How to Choose a Rope?

Finally deciding to buy a rope is an exciting next step in your climbing journey, but now which rope should you buy?! There are so many ropes used for climbing; single, half and twin ropes, to name a few. For the purpose of this article I’ll be focusing on single ropes, which is the primary rope type used by sport climbers.

When choosing a rope you want to consider a few things: length, diameter and rope markings.

Length: If you’re only using this rope to climb indoors you probably don’t need a 70m rope. Flaking a 70m rope for gym climbing will get old real quick… trust me. However, if you’re planning on taking your rope outside a longer rope would give you access to a wider array of climbs. You’d hate to show up somewhere and not have a long enough rope.
Diameter: This might go without saying but the thicker the rope the heavier. So when you’re taking a long approach you might appreciate a thinner rope. However thicker ropes tend to be a bit more durable and easier to manage. Rope diameter will range between 7-11mm, with most hovering around 9.8mm.
Rope Markings: There will be many color options when selecting a rope. Most common will be a solid single color, normally with the middle of the rope marked with a different color to alert the climber this is the middle. You can also buy bicolor/bipattern designs which serves the same purpose. You’d need to know where the center of your rope is if your repelling down from a climb. It’s important both ends are long enough so you can safely reach the ground.

Rope Basics / Terminology

• Dynamic vs Static Ropes - Any rope you are climbing with should be dynamic. Static ropes are used for pulling objects or toeing.

• Wet vs Dry Ropes - A “wet” rope is a rope that has no treatment. A “dry” rope has been treated to reduce water absorption. When a rope is wet is reduces it’s lifespan and durability

• Bight - a bend or folded section of rope

• Coil - normally referring to how you rap your rope after use

• Sheath - the outer layer of the rope

• Core - the center of your climbing rope. You should always check this for any breaks

Try Something New

If you have a rope that’s constantly twisted and kinked this can be quite annoying when feeding rope to your partner. To work out some of these kinks / coils try attaching a carabiner to a high point a feed your rope through! Shaking and massaging all the really kinked sections.

My Rope!

I purchased the 70m Sterling IonR XEROS BiColor 9.4 mm Dry Rope. It started as a bright beautiful yellow rope (left) and has since become a little dimmer from dirt (right), which I expected. I love this rope and it makes a fantastic outdoor rope, however for indoors it’s very VERY long. Luckily I have friends with shorter indoor ropes that I can borrow, but in the future I’d like to get a gym rope.

Regardless of which rope you choose you can’t really go wrong because as long as you get a climbing specific rope, they’ll be rated to catch you! So enjoy the process and reach out with any questions!