Hi all i am ready to buy my first rope but i am having trouble deciding...here is what i was thinking about.

Blue water eliminator 10.2mm
Roca KIO 10.2mm
Edelrid cobra 10.3mm

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

In order for us to help you better, please let us know:

What sort climbing will you be doing (trad, sport or both)?
Where do you do most of your climbing?
Are you planning to push your grades (i.e. plan on falling much)

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Ok well i do sport climbing and usually i go to Higgovale quarry or to silvermine but im new to lead climbing so i tend to fall alot.

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Personally I have had 1x Mammut, 3x beal, 2x rocca and some other ropes I forget about.

Now I own 3x edelrid and will probably never buy anything else.

But it may just be me and my focus on quality....

Vote now... Edelrid for president, own 3 Edelrid ropes, you wont go wrong

I had 2 Blue water's and they were both crap!

Edelrid Eagel for President

Cant beat the price on a Roca Finger 10.2

The Roca Kalimnos 9.9 my choice for sure! funky orange colour (very important) and great stretch, with awesome durability so far taken huge wippers on Gift of wings and still going strong!
Also had my tendon 10 and 10.5 for 5yrs now! - ive just cut the ends off and still climb toprope on them!

Well thanks all for the positive comments...i am getting a vibe that Edelrid or Roca is the way to go

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Interested to know your concerns / resevations about Beal ropes ?

Both my Beals became oval and the mantles seperated from the kerns.

Oh, and a girl was swining on my 1/2 rope half way up a route. The rock cut right through the mantle exposing the kern.
But that would have happened with any rope.

Out of that list, I've had...

4 Blue Water ropes: lasted well, handled great, lost stretch when old, as ropes do. I still use 1 of them for top-roping/bolting missions, and the half ropes are still going strong. Good price (bought the halves in the US)

I've had 1 Roca 10.2 something or other. Gave it away it was so crap. Stiff, horrible handling, just never got along with it. Was cheap though. Wore out pretty quickly...maybe I treated it bad because I didn't like it

Currently loving Edelrid. Durable, good price, awesome handling rope. If the next purchase is local, I'll buy more Edelrid ropes, then Blue Water. If overseas, Mammut and Sterling look ace although I haven't owned either.

Disclaimer - I don't get free gear from anyone, this is my opinion.

Wow Hann, did she realise what was going down and crap herself?

i have a beal edlinger... not super stoked on it, but i guess that happens when its that cheap..

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remember the days when sex was safe and climbing was dangerous

Please note the Edlinger is not the same as Edelrid- got me fooled the first time.

Also personal opinion but I have used many types & still think that BEAL is by far the best!

Sure sometimes the sheaths are a bit stiffer but they certainly last longer, with more use, then the softer Blue Water ropes. I have to agree on the Roca's in that the ones I used wore out a lot faster & lost a lot of stretch very quickly.

Nothing against Edelrid in particular. Previously they were very mediocre ropes but the current range seem very good. As I say, previously the really nice handling rope was an EDELWEISS & people often only bought the Edelrid because they confused the two. Time will tell - personally Edelrids current campaign of REBRANDING every one else's gear as theirs lowers my level of trust as to their quality on things like imitation La Sportiva shoes, stoves that look like copies of other brands, & everything else in sight (just like Mad Rock a few years ago) but then they always have made ropes - so the ropes may be the exception.

Back to my original point - no value in trying to give BEAL a bad rap - you will see that (other then the Edlinger & Tiger) the rest of the BEAL range is quality every time & will outlast all the other ropes bought at the same time. Try it, its my opinion, but I have seen the proof.

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Really, its not that bad...I think it's my shoes...

I've had the Edlinger for 3 years now and it's been very good. No complaints. The only rope I've had that was horrid was a Tendon (very, very stiff), but a friend had exactly the same rope, bought at the same time, and his was awesome.

For what it is worth, I am also very happy with my Beal Edlinger.

I'm really happy with the cheapest rope. I have & have-had lank ropes; cheap/expensive, thick/thin; pretty/ugly....they are all basicaly the same. More is better. Go for the cool colours.

It's a sad truth that, no matter what rope I buy, my grade never seems to improve! Currently struggling to haul my Beal Edlinger up the routes. It's a hard-wearing, well-behaved rope (i.e. it doesn't twist and knot when waves of fear come shivering down the rope!). No, seriously, I've been happy with mine.

Not at all.
She was very inexperienced and thought it to be lots of fun.
The swinging was intentional.....

The rope was maybe 6months old, so you can imagine how miffed I was.

Is Sterling ropes ever in S.A? or must i import it??

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Hey Hann
you lucky you got 6 months out of it! My first rope was a month old when it got caught in a super sharp V in the rock and cut the mantle ! wasn't a happy camper !

Stirling - to the best on my knowledge, it's not available in SA

Just a note on the Beal ropes :
the Edlinger is probably the best selling rope in this market - because it is so well priced - but it is Beal's "economy" offering. It differs from the other Beal models in that it does not have Dry Cover or a rope bag with it. Dry Cover is a treatment applied to the individual rope fibres using heat which essentailly encaptulates the fibre in a durable cover. As a result the rope wears much better. I have noticed the effectiveness of this as I had bought a treated unit when I retired my non-treated unit. The treated one lasted a lot longer.

Um. Honestly I'm not sure why there's this animosity towards bluewater. I've had my bluewater elimator 10.2 for 3 years now and it still looks good and handles beautifully and I regularly take sizeable whippers on it without a second thought. Its a fantastic rope, was the day I bought it and still going strong. Its really dirty though I must admit. To be fair though its the only rope I've ever owned so I don't have much of an opinion on the other brands. I can tell you that everyone hates roca. People buy them cause they're cheap and then complain when they die, granted this is strictly anecdotal.

Everyone seems to be in love with edelrid at the moment but I'm not convinced. These new edelrid ropes handle beautifully, seriously I've never touched a rope that felt that good. But durability who knows? A few of my friends have edelrids and they're amazing to climb with but my next purchase will probably be a bluewater.

I have lost count of the number of ropes that have made it into my gear cupboard over the years (more than 20 ropes I rekon). The last five ropes I have owned have been Beal and I will stay with this product as these ropes have the lowest impact force of any line I have climbed with. Put another way they are nice and streeeeaaachy. If you hammer your ropes (i.e. fall off a lot!) like I do you will really appreciate this characteristic. They are pretty durable and have a tough mantle. This though can be a problem if you are belaying a bunch as the rope can wear certain parts of your hand if you do lots of lowering over a couple off days. I always use gloves. Its a small price to pay for a rope that in my opinion lasts longer than most.

it would really make for a much more fair and objective discussion if importers and sponsored climbers were to either identify themselves and what personal or professional bias they have, or stayed out of this forum post. because i count about a dozen self-serving replies from simon, cathy, roger, etc. because otherwise it's just blatant advertising.
and i would love to hear from people who have actually owned more than one brand or model of rope and that can do an apples-apples comparison.

Fair enough.

For the record:
I'm neither an importer nor sponsored.

Yeah, me neither. But I can write gear reviews wink wink nudge nudge

While the ropes which I happen to import are quite favorably typed-about in this post it is worth noting that Robert has a point - an apples-apples comparison is better, but in reality it is nigh impossible to achieve outside of a laboratory. And how many readers understand why Roger prefers low impact-force to high breaking-strain? (I mean there are people who want to be able to tow cars AND still climb on their rope...probably worth a high-breaking strain twine for this...but not a recommended practice )
It is unfair to compare an 'entry-level' rope to a fancy rope, likewise it is unrealistic to compare your first rope with the rope you bought as a more seasoned sports climber working projects.
One will suffer the abuse of ignorance, the other the abuse of projecting.

In most cases they both suffer the abuse of un-informed users. Life, and ropes are no different, is about compromise - a lighter rope = thinner which generally = shorter life span , harder-wearing rope generally = harder handling etc.etc.etc. I spent a decade in R&D for cameo and remember consumers complaining that they wanted sheer pantyhose that was warm in winter, cool in summer and lasted a season! Of course that's not really possible, but the funny thing is that they'd proclaim ARWA to be better than CAMEO - despite the same product, from the same production line being in different packaging and opposing marketing!

It's perceptions, to a degree, but there is some science for those interested...

I wrote an of what makes ropes and how they get set apart - it's not definitive, but it sheds some light, hopefully the consumer can decide why some are more suited to his needs than others...

These days I am fortunate to have a rope for each genre I climb - dry skinny alpine / ice ropes, thick big-wall, skinny sport and standard trad ropes...but a decade ago I had 1 rope (a BEAL 9.7 Booster i think) which I'd lug up to the ledge, the mine and Du Toits. Being cheap i even used it after it caught me on Du Toits Peak.

But, then, this is a forum...and trolls lurk...win some, lose some...it all goes around

I like orange ropes but I have to admit my last one was green.

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Gustav
Roc 'n Rope Adventures
Waterval Boven
013 257 0363
rocrope dot com