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Anybody know how is weather affecting the strength of normal climbing ropes. Or with other words, if a new rope is installed on an exit (cliffs that require rappeling) for how long it will remain reliable.

thanks, Bor

 

Touchy question. There are a lot of veriables. How much sun? How much weather? Dirt/sand? Salt? how it chaffes. What the hell is it tied to any ways? What is the anker like? Just because it was deemed good when it was put in don't have any illusions about what it might be like now. And don't go thinking there's any thing magic about a bolt. Do you know who put it in? You can't really tell shit about a bolts integraty unless you can just pull it out by hand in which case you have a clear negative. Yes I've done that.
Personaly I'm a coward. I carry cordlet with me to replace old rotten slings. I leave peaces and beaners behind. I offten replace fixed ropes. Come on. We all have old peaces of rope sitting around. If you or any one else is going to use it you need to maintain it.
By the way, fixed ropes and repelling are some of the most commen ways for climbers to wind up in coffins.

Lee

Yeah SL makes some good points, also important is static or dynamic line? if its a static line it'll probably be good for years and years. true lots of climbers die rapelling but thats usually off the end of the line, not due to the line breaking. think about it, rappelling is not dynamically weighting the rope at all, although its always better to be safe than sorry, I would go with the "if it looks reasonble it probably is". In my experience on fixed lines for jugging/rappelling (not dynamic climbing falls!), they're good at least untill the sheath is worn all the way through and slides down the core fibers. Beware rubbing though, that can wear through very quickly indeed.

I think Dr. Thrill is right - I've had an old chouinard rope in use since 1988... not using it anymore for dynamic climbing falls etc... but have been pulling out trucks stuck in ditches, setting high tension slack lines and roofing etc... never had an issue -even yarding on trucks. This rope was out in the sun for years and is all discolored and hard - crispy to the touch.