What is the most common length of rope you use? I need to replace my rope anyways, but was curious about the recommended lengths I should get that will come up more often in UE. I rock climb mostly, and have never used my gear for UE descending/ascending yet. I thought there might be a difference, which is why I'm asking.

Climbing rope is very often sold in 200' lengths, but I've actually found a lot of UE situations where this is annoyingly long. I find myself most often using my 50-100 ft lengths. And then every now and then I dig out my 450' for something special...

I have a feeling if I needed 450', I would be forewarned before going wherever I'm going, otherwise I'd be dragging it around more annoyed than anything haha. But thanks! I think I'll stick to 100'. If 200' is more often than not, too long, then I'd rather not have to lug the extra weight around.
Thanks!

Yeah, 60m/200ft are the sizes you often buy prepackaged rope in, as you no doubt already are aware. If you do end up getting longer for a special purpose you may consider buying a spool. I bought a static 11mm spool and have only needed to use it once in its entirety. I have considered cutting it down into a few 60m pieces but I have enough of them laying around anyways.

I pretty much always carry a 20m 11mm on explores for use as a handline or whatnot and only take the 60 or 150 if I know for sure I will need them. You can easily anchor the 10m and belay yourself without a harness down a story or two of abandoned building or drain. Cannot tell you how many times I was climbing down rusty drain rungs and ended up climbing back up the rope instead because rungs blew out. If I am not using my 10m, I am using a 60m 99% of the time.

Just make sure you get static line instead of the typical climbing rope that stretches (to soften that 10m lead whipper). You will likely not be requiring it and it makes climbing up with ascenders a million times more pleasant. Also make sure the diameter fits with you exploring gear. Sometimes cavers/drainers use different tools with their rope that requires a larger rope diameter than say a 8mm that a climber's grigri2 may be perfectly suited to handle.

A am also not sure if it needs said, but remember to keep track of your ropes. You can use either a rope log on paper or just be cognoscente of their use and history. While you may retire a climbing rope after two years because it has been exposed to dirt/oil/too many falls, it does not mean it cannot be employed elsewhere as a backup/handline in a not dynamic situation.

I recently bought a 165' spool of 9mm. It's the thinnest rope that I own but it's light weight. Since we aren't taking falls on the rope, the loads aren't as severe as with climbing ropes. We use a lot more caution for rub points and such. Still, it takes some mental preparations to do a long ascent on that thin rope.

Abby Normal

I thought 9mm the "standard" size in the US? That's what I started out with (I think?) and I've taken some small falls on it! I mostly use 12mm now though.

The two sizes I see a lot are 11mm and 9mm. Almost all traditional/lead climbers (ie not gym, or TR) are moving towards 9mm for the weight saving benefits. It is hard to justify spending all that cash on aluminum/ultralight gear just to needlessly tack on an extra few pounds in rope diameter. When you get into doubles they are even going down to 7mm even. I think prior to around 2000 most people were still using 11mm as the standard for climbing because the cost and technology supported it. Now we have more choices in rope and supporting gear to fit whatever size we choose. The 11mm will always be the workhorse go-to rope, imo.

Posted by wranglerroadhead The two sizes I see a lot are 11mm and 9mm. Almost all traditional/lead climbers (ie not gym, or TR) are moving towards 9mm for the weight saving benefits. It is hard to justify spending all that cash on aluminum/ultralight gear just to needlessly tack on an extra few pounds in rope diameter. When you get into doubles they are even going down to 7mm even. I think prior to around 2000 most people were still using 11mm as the standard for climbing because the cost and technology supported it. Now we have more choices in rope and supporting gear to fit whatever size we choose. The 11mm will always be the workhorse go-to rope, imo.

Before my recent purchase, all my ropes were 11 mil. I have a lot of confidence in them. The 9mm seems a bit small, but actually is plenty strong. The real down side that I see is if it's the only rope on site and you need to execute a rescue. In that situation there would be no real margin of safety, where an 11mm or 12mm rope would be ideal.

All that said, I really like the lighter weight of the 9mm when we are exploring and don't even know if we will need rope.

Abby Normal

These days, most of my climbing gear gets primarily used for aerial arts / circus stuff. Aerialists frequently create huge dynamic loads from drops. 9mm is actually fine, but I switched it all out for 12 a few months back, largely to decrease the stretch in the rope, which can be annoying for aerial work. The 12mm has astronomically less stretch in it.