Why You Should Switch to Rope Anchors (or Not!)

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I usually make my anchors with the rope when I am trad climbing, either at the crag or in the alpine. On shorter sport routres - think 2 to 4 pitches or so - I will often use a sling if I know the bolted anchors are going to be the same at each belay station. Longer sport climbs, I go back to the rope. The video goes deep into what I consdier as I make those choices.

But what the video doesn’t go into is the choice of rope, itself. In fact, we did a whole series on just that: understanding and selecting our ropes to match the particular risks of our objective.

I question I get asked a lot, though, is what are my “go-to” ropes. Well, I have a few, at present:

I really like the Mammut Core Protect 9.5mm for multi-ptich cragging, particularly trad. That type of edgy, ledgey, and potentially rope-damaging terrain, makes the added aramid sheath in that rope really beneficial when it comes to helping mitigate that damage.

I alpine climbs with little climbing in comparision to the approach, I am likely to grab the Beal Opera 8.5mm because, well, super light in terms of grams-per-meter for a single rated rope. Yes, I have to be very conscious of just how stretchy it is, thinking about hazards below a lead fall, but cutting pounds off many miles of hiking usually feels pretty good and saves strength for the actual climbing.

When I am out climbing with my boys, as a team of three, I will usually go with the Beal Gully, which is about as light of a half-rated rope you will find, but when I go out with heavier climbers, I will bult up the rope a little to the Beal Ice Line.

When I’m out doing mostly scrambling with maybe some short technical pitches, then a 30m Petzl Volta Guide is my usual go to. Longer pitches might send me back to the Opera, but If I can cut a heavy rope wight in half by bringing half the rope (because I don’t need more for the route), then that’s always worth it.

All of that is shorthand, though. I really would check out the sereis on rope, if you want to go deeper. It makes a nice follow up to this video: as you think about the types of anchors you need for the types of climbs you face, so it goes, too, for the rope, itself.