spooling them out 10 times in a row.

A pull-up bar is a useful tool for this.

Or wrap the rope in some thin card board with a hole in when you get it and pull rope out through hole.

this seems like great knowledge!! so before you do anything to the rope just wrap it in cardboard and pull it out a hole in the cardboard?! You don't need to do anything to it?

Might need to cut bands keeping it together. Gaffa tape card on and away you go. Its basically how Edelrid supply there ropes.

[Adam Lincoln]

Like this.

https://shop.epictv.co.uk/en/single-ropes/edelrid/tommy-caldwell-eco-dry-ct-93mm?sku=713170800610&gclid=CjwKCAjw8sCRBhA6EiwA6_IF4YqMTiOKCPSnLNUo1y4c-g8cwdz9ImC5W9oFUOTS1BRY9MONKVtlfBoC6nAQAvD_BwE