Rope Lengths

[Chanobelli]

I currently have a 150' dynamic climbing rope, a 200' canyonero, I'm thinking about buying another shorter rope for canyons like keyhole and those that don't need long ropes. I am just curios as to what size ropes you guys all have and what size you use the most. Just trying to cut weight where I can on canyons that don't have big rappels.

Thanks Again

[canyonguru]

i only have one rope right now but i would do this set up.
I take scouts so i buy the canyonero rope it is BSA leagal

1 200ft
2 120ft
1 80ft
1 60ft

you can do any canyon with a 200ft drop or less. you can do pine creek with both 120fts you can do keyhole with the one 60 or take the 120 and double the rap in the middle. you can do mystery with the 2 120s you can do full imlay with the 200ftr or imlay sneak with the 2 120s and a 60 ft working rope. Lots of options. depends on what you do most of the time. But i would go with the 2 120s first.

[Stick]

I have bought a 100' rope, but every other rope I have bought has been 200' or longer. I get my shorter ropes when I have had to cut my longer ropes when they get a core shot. I suspect that is how many canyoneers get their shorter ropes. I have a 40', 60' and 70' rope that way. I use my 100' the most, but if I was to own only one rope I would buy a 200'.

[oldno7]

If you plan to do canyon's in Zion, a 130' is a great length.

[Chanobelli]

I'm just debating whether its worth it to buy another rope of 60' 75' 100' or just lug the 200' through any and all canyons this year. My main reason for wanting another shorter rope is that i current don't have a rope bag and carrying 200' is a little bit of a waste when the canyons i'm doing this weekend max rappel is 30'.

[Iceaxe]

I try to write all my beta for the following "standard" rope length's.

60'
100'
120'
200'

The 120' length is a fairly recent addition I added about 5 years ago. The reason I added that length is because Tom sell's a lot of 120' ropes.

And what I mean by "try to write all my beta" is that when I do a route and publish it I try to do the route with the shortest rope that is reasonable so you don't have to lug around a lot of extra rope. I also do what I consider to be a good job of actually measuring the rappels and not just making a wild ass guess like some beta sprayers.

Outside of Zion the 100' or 120' will be your most used ropes.

Anyhoo... hope that helps.

[Chanobelli]

I try to write all my beta for the following "standard" rope length's.

60'
100'
120'
200'

The 120' length is a fairly recent addition I added about 5 years ago. The reason I added that length is because Tom sell's a lot of 120' ropes.

And what I mean by "try to write all my beta" is that when I do a route and publish it I try to do the route with the shortest rope that is reasonable so you don't have to lug around a lot of extra rope. I also do what I consider to be a good job of actually measuring the rappels and not just making a wild ass guess like some beta sprayers.

Outside of Zion the 100' or 120' will be your most used ropes.

Anyhoo... hope that helps.

That does, thanks for your input. Echo and Keyhole are both listed with 30 feet being the longest rappel so i'm considering buying a 60' rope is that more of a waste or is there a decent amount of canyons that would use a 60'. I just dont want to buy a 60' rope for only 2 canyons or does 75' make more sense. Tons of questions I know. Sorry

[Iceaxe]

Where do you mostly canyoneer?

Zion has a tendency to require longer ropes then elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau. The skinnier canyons (North Wash type stuff) tend to require shorter ropes.


Just off the top of my head the Zion slots you can do with a 60' rope are:
Keyhole
Echo
Red Cave
Fat Man's Misery
Das Boot
Subway
Orderville


Anyhoo.... a 60' rope doesn't cost much and you will use it plenty if you stick with the sport.

[Slot Machine]

Want to cut weight and a put together a versatile rope quiver?

The Canyon Fire 8.3 mm rope is awesome. Highly recommended.

I have a 50 footer that I seem to bring for every canyon. For raps 25-50', I just biner block it and use webbing as a pull down cord. (I normally have about 50 feet of webbing on hand)

So, this is the quiver that I would recommend (all Canyon Fire).

50' X1
100' X2 (order 200', cut it in half)
200' X1

Don't lug a 200 footer when you don't have to. Work smarter, not harder.

Bob

[2065toyota]

My 60' rope with a pull cord in a small rope bag is probably my most used rope. It goes on almost every tripe because it's small easy to work with. Even in Zion most raps are under 60'

[ilipichicuma]

Our group has two fifty foot ropes and I personally have a sixty foot rope (those all came about from core-shots in longer ropes). Those are definitely the ropes we use the most. They're just so handy to pull out for the short drops you come across all the time. Otherwise I think we use the 200 footers a lot. It's nice when you have a 100 foot rappel to be able to go double strand and have a bit more friction. Though my friend Gavin also has a 100 foot rope, and when we did the Squeeze we only took the 100 and the two 50s, which was perfect.

[Udink]

The 120' length is a fairly recent addition I added about 5 years ago. The reason I added that length is because Tom sell's a lot of 120' ropes.

This is all I own--a 120' Canyon Fire. For everything else, I have friends with ropes. :)

[canyoncaver]

210' and 120' are very useful lengths and most Zion canyons can be descended with these two ropes.

[Scott Card]

My most used rope is the 120.

[Iceaxe]

FWIW- 99.9% of all rappels are set up to be 200' or less. This comes from climbing where 60 meters is a standard rope (196'). Outside of Heaps I can't think of another canyon I have done where two 200' ropes didn't work.


Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[Scott P]

There are a quite a few canyons that require ropes longer than 200 feet, but they are mostly in places like Lake Powell, Dinosaur, or Grand Canyon. There are actually several canyons in those areas (most especially the Grand Canyon) that require more than 200' of rope. As was said, it all depends on where you canyoneer.

If your destination is places like the Roost, Escalante, North Wash, White Canyon, San Rafael, Capitol Reef, Moab, etc., there aren't that many that require them (though Capitol Reef has at least a few). With very rare exceptions, you needn't bother investing in a 300+ foot rope for these areas.

Anyway, I think I have the following:

375' (2)
200' (3)
165' (1)
120' (2)
100' (1)
50' (1)
30' (1)

Another one I recently cut, but it is probably 80' and 40' now.

Not all canyons require the same amount of rope, but the list mentioned by others in the above post is pretty good. I also like to have a short 30' one to take on mostly non-technical canyons.

[SRG]

200'
120'(2)
50'
30'

For canyons with rappels of <40' I just bring the 50' and 30'.
It's nice 'cause you can split up the load btwn two people.
Also, I find it more enjoyable and convenient to manage(I keep 'em daisy chained) than a '120 in a rope bag.
And lastly, I like for my short and inexpensive ropes to take the wear n tear instead of my longer and more expensive ropes whenever possible.

[dougr]

I always buy in 60m lengths and cut to a 120+ and 80+. Great combo.

[Renatomic808]

1 - 440ft
2 - 220ft
1 - 100ft
2 - 65ft
5 - 30ft to 50ft ropes

I do agree with Bob. Have the option to work smarter, not harder.

The little pieces came from larger ropes that got core shot. However, most of the canyons here on Maui, have at least one rap that's over 150.. we actually have one in particular, that has a total of 14 rappels. and half of those are around 200ft. Other canyons here have drops around 220-270, and even one "un-run" canyon, that appears to have a 500+/-free hang.

[Bootboy]

1-330'
1-200'
1-135'
2-120'
1-80'

The 120 and the 80 see the most use. Though the 200 is a regular as well.