Mountaineering: Basics of Rope

Rope is not just a length of fibers, it is considered as a lifeline of mountaineer. Rope plays a vital role in mountaineer and is used for various purposes like climbing, rappelling, anchoring, traversing, stretcher and so on, so forth.
In early days, rope were made by twisting the fibers of jute and called laid rope. E.g. hawser-laid, shroud-laid. These kind of ropes absorb the moisture easily and gets damaged or cut easily. Due to these problem, jute ropes in modern days replaced by braided ropes.  Kernmantle ropes (kind of braided rope) is are typically made by straight bunch of filament made from nylon or polyester protected by a woven sheath.

Based on the elasticity property of the rope, it can be classified as
1. Static rope: elasticity less than 10%
2. Dynamic rope: elasticity up to 30%

In mountaineering, static rope is used for rappelling and dynamic rope is used for climbing.
Diameter, breaking strength and weight are other properties that are considered in selecting a rope. Typically, 9-10 mm diameter, 45 m length rope with breaking strength of 2000 kg and weight 2.7 kg is used by HMI for climbing purposes. And for rappelling they use rope of following specification: 8mm diameter, 60 m length, 2.9 kg weight, 1600 kg breaking strength. Sling rope typically are 6mm diameter and 3m length in size.

General tips:

• Before buying any rope, ensure that it is tested/certified by United International Alpine Association (UIAA).
• For storing the rope, it should be properly cleaned, dried (in sunlight) and coiled
• Do not store rope in a chemical room
• Do not let it close a fire (nylon may burn or melt)
• Do not hang the rope on the metal hook. The rust of the hook can damage the rope
• Always inspect the rope before use. Do not use furry, damaged rope
• Avoid performing jumaring multiple times with the same rope