when do you retire your rope?...

[meetVA]

i found these suggested guidelines on www.mec.com for rope retirement.

"Retirement
The life expectancy of a rope depends on amount of use, number of falls, climbing technique, type of rock, and handling. Top-roping is hardest on a rope and can abrade a rope badly in no time. Manufacturer's suggested lifespans are merely a guide. How long you use a rope is contingent on the actual wear and condition.

Manufacturer's recommended rope retirement schedule:

5-7 years if used for a couple of pitches every few months.
2 years for normal weekend use.
3 months of near daily use.
Up to 1 year of part-time use including multiple falls.
Retire a rope that has been damaged by rock fall, crampons, or sharp rock edges. If you are certain the damage is limited to an end, you can shorten your rope by cutting off the damaged piece.
Retire your rope immediately if it suffers a fall that approaches factor 2 (a fall that is twice the distance as the amount of rope run out from the belay)."

i'm trying to decide whether or not my first rope needs to be turned into a rug or retired to the gym.

if it isn't safe to climb on outside but it's okay to climb on inside, when do you know that it is no longer safe indoors?

And honestly, of the "daily climbers" on here, how many of y'all retire a rope after three months?

[Paul3eb]

it's time to put the rope in a home, an indoor home. that ropes done and ready for retirement. personally (not that it's going to snap or anything) but i would relegate it to top-rope duty indoor/outdoor. it's seen a lot of use from stellato and you don't know how he took care of it. i'm sure she was fine with it but he did take his road trip out west for a semester and climbed all the time. did he use that rope for the trip?

plus, you have a new 70m. i say use it and enjoy it, it's 70m of fun

[Meadows]

Good info!! I'm about to get a new one (and I plan to hide it from Wes when I'm at Roadside ).

A question for the experts- someone commented that washing a rope too much is bad for it. Does that add to the swelling of the rope? I've washed mine 3 times in the two years that I've had it and now I have trouble getting it through a gri gri.

[TradMike]

Here's two reasons I have used -

When the sheath becomes frayed.
When it no longer gives a soft catch.

[Wes]

Ropes are way stong. I use mine until the core shots really show, then just cut that part off and keep using it. Unless it is really manky looking, you can keep using it outside, inside, wherever. Unless you just want a new rope, in which case you should retire your old one for sure. I would be glad to dispose of it for you...

Wes

[Wes]

BTW, odds are good that the falls you take leading indoors would be at least as hard as the ones outdoors, since there is so little rope out while inside, compared to outside.

Wes

[rhino]

When you no longer can call it a rope while keeping a straight face...then give it to Wes and he will use it a little longer...I don't think he ever met a core shot he didn't like.

[J-Rock]

I retire ropes when I can see the core in three different places... usually they last a year or two or three, much less recently. It's kind of like a 3 strike rule in baseball. I still have two that are over 10 years old. Actually I then use it as a fixed line for easy cliff-top access. Multi-pitch trad seems to wear out ropes faster than regular weekend use.

[pigsteak]

you guys own your own ropes? I'm jealous. Wes, can I have one when you are done with it?

[Guest]

I've got one of Wes's retired "ropes" you can have Piggie. My cat has been using it for a scratching post, but I think it's still good.