UKH

There are so many choices and I suspect for my use it probably doesn’t matter 

Low grade sport climbing

70m

Not skinny (at least 9.5mm)

Durable

Not too stretchy

Nice handling

Ambivalent about dry treatment unless it extends it’s life and is good to protect ingress of dirt

Mammut crag classic? 9.5 or 9.8? 
 

Looking forward to the definitive answer!
 

Although I’m guessing it’ll be that at my grade (definitely no harder than the very occasional 7a and mostly 6a/b) anything will do 

Cheers 

Neil

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Good luck I reckon there're lots of people with high conviction -  'rope x brand wears really well', 'rope y wears terribly' but how can they know?  Without conducting fair (destructive) testing in the real world and comparing the various ropes and manufacturers, I'd say it's impossible to have a clear idea about which ropes wear better than others.

I think that's about right?  (Though I have heard some of the American manufactured ropes 'wear terribly'.......but, see above!)
From personal experience, the pink really long ones from decathlon always seem to last and represent good value for money.  I've had a couple of cheapish edelrid 80m ropes which seemed fine, handled and seemed to 'wear well' (but see above again!) Beal rope recentlyish which again seemed fine.
Also read somewhere that all ropes manufactured in Europe come out of the same factory?  Don't know if this is BS but lends weight to your view that it doesn't really matter if true.

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Personally I'm a big fan of the Beal UNICORE ropes, just that extra element of safety. I was just looking for one to link to here but can only find a 60m right now

https://www.bananafingers.co.uk/single-ropes/beal/diablo-98mm-unicore

Your other is the Beal Karma, 105 quid from Go Outdoors for 70m, bargin.

I've got a couple of Sterling ropes that I really love but I used to sell them so can't claim to have paid full price, awesome ropes though!

But of a mine field but if you're after something durable I rate Beal quality

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Can't comment on its use as it's not been used yet however I just got an 80m beal zenith from Dicks climbing in Bristol for £126 which seems like a good price.

The shorter ones were cheaper.

In reply to J Whittaker:

I wonder sometimes if a good plan is to buy a rope a lot longer than you need and every so often chop a couple of metres off the end , which is where most wear is, thus prolonging considerably the life of the rope. Good idea, or penny pinching Scottish madness? 😀

In reply to ColdAndWet:

I really like the feel/handling of the DMM ropes. Couple of my partners have them (40m versions, mainly grit cragging with occasional sport quarry days) & they seem to be lasting well too

In reply to ColdAndWet:

I’ve got the 80m version of this - great rope for the money and been well pleased with it 

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/climbing-rope-9-5-mm-x-70-m-cliff-green/_/R-p...

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Surely there is no possible reason for wanting a fatter rope?  However if you want a durable rope it just so happens that fatter ropes tend to be more durable.  However if you want value for money the way to go is a long but skinny rope.   Ropes die in two ways, either through constant use the end of the rope needs to be cut so many times that you end up with a rope that is too short to be worth climbing with or the rope is still long enough but has become so old that it is now so fat and stiff that it is close to impossible to belay effectively with.  In my experience an 80m 9.5 will just about never become too fat too climb with and will last a couple of years  before being cut below 60metres and therefore ready for the bin.  If you buy a rope that is already 10mm it will only be a year before it is too fat to belay properly with.   so buy buying thinner you get a much better rope that lasts longer.  Just dont get a short 60m thin rope because than after just one cut it is already too short to take on a climbing trip. 

In reply to ColdAndWet:

  I really don't care what thickness the rope is when i climb I just care when someone asks me to give them a belay on their "10mm" rope that is now 2 years old and actually 10.5mm, that's not fun when trying to give a decent belay. 

In reply to ColdAndWet:

I suppose the main way a thin rope is an advantage to the climber is when the route has a lot of rope drag, I've never really tested the difference in drag between a thin and fat rope, is it very noticeable?  or is it just the weight that makes the difference?

In reply to JimR:

Definitely a good idea and standard practice south of the border too!
The trouble is, I find, once you start cutting a rope down the rate of wear seems to accelerate.  Maybe due to increased sheath slippage?

In reply to climbercool:

Think you answered your own question there

Fair question.  I'd guess thin ropes are desirable just for weight saving and handling (both for climber clipping and belayer belaying).  Suspect rope diameter isn't a particularly significant variable in drag felt due to rope zig-zagging a bit betweeen draws/gear or when pinned and running over rock....but that's just intuition and happy to be corrected.  Quite easy to rig up a quick test...

In reply to ColdAndWet:

If you are carrying a 70m rope any distance to crags, you'll be sorry you bought a 10mm+ rope! I'd Take 9.5 as a maximum diameter, not a minimum. And why "not too stretchy"?

I have an 80m 9.8mm rope which I bought a few years ago (mainly for European sport) and I don't like the weight of it - so much so that I'm planning to get a skinny 70m for next Spain trip, and cut the 80m into 35m for indoor and 45 for shortish sport crags.

In reply to Ram MkiV:

I didn't phrase it very well, yes they are more durable in that they wont fall apart, but not more durable in terms of how long you can actually use them for.

Yes would be very easy to test, would be interested to see how many newtons(is that how its measured?) of force it takes to pull 2m of slack on a long winding route with a 9.1mm rope vs a 10mm rope.

In reply to climbercool:

I suspect the difference will be explainable almost entirely by the additional weight of the rope. I can't see how friction will be greatly affected by rope diameter.

In reply to john arran:

Also how fast the belayer can pay out the slack, often lot faster with skinny slick than fat fluffy

In reply to ColdAndWet:

in my experience i just try and go for the cheapest i can find give or take. ive had expensive ropes and cheap ones. The ropes that cost twice the price dont last twice as long although they do handle better for longer. it depends how much you abuse it but i cant face repeatedly jumping off on to a nice £250 petzl rope.

Keeping them clean and chalk free makes them last way longer. The thing that kills them is having a dirty rope and doing short falls with not much rope out. where you pull the rope up to clip (and make it chalky) is where it will wear out really fast and youll have to chop it. More expensive ropes often have better dry treatment and this helps with the friction, but they dont stay perfect forever.... I find if you can get hold of something <=£1/meter thats a good deal. There are some deals every now and again... Fixe recently had a load of ropes on R&R although ive not tested them yet

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Thanks all

Really interesting discussion and as I thought it comes down to personal choice and broadly for someone climbing at my grade it really doesn't matter that much.

I like the advice about buying a longer rope and expecting to cut it to remove wear and not too fat so as it wears it still belays nicely when it gets a bit worn.

And I forgot to ask: what colour is best for a sport rope....?!

Cheers

Neil

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Go for all the treatments, really worth the money. They improve the durability of fhe rope enormously. 

In reply to ColdAndWet:

https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ropes/MAMBO-10-1-mm
I've found this rope to be very durable. It also fits your other criteria well. ( I have had several spools and mostly use it for fixing new route projects, something which is usually very hard on ropes, but also cut for lead lines). 

In reply to ColdAndWet:

See Go Outdoors Black Friday deals...

In reply to ColdAndWet:

Another vote for the green decathlon 9.5mm. 

I've hammered an 80m one sport climbing and it's held up well.

I also bought an 80 and cut it down into  30m and 50m lengths for alpine mountaineering, and it held up pretty well in this setting too.

In reply to ColdAndWet:

So, in case any one cares...!

I bought a 70m Mammut Crag Dry 9.8 £156 from Dicks

Decided on dry treatment to protect from dirt ingress and 70m because I wanted less weight to carry to the crag

 Feel free to berate me and tell what I should have bought instead

In reply to JimR:

We do exactly that - we buy an 80m Beal Joker and use it euro-cragging, which then gets cut down to a 65m UK sport rope and ultimately a 50m wall rope. You just need to be careful you take the right one to Leonidio,