Gadgetory

hey guys I'm Miranda with REI and we're gonna talk about how to choose climbing ropes so just to be clear we're going to talk about dynamic ropes which are used for climbing and not static groups which are used for hauling gear so let's talk about how to choose so the most common types of ropes that you'll come across our single ropes like these guys here these are the most widely used and probably the type of rope that you'll be looking for if you're cracking sport climbing even multi-pitch or top roping these are designed to just be used by clipping a single strand of rope into the gear as you go or again setting up a top rope and you can note single ropes by looking for a circled one on the end cap of the rope if you're not looking for a single rope your needs are a little bit more specific you might be looking for a half rope or a twin rope so half ropes are designed to be used simultaneously tied into your harness but then as you're climbing you'll alternate clipping the ropes into gear so that might mean that as you're going up you'll clip everything on your left side with the blue rope and then everything on your right side with the red rope in this instance and this will severely decrease the amount of rope drag that you might get on meandering routes if you were to use a single rope you can note a half rope by looking for a half symbol on the end some of the benefits or half ropes are that you again decrease the rope drag but you also have extended rappelling lengths if you were to tie the two ropes together and if one of them gets damaged then you can use the other rope for climbing or rappelling the last type of rope you'll find our twin ropes to interrupts of all the benefits of half ropes but you'll actually clip them in at the same time as you're climbing up so they're better for routes that are straighter and don't have me under as much when you'd want to use a half rope again those are all the different types of ropes but single ropes are the most common ropes that you'll find when you're climbing so once you've decided on the type of rope the next thing to consider is the diameter of the rope twin and half ropes will come in diameters ranging from seven to nine millimeters whereas single ropes are gonna come in a wide range from around eight up to eleven five in terms of millimeters of the diameter of the rope the most common being between like nine five and ten two for a single rope so keep in mind that with a thicker diameter rope you're gonna get some it's more durable and doesn't stretch as much but it's also a little bit heavier so the thicker the diameter on the rope the better it's going to be for things like top roping or projecting or out the thinner diameter ropes are going to stretch more but also weigh a lot less so these are really good for on sighting or if you're doing multi-pitch climbing where you really want to prioritize low weight over durability thicker ropes again are going be more durable so if what you're looking for is something that you can set up top ropes on we'd recommend going with a thicker diameter of rope ropes come in a range of lengths anywhere from 30 metres up to 80 metres with the most common being 60 or 70 meter ropes when you're picking a rope you want to make sure the Rope is long enough to go from the ground up to the top of the pitch and then back down again and this is just so that you can lower or rappel on a full length of rope 60 metres generally cuts it for most pitches or most routes but 70 metres gives you a little bit of extra cushion space if you're looking for a rope for your gym you can get generally a 30 metre or a 40 meter rope just to check with your gym to see how tall their walls are and make sure you're getting a rope that will work for that so once you've decided on the type the diameter and the length of your rope there are a couple other features that you can consider almost all ropes are gonna have a middle marker like this rope here which just marks the mid mark on the rope so that you know you'll have enough to lower or repel but then some rows have a bi pattern or a bicolor sheath like this one so this is a bi pattern rope meaning you have one pattern on the sheath on one half and a different pattern on the other half this makes it a lot easier to see the midpoint on the rope but it is gonna add a little bit of cost another common feature you'll come across is dry treatment on the ropes so dry treated ropes will help repel moisture and dirt and if you'd be climbing in damp conditions such as mountaineering or alpine climbing you might want to consider a dry treatment one thing to consider is that ropes are not as strong when they get wet so dry treatment helps with that as well these are just two common features there are a whole variety to choose from but they're always going to add a little bit of cost one more thing I want to mention are uia Falls so when you're purchasing a rope you'll see a rating on there for how many uia Falls the rope can take before it needs to be retired single ropes need to be rated to accept at least five uia Falls but this doesn't mean that you can only fall on this rope five times these Falls are massive Falls that they're rating the type of fall that if you were to take it you'd probably be done climbing for a day so keep that in mind when you're choosing a rope we're not going to get too deep into the uia rating system but just know that that number does not mean that the rope needs to be done after you take that number of Falls from summer bike tour to couchsurfing airport lounge to hiking the Camino Trail our traveler series bags transform to quilts for ultimate lightweight and compact versatility on the trail bike flight or couch these versatile bags impressive warmth and compressibility is thanks to this 750 plus loft ultra dry Dan fill a responsibly sourced hydrophobic insulation made from ultralight 15b nylon outer and lining fabrics help minimize both 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