Rope lengths · AditNow Community

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davel
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

15 years ago

A question ...

I'm thinking of replacing my SRT ropes which, whilst superficially in good condition and have not had that much use, are now rather old. (Around 20 years old in fact. :ohmygod: )

Now I'm sure this will spark lots of debate about how long to keep a rope. However, what I'm interested in is what lengths people suggest for general SRT use, particularly for the mines and underground quarries of north and mid-Wales.

Currently, I've got a 17 m rope, which is quite useful for short pitches and as a general hand-line etc., and a 47 m rope which gets used for the longer pitches but is a bit long for many of them and is rather heavy to carry around.

Dave

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Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

I suppose the obvious question to ask is what you intend to do with it!

Ropes seem to come in lengths of 50m or 60m, which - to my mind - translates to cutting them into 20m/30m or 25m/35m or somewhere around there.

In reality, a 20m rope will be enough for most purposes and the fact that you've not said your 17m is too short possibly backs that up?

Given a bit of sensible rigging, I can't see that a 30m rope will be defeated by much underground in north Wales, again subject to that rigging proviso.

I've only seen a much bigger rope used in slate underground on one occasion, which may have been a 50m or 60m rope.

The surface is something else altogether, but the use of SRT in quarries seems to be pretty uncommon, mostly ruling out the need for a 100m rope!

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

davel
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

15 years ago

"Vanoord" wrote:
Ropes seem to come in lengths of 50m or 60m

I was thinking of getting a 100 m reel.

Quote:

... the fact that you've not said your 17m is too short possibly backs that up?

Actually, although I didn't say it, I do find the 17 m rope a bit short at times - it's quite easy to use up around 4 m of rope for the Y-hang at the top of a pitch. (Bunny knot with 1 m loops.)

Even the 10 m or so pitch of Moel Fferna will use up a good 20 m of rope by the time you've rigged some of it to protect the traverse out to the tree.

Perhaps a better question would be what lengths are people currently using?

Dave

stuey
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

I use my 80 a lot. From 30 upwards. Out of all my ropes, the 80 is packed in a bag and gets used for everything. Everything else is hung up in the shed.

Dean Allison
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

I was wondering the same thing last year and found the following thread interesting:

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,5975.0.html

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

Interesting article that, ta for linking it! :thumbup:

The salient bit seems to be:

Quote:

20m is good for 58 pitches (10m-20m)

30m is good for 58 pitches (25m-30m) but also could be used for the 10m-20m pitches, so covers 116 pitches in this range.

40m is good for 24 pitches (35m-40m)

60m is good for 35 pitches (50m-60m) but also could be used for the 35m-40m pitches, so covers 59 pitches in this range.

80m is good for 9 pitches (65m-80m)

Soda Law dictates that whatever you have will either be 3m too short; or about 20m too long 😉

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Wormster
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

Before BB08 I got a 100m reel of 10.5m rope, I decided that 1 100m length was impractical, so, it got teh chop into 2 bits marked 45m - (allowing for shrinkage over time), does me for all of my mines and caves and any other surface activity.
Mind you during BB09 we could have done with a 100m rope to get into "Teh Lost World of Dinorwig"!!

Better to regret something you have done - than to regret something you have not done.

Jasonbirder
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

I find 1x100M,2x50M,2x25M,2x10M gives you a reasonable mix...you'll still end up begging and borrowing from time to time...
And you'll still find shafts that come in at 120M and necessesitate a knot pass!

Mr Mike
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

15 years ago

One really useful thing to have, is what we call the 'washing line'.

Basically a length of 9mm rope between 10 and 20m, coils up really small and sits in the bottom of your tackle bag. Oh how many times it has saved the day when that extra bit of rope was needed.

Though you do need to pay a little bit more attention to rubs.

Mr Mike www.mineexplorer.org.uk