Multi-Pitch Routes Demand Better Rope Decisions. Here's Why.

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So, this video finishes up a four video series on our climbing rope. I’m glad we did it.

The origin of the series was a realization of how little me or my climbing partners, or anyone else I interact with in my broader climbing community for that matter, actually talk about our ropes. We more or less just bring a rope and assume everything is going to be okay.

It’s not unusual for me to be exchanging texts with a partner, making up a plan for tomorrow’s climb, and have it read something like:

“I’ll meet you there at 6am.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll bring a full rack of cams .3 to 3 and a set of nuts and draws... maybe 8 quickdraws, 4 alpines, and 2 double-length.”

“That sounds right. I can bring the rope.”

And that’s it, just “the rope.”

I get it. Ropes are expensive. The idea of having multiples might not seem plausible. But are they that expensive? A pretty darn good rope can be the cost of about two cams. But it’s not really the idea that individual climbers ought to by many, many ropes that I’m driving at. What I’m getting at is that between climbers who are partnering up for a climb, there is often a least two ropes, if not three or four, to choose from, and we just don’t seem to have that conversation.

There seems to be a level of inattention given to our ropes and they are, well, kind of important.

Sure, it is pretty unlikely that a rope will just fail the way the wrong pro won’t fit a climb is drastically mismatched, but as I’m getting at in this video series, our ropes can mitigate and accentuate certain kinds of risks. Rope cutting might be the only truly catastrophic one on the list, but the other types of risks, if mismatching a rope to a climb, could end up in serious injury. Let’s take the example of a rope that is too stretchy for the blocky, ledgy climb we are climbing. A big lead fall with an overly stretchy rope on this terrain could easily end up with a broken ankle. Put that on pitch six, and now we’ve got some real self-rescue ahead of us. Maybe a less stretchy rope helps us avoid such a circumstance.

Do either of the two climbers have a thicker rope amongst them? Would that the better choice for the climb? Could we at least discuss it?

Like I said, above, I’m as guilty as anyone. But I’d like to change that about myself, and this video series is the start of a mental shift for me. I’ve been very conscious of what rope I take when choosing one for a climb with both (or one) of my boys, but I haven’t really brough that into my more personal climbing with some of my climbing friends. That changes, now.