How to choose the right climbing rope

How do I choose the right climbing rope? That is a great question, but the answer might not be as straight forward as you would expect. Especially if you are looking for your first climbing rope! In this climbing how to video I will explore some of the key differences between climbing ropes and why you should invest some time in finding the right climbing rope for you, but it is a huge topic, so we cannot look into all details. And if you are new to this channel, then you have come to the right place if you are looking for tips on climbing gear and to get inspiration about climbing areas and specific routes – being rock, alpine or ice climbing.

The first thing you should consider is what type of climbing you are doing since the requirements for your rope will be very different. If you are into sport climbing, then you might need a rope that is durable and can take lots of falls, while you probably need skinnier, dry coated, half-ropes if you are doing multi-pitch ice climbing or alpine climbing, so the rope doesn’t suck up moist and water.

There are different types of ropes and it is really important that you get the right type for what you are doing. There are basically two different types of ropes – dynamic ropes and static ropes.

Static ropes stretch only a tiny bit which means that they do not absorb the force of a fall. This again means that you and the gear will absorb the fall increasing the risk of injury. Besides that, static ropes are not certified or designed for lead climbing or top roping. They are designed for hauling and rescue operations, where you ascend the rope with gear and do not want the rope to stretch as this makes the process much harder. So, if you are looking for a rope for these situations, then you should consider a static rope.

Dynamic ropes stretch and absorb the force of a fall, and this is what you should be looking for if you are looking for a climbing rope, and this is also what I will be focusing on in the rest of the video.

There are several subcategories of dynamic ropes, such as single ropes, half ropes and twin ropes, and each of these subcategories have very different specifications and usages. For single pitch sport climbing you would like a durable rope that can take a lot of beating as you project hard and will probably take a lot of falls. I would go for a single rope that is between 9 mm to 10 mm, which strikes a good balance between being durable and light weight. You could also consider getting a coated rope that protects against dust and sand.

In terms of the length of your climbing rope, you need to ask yourself how long the routes you usually climb outdoors are. Often, sport climbing routes are longer outdoors than indoors, so I would say do not go for a rope shorter than 60 meters, which means you can climb routes up to 30 meters.

The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation also known as the UIAA tests ropes to see how many falls they can actually hold before failing. This is a specification you can find for all ropes and is specified on the package that your new rope comes with. All single ropes and half ropes must withstand a minimum of 5 UIAA falls. Twin ropes must withstand a minimum of 12 UIAA falls. The test is done by dropping an 80kg weight onto the rope, while half ropes are tested by dropping a 55kg weight on a single strand of rope, and twin ropes are tested by dropping an 80kg weight on both strands of rope. All ropes that meet the UIAA requirements are safe for climbing.

If you are looking to do any multi-pitch climbing I would recommend going for half ropes. Half ropes are not half the length of a single rope, but they are climbed with in pairs. So, you need two of them! They can be tied together, so when abseiling of a multi-pitch you can actually abseil the full length of the rope which will save you a lot of time. Besides this having two ropes will also help you avoiding rope drag as you can clip more efficiently

Twin ropes are essentially half ropes, but you need to clip both of them in the same piece of protection to keep meet the right amount of safety. They are really good for multi-pitch climbing where the route does not traverse or change direction too much as they are often skinnier and weight less than half ropes and therefore good for these particular types of climbing routes. They share the same advantages as half ropes, but as they are skinnier, they are less heavy bulky.

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