Ropes

When buying a climbing rope you will need to make a number of decisions about the type of rope you need. Dynamic or Static? Single or Half? Dry Treated or Standard? 50m or 60m (or for that matter, 30m, 40m, 70m or 80m?).

Single Ropes: are ropes designed to be used on their own and are mainly used on bolted routes at walls and on sport climbs. They can also be used on easier trad climbs but may slightly reduce the protection possibilities. They can be paired up with another rope and used as a Half Rope and so a Single rope is probably the best buy as a first rope.

Half Ropes: are designed to be used in pairs and are mainly used for trad climbing, where the leader is responsible for placing their own protection.

Scrambling Ropes: are for use as confidence ropes when walking and scrambling or for traversing glaciated terrain when walking or ski mountaineering. Some firms make dedicated walker's confidence ropes but most people use a 25m or 30m length of dry treated short half rope - we offer this option on several suitable ropes.

Static and Semi-Static Ropes: are designed for use such as abseiling and ascending a fixed rope in situations where you want the minimum of rope stretch.

Canyoning Rope: is designed specifically not to become waterlogged when abseiling down waterfalls. It is not designed to float.

Those wanting a rope for winter and/or alpine climbing should go for a Dry rope - a standard rope will soon cause problems on snow as it can be impossible to get it though a belay plate once it becomes waterlogged and then frozen.

For more information about ropes please see our Climbing Ropes page.