different rope sizes?

[fraxinus]

can anyone tell me if its bad or dangerous practice to use a smaller diameter rope for the blakes/prussic? just been playing around today going through the knots and chopping off bad frays and was left with a handfull of short lengths of 8mm line (not the main line of course). my climbing line is 10mm, would the effctiveness be reduced? i have had a play low down and it seems ok.

 

also found my main rope got a few patches of creosote on it from running over a branch that was pushing against a bt pole so as it ran it got sticky. not very happy. but its in the middle of the line so i'll be damned if i throw it.

[softbankhawks]

Creosote.....sounds awful. Wash the rope.

Many climbers use 8mm cord, just make sure it is rated and constructed for the job...ie Arborist Hitch Cord.

[browncow]

10mm climbing line must be a bitch. My hands are at the stage where I am wishing for a 25-30mm climbing line

[Paul Jenks]

Should be fine, though, as said above, awful to grip. The prussik will have to grip on less surface area, so as it glazes it'll be less effective sooner. Also, the prussik will have to bend around in a smaller diameter and so will be slightly weaker. The calculation for the resulting loss of strength I don't know. Generally, as long as the rope isn't bent around another that has a smaller diameter you should be ok.

[Craig Johnson]

get rid of the 10mm rock rope and buy a arborists rope

[fraxinus]

cheers for the replies, fortunately i dont climb every day or even every week. i am usually a ground dweller so by the sounds of it it will survive for a fair while. i will just have to watch it and try not to let it slip fast. like i said it seemed solid at low level and the lanyard i use is the from the same rope so it sould be ok. and i use prussic on the lanyard and blakes on the line so best of both. cheers guys

[born2trot]

Dont ditch the 10mm rope you could use it as part of an SRT aerial resue set up along side a belay device like a gri gri 2 as long as it is rated as said above .

[scottythepinetree]

If you don't climb very often, I'd say that's more of a reason to buy a slightly thicker rope. You'll ascend much quicker on 12mm(ish). Also creosote on it can't be doing it any good. I'm not certain of what creosote will do to a rope and until you find out, I'd suggest not climbing on it. If it turns out to be harmful, then take the hit and cut it up. You'll get a decent climbing rope for less than £100. Worth as much as your life?

[Paul Cleaver]

if you decide to ditch the rope and you dont climb very much - go for a nylon 3 strand cable lay - its alot cheaper and its safe

use a 12ml (3 ton breaking strain) with a 10ml loop - its also got a good stretch for safety and its easy to check for rope degradation

[Ben Saxton]

You don't really want dynamic rock climbing rope for srt, ststic rope is better