Rope - damaged or not - advice please

[ChrisB]

We used a new rope for the first time yesterday. The second person back up spotted what may be damage or may be manufacturing artifacts / flaws.

There are about 6 or so bits like this, at about 5cm intervals along the rope, and roughly in a line, ie, on the same 'side' of the rope. Some of them look like 'extra' bits of yarn sticking out of the weave, others look like part of the weave. The area where they were was not subject to any abrasion, and the first person up didn't stop or downprussic. Neither he, nor any of us on abseil, nor me when washing and stretching the rope before use, nor the guy in the shop measuring it off the reel, spotted anything, but that's not to say they weren't there before. As I said, this was the first time the rope has been used, but it was bought about 5 months ago.

I'm wondering if this is what a rope looks like if they change bobbins or otherwise join the yarn while spinning it? If I'd bought it as a length I'd expect that to be avoided when cutting it, but off the reel it would need me or the shop to notice it.

Any comments, please?

 

[Dep]

This looks like the typical marks of people fumbling the removal of the croll.

If all different bits like this are all close together was this just below the belay by any chance - where people might be doing a changeover?

 

[Langthwaite Pot]

I've had exactly the same problem with this rope (Mammut Performance Static 10mm). I also know of a few cases where the sheath has bunched up. My guess would be that the two problems are related, due to the sheath being fairly loosely woven. The same problem doesn't seem to happen to the 9mm though.

I'd get in touch with the shop you bought it from if I were you!

Cheers,

George.

 

[Dep]

Apologies - I mis-read your post.
So, if no one had used it then some thing has snagged the rope.
I would hate to think it came from the manufacturer like that - perhaps bad storage?

 

[SamT]

When I received my mammut rope, the end of the rope was succured to the reel using a long 'sowing' type pin.

It could be that this has 'plucked' a few of the sheath strands.

If you are genuinely worried about it, then cut the section out. and make some smaller ropes for smaller pitches

 

[ChrisB]

Thanks for your comments, folks. I might do as Sam suggests, but if it's a manufacturing flaw with no strength implications, it might be OK.

Dep, although you misread, you might be on the right lines - it's at the bottom of a pitch and nobody was taking a Croll off there, but it does now transpire that the first person up had some trouble with a foot jammer (ie, Pantin type) round about there; all the other ropes we used were 11mm, but this was 10mm and unworn so was smooth, and a slipping foot jammer might have caused the fraying?

 

[SamT]

Just re-read the post.

If this has been used - even just once - then Im pretty sure that this is just a jammer (perhaps the pantin) or something else that has snagged the weave on the sheath.

Pretty sure that it would be fine to use. I have climbing ropes that where far more badly abraided that I was happy to to continue using.

its just a bit of plucking.

 

[Dep]

Our club training ropes suffer from this a lot. Not really an issue as that is their puropse - to learn on. Getting a croll off is probably the hardest thing to learn first off - especially for those who are not both light and/or strong and well co-ordinated.

But it does mean that we have to be careful how we rig the rope as we are rigging the same thing in the same place each time. This concentrates the wear onto the same section of rope each time and this 'plucking' gets very noticeable.
Eventually I noticed it and made sure from then on that a random amount of rope is pulled out and kept as a tail so as to vary thr rigging and max-wear position relative to the true end of the rope.

As SamT says the pictures don't look too bad - we have far worse - as long as the sheath still has its integrity there is no serious issue here.
I have also found that to some extent subsequent repeated flexing of the rope over time does withdraw part (but not all) of the braid that is pulled out as it has tightened the neighbouring weaves.