Uncoiling a rope

[Huggybone]

I've heard that the way you uncoil a rope, when first getting out of the package, can permanatly affect how 'twisty' it will be. Is this true? I've only ever owned one other rope, and it was VERY twisty.

If it is true, how do you properly uncoil it from the package?

[512OW]

ATC's make it twisty too. Everything makes it twisty. Twisty makes it twisty.

If you play reverse twister with it in just a pair of womens knee highs....it'll untwisty.

[Artsay]

Ours is really twisty and we were told that it largely can come from using different types of belay devices often (which we do). Now I notice that that if I use a grigri for a few routes and then switch to an ATC (or visa-versa) the rope will twist up really bad.

[Lateralus]

the type of anchor it runs through will also effect the twistiness.

[squeezindlemmon]

I've heard that too, Huggy.

I've bought three ropes since I've started climbing and I've never done anything special after taking them out of the packaging. None of my ropes are twisty. The only time one of them got twisty is when we (three) people used it to TR a 90 ft route, then I rappelled on the same set-up, then self-belayed myself on it, and I think another person TR'd the same route. When we pulled the rope it was indeed TWISTY.

Other than that, I don't encounter any twisty problems. But then again, I'm pretty obsessed with flaking my rope perfectly at the end of each climbing day/trip, so that must've helped out a bunch.

[Crankmas]

I've heard you uncoil from the centered end when new, I have had found it helps to lay the new cord out for its entire length and weight/stretch it gently also, but like everyone else says use will twist it so you will need to repeat as required

[Jeff]

Have Alexis hold the new coil like it was on a spool with her arms thru the middle.
Actually, you hold it and have her pull the end out and stack it on the floor.
You keep bouncing your arms so the rope is acting like it is being unwound off the spool.
Once you are done stacking the rope it will be coil free. At least until the first time you climb with it .

[Jerry Bargo]

Hi Pete! Jeff hit the nail on the head. As you are well aware, any time a rope is coiled (instead of butterflied or stacked) a series of twists is introduced (all in the same direction). Just pulling the rope off the end of the coil turns all of those twists into kinks. Unspooling the coil, tedious though it is, is the only way to avoid trouble.

New ropes traditionally were coiled by the manufacturers because that was the cheap and easy thing to automate. Recently, at least some manufacturers have improved upon this situation. Someone recently checked out a brand new rope from the UCMC and, amazingly, it was coiled in two directions with cancelling twists - no kinks!

But just in case, I would always want to shake out a new rope before heading off to the crag. My time in the woods is so limited, I sure don't want to have to waste precious climb time wrestling the kinks out of a new rope when I could be trailing it up an extra route.

[rabbit]

I had a Maxim that kinked a lot more than any other rope that I've owned. I swear I think some ropes are more problematic than others. You can take care of them, yes, but they may still become frazzled.

[agrigabe]

Ever notice how if you are being lowered off certain anchors, particularly those big Metolius rap anchors, that the rope leading from you up to the anchor seems to twist constantly as you descend? (Yes, I know you should rappel off, but assuming you're being lowered, do you know what I'm talking about?) Typically, you end up with lots of kinks after you pull the rope, right? Someone recently showed me how to avoid the kinks and it seems to work. To avoid the kinks, instead of pulling the rope back up (i.e. directly opposite the way you lowered) you continue to pull it all the way through in the same direction as you were lowering. This practice works the kinks out the other end of the rope.