Climbing Ropes

When rock climbing your rope is quite literally your life line, it is the one thing that, when you fail, it will be there, it holds no grudges and will never lose focus (unlike any human) most climbing ropes are rated to hold a weight in excess of two greyhound busses.  In fact, when climbing the weakest piece of equipment is the human hip.  It will break and/or tear apart before any piece of your climbing equipment.  A climbing is made in two separate parts, the inner core which support 2/3 of the entire weight of the rope and the outer sheath or wrap which supports the left over 1/3 of the weight.  

Almost as import as having the right equipment is the care of your equipment.  Equipment should be stored in a dark dry place, away from dirt, sharp objects and debris.  Your rope should never be walked or trampled on, and it should never be used for anything other than climbing.  Activities that would retire a rope include but are not limited to, towing, using to wrap wood, using under water, and tying down a trailer or other such object.  A way to find out if your rope has been compromised is to take it by one end, fold it and then run the entire rope through the fold; if the rope folds over to easily then it has a tear in the inner core of the rope.  At this point you should cut the rope at this spot, fuse the end if the ropes using a lighter, then keep on checking the rope.  If the entire length of rope is needed you may tie a fisherman’s knot to re attach the two pieces.  

Fortunately devices have been manufactured to help climbers with the problem of keeping their ropes in good condition.  There are stuff sacks that the rope is just stuffed into and the end of the rope is left hanging outside of the bag.  This allows for the rope to be simply pulled straight out of the bag and it won’t become tangled.  If you wish it is also acceptable to just coil the rope and throw it inside any old bag you have laying around, assuming it is clean of course.