Then you also have a top quality half rope for big multipitch routes, be that some crumbly Culm Coast silliness, Scafell's impeccable rhyolite or Beinn Udlaidh ice. Use it singly for mountaineering days be that Amphitheatre Buttress on Craig Yr Ysfa, the Petit Aiguille Verte, or the Ledge Route on Ben Nevis.

But for many Brits, one or more of these ropes might be the perfect solution. And if you want the lightest half rope available, then these will be too heavy. If you are the type of climber who tries to onsight more than redpoint, or squeezes in the occasional day on bolts into an alpine holiday, the durability questions will be less of an issue. For this review I have top-roped and worked sport climbs with these ropes, but clearly if you do this a lot, fatter single ropes will last better. And all this with the same rope that had been used as a double for multi-pitch icefalls and a single for ski touring on glaciers in Arctic Norway just a few months earlier. Some grunting, sweating and swearing later, I was grinning at the top, but very happy for having been able to pull up one rope on the sketchy clips while Elina watched me on the other. The morning was spent sport climbing in the sun at Llanmynech, and then in the afternoon I stood at the bottom of Red Square at Nesscliffe – ready to do battle on double ropes with a route I have wanted to do since getting my first guidebook twenty years ago. I don't climb on twin ropes, so the comments that follow are really based on using these ropes as both doubles and singles.Īs an example of the ropes' versatility: with the grandparents looking after the kids for the day, my wife Elina and I headed into beautiful Shropshire. The new breed of ropes with multiple functions offers excellent versatility for all-round climbers. © Toby Archer Triple rated ropes are one of the most interesting developments in rope design in recent years. Toby climbing Boršojohka, WI3+ Troms Norway. You can find out more about ropes in this article by Stefan Kruger and Alan James: Everything You Wanted To Know About Ropes.

However twin ropes - and these triple-rated ropes - are designed and certified so that you can safely clip both. Conversely 'double' ropes aren't usually designed to be both clipped into the same piece of gear doing so can increase the forces in the event of a fall. You clip both ropes into every piece of protection, as opposed to just clipping one at a time. The 'twin' function is the least well-known: it's most often used in long alpine climbing, and winter climbing on fairly straight ice couloirs. Toby used a Black Diamond ATC Guide and Petzl Reverso 3 and found that both worked well, but always check the manufacturer's recommendations. Before using these skinny ropes as singles, check how well your belay device handles them. The triple rating means that each rope has been approved to work on its own (as a single rope), as one half of a double rope system, and as one half of a twin rope system. In this review Toby Archer explores the versatile world of triple rated ropes, and reviews three alternatives from three of the biggest rope manufacturers.

Atc guide skinny ropes