A Security Tag Through a Sling. And 6 Other Ways Rope Dies.

Somebody sent HowNOT2 a photo this week. A climbing shop had pinned an anti-theft tag straight through a nylon sling. The kind of plastic tag you get on a jumper. Through the thing that is meant to hold you off the ground.

Their answer was basically: is it weird, yes. Is it going to kill you, probably not. Should a shop be sticking pins through life support gear, absolutely not.

I laughed, and then I thought about all the rope that lands on my bench in Aberdeen. Because I see the end of the story. I see what actually finished these ropes off. And it is almost never one dramatic thing. It is a pile of wee things nobody noticed.

So here is the honest list. Not to scare you. Just so your rope lasts longer, and so you know what to look for before you retire it.

What damages climbing rope (it is not falls)

Everybody worries about the big whipper. A rope is built for that. It is literally the job. What a rope is not built for is the boring stuff you do to it on the ground.

Grit. Number one, every time. You drop your rope in the dirt at the crag, wee bits of sand work through the sheath, and every time the rope bends or runs through a device those bits act like sandpaper on the core. From the inside. Where you cannot see. That is why a rope bag matters more than most people think.

Standing on it. Same problem. Your boot pushes the grit in deeper. Every climbing wall in the country has a sign about it, and every climbing wall has people ignoring the sign.

Sun. UV breaks down nylon. Slow, invisible, and it makes the sheath stiff and faded. A rope left on a sunny ledge or the back seat of a car for a summer is not the same rope it was in spring.

Heat. Nylon starts to go soft well under the temperature of a hot boot of a car in July. Fast abseils on a thin rope can glaze the sheath. If you can feel a shiny hard patch, that is melted nylon.

Sharp edges. A loaded rope running over a rock edge is the classic. But it also includes carabiners with a wee burr in them, worn bolt hangers, and yes, a security pin through a sling.

Chemicals. Battery acid, petrol, bleach, even some markers. Nylon does not like acid at all. The dodgy part is it can look completely fine after.

Time. Even a rope that has done none of the above still retires after 5 to 10 years. The nylon just ages.

How to check a rope in two minutes

Run the whole length through your hands. Slowly. You are feeling for three things.

Lumps or flat spots, where the core has bunched up or gone thin. Soft mushy sections, where it squashes more than the rest. And any spot where the sheath is cut, fuzzy or you can see white core through it. Any of those, and that section is done.

Then look at it. Stiff, faded, glazed, or smelling of petrol. Also done.

If it passes, keep it in a bag, off the ground, out of the sun, away from the car boot. That is most of rope care right there. I wrote more on the timing side in when to retire a climbing rope, and on how much strength a worn rope actually loses in the silent strength post.

Why a damaged rope is still my favourite material

Here is the bit that surprises folk. Everything on that list makes a rope unsafe to fall on. Almost none of it makes the rope weak in any way that matters on a workbench.

A rope with grit in the core has lost its safety margin for a 4 metre fall. It still holds hundreds of kilos. A recycled climbing rope belt is asked to hold up a pair of jeans. A climbing rope keyring is asked to hold keys. Even the dog lead, which is the hardest working thing I make, is nowhere near what that rope did on the wall.

So when a climbing wall sends me a rope that has been stood on for three years, I am not getting rubbish. I am getting the toughest fabric on the planet, with a story, that just cannot do its old job anymore. I cut round the damaged bits, and the rest becomes something that will outlast anything from a big-box store.

And no, I do not pin security tags through any of it. Every join is bar-tacked. There is a whole post about why.

Check your rope. Bag your rope. Keep your rope off the ground. And when it is done, you know where it goes.

Stay classy and remember,
Make Waste Useful.

George