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Anyone climbing on Oplux yet?

D

deerfly

Active Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2019
Messages
166
For some background, I started SRT/RAD climbing on Samson Predator with Petzl ascender and rig descender/work position device about 3 1/2 years ago. I liked the setup a lot, but its heavy and bulky to pack, esp long distances. About mid season last year I transitioned to Sterling 9mm htp and a madrock lifeguard to shave some weight and bulk. I also started using Oplux for my tether and linesman belt for several months now. Very happy and safe with this 9mm htp setup and the Oplux tether and LB is a welcome weight and bulk reduction too.

Seems like looking at Oplux as a climbing line is next big (smaller) thing. I see guys are rappelling down with Oplux, but can't find much out there on people climbing on it yet. At 8mm it is at the low end of most rated belay and positioning devices, even below for more industrial devices like the Rig.

I did experiment climbing Oplux with my petzl hand ascender and the lifegard autoblocked at very low height as I only have 16' of it. The narrowness seems a bit weird from a feel standpoint, but I went through that with 11mm to 9mm transition too. The Petzl ascender and lifeguard didn't have any issues with 8mm, nor did the Sterling autoblock cord, but I only decended about 4'. :)

So I suspect climbing 15'-25' and descending on the lifeguard won't change things much. But haven't pulled the trigger on a full climbing line length yet and interested in anyone else's experiences.
 
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I just bought 52'(16meters) of Oplux. I plan on using it for DdRT and a Swabisch Friction Hitch or the Distel hitch. I currently have the Sterling 9mm htp and while a lot smaller than the predator rope I have it is quite stiff. So I will use this and see and then might sell my htp rope and predator rope...but we shall see. My 14 year old son is itching to get out there and hunt, but he cannot miss any days of school due to driver's ed classes. He misses one class the school pulls students from the course. Looking forward to getting and using my Oplux.
 
Newhunter1 said:
I just bought 52'(16meters) of Oplux. I plan on using it for DdRT and a Swabisch Friction Hitch or the Distel hitch. I currently have the Sterling 9mm htp and while a lot smaller than the predator rope I have it is quite stiff. So I will use this and see and then might sell my htp rope and predator rope...but we shall see. My 14 year old son is itching to get out there and hunt, but he cannot miss any days of school due to driver's ed classes. He misses one class the school pulls students from the course. Looking forward to getting and using my Oplux.
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did you get it with a sewn eye splice or are you tying your own basal anchor system etc?
 
I'm going to either do a figure 8 or the fishermans knot...more than likely the figure 8 on a bite as that's what I know best.
 
Ordered 50' of oplux from DanO last week and climbed on it today using Mad Rock Lifeguard. I tended the autoblock ascending for these initial tests too as a precaution, but MR held solid. No issues whatsoever, Did 4 climbs to about 18', descended on the madrock twice and on a Rock Exotica Mini-eight twice. Not sure what else to add other than it looks like my 9mm HTP is spare climbing line now...

Put up a couple pics of my climbing gadgets. Can explain if anyone is interested. Nothing fancy tho, Kong LH ascender, DMM revolver for 3:1, foot strap on delta ring, nylon strap to backup/secure hand ascender to bridge, MR lifeguard and sterling hollow block for autoblocking climbing line.
 

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will the MD fight a 7/16 Rope . I am brand new to SRT ( rope climbing as a whole ) so any advice would be GREATLY appreciated
 
I was climbing SRT / RADS on Beal 8mm Rando rope for a while. I stopped using it only because I felt uneasy with an estimated breaking strength of 1700 lbs. When I saw some 8.5mm rope on sale I bought some of that and am happy with it. I don't know offhand what the breaking strength of 8mm Oplux is but it would eliminate my fears if it is quite a bit more than 1700 lbs. Do I remember seeing 2400 lbs?
 
bj139 said:
I was climbing SRT / RADS on Beal 8mm Rando rope for a while. I stopped using it only because I felt uneasy with an estimated breaking strength of 1700 lbs. When I saw some 8.5mm rope on sale I bought some of that and am happy with it. I don't know offhand what the breaking strength of 8mm Oplux is but it would eliminate my fears if it is quite a bit more than 1700 lbs. Do I remember seeing 2400 lbs?
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From the Sterling website for oplux.

Diameter (mm)MBS Rating (kN)
8.0 24.3
Weight (lb/100')Elongation at 300 lb (%)
2.83.3
MBS Rating (lb)
5,440
 
Newhunter1 said:
From the Sterling website for oplux.

Diameter (mm)MBS Rating (kN)
8.024.3
Weight (lb/100')Elongation at 300 lb (%)
2.83.3
MBS Rating (lb)
5,440
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Wow. That would be nice to climb on as well as carry. I don't know how much weight I would save by going to Oplux over my 8.5mm rope.
 
OpLux is very strong, it was made for tactical rappelling scenarios. There is no arguing the weight and bulk savings are really nice. In my mind it comes down to two things:

1) OpLux is much less stiff than more traditional static rappelling rope. That’s not good or bad necessarily but a significant difference worth mentioning.

2) Second, at 8mm many of the ascent and descent hardware options will be out of spec. I’m not going to make a recommendation one way or the other, we should all leave that up to the manufacturers and let individuals make educated decisions with the facts. If you look around, you can find hardware that is rated for 8mm.


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I should probably point out that my experience and comments climbing on Oplux using the gear I used should not be construed as any sort of ratification or suitability statement for others to follow. It was a simple test by me and in ideal conditions as well, but the session was very positive, no squirrely or rut roh moments at all.

The only thing of any consequence was the descent on the MR was a little bumpy until I got the lever pressure and my hand pressure on the autoblock just right. Oplux is a bit mushy with a soft cover compared to the 9mm HTP I've been using, which is hard and slick. The Oplux feels more like a thinner version of Samson predator in the hand. So I think that mushiness and soft cover made it a bit more difficult manage at two separate friction devices simultaneously. Descending on the mini-eight was very smooth though. So if I can't tame the descent after more time on the Oplux with the MR I may just use the mini-eight for descent/rappelling full time. I keep the mini-eight on my harness all the time anyway as a backup device. It weighs practically nothing, like 2 oz I think.

Along these lines, I still need to test after soaking the rope in water or rubbing some swamp muck into the cover etc. Another thing, where I hunt it rarely freezes or gets cold enough, long enough for icing of the rope to occur. So that's something I can't really test and would certainly be skeptical of if I encountered with any diameter rope, but some of you guys that climb ropes in freezing conditions need to be mindful of.

Anyway, so far I'm very encouraged with Oplux.
 
Email and phone call I just received from WesSpur about Sterling Oplux.

Greetings!

We are reaching out to all of our customer who have purchased the Sterling OpLux 8mm Tactical line.
There have been failures of this line & accidents when people have attempted to use it as a Climbing Line.

THIS IS NOT A CLIMBING LINE.
It is not rated for a climbing line.

This is intended for repelling, or as a tether, etc.

WesSpur has pulled the item from our website at this time to conduct testing on the product.

If you have ANY questions, please let us know and we will have you speak directly to our Arborist, Dave Stice.
 
any details or links to what the failures were?

I climbed SRT on oplux all last season and several times this year too. No issues whatsoever.
 
Jason 47201 said:
Email and phone call I just received from WesSpur about Sterling Oplux.

Greetings!

We are reaching out to all of our customer who have purchased the Sterling OpLux 8mm Tactical line.
There have been failures of this line & accidents when people have attempted to use it as a Climbing Line.

THIS IS NOT A CLIMBING LINE.
It is not rated for a climbing line.

This is intended for repelling, or as a tether, etc.

WesSpur has pulled the item from our website at this time to conduct testing on the product.

If you have ANY questions, please let us know and we will have you speak directly to our Arborist, Dave Stice.
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Could be interesting relating to this thread: https://saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?threads/facebook-fall-part-2.32096/
 
thanks. Just read through the thread and I hate to say I didn't get any objective info out of it. Couldn't find anything regarding oplux not being a climbing line on Wespur's site either. Knowing them I suspect their statement stems from the diameter being to close too or out of spec for belay and work positioning devices. I get that and take my own precautions with autoblocks, etc. Sterling doesn't have any climbing warnings on oplux that I can find either. Definitely need more credible details.
 
Jason 47201 said:
Email and phone call I just received from WesSpur about Sterling Oplux.

Greetings!

We are reaching out to all of our customer who have purchased the Sterling OpLux 8mm Tactical line.
There have been failures of this line & accidents when people have attempted to use it as a Climbing Line.

THIS IS NOT A CLIMBING LINE.
It is not rated for a climbing line.

This is intended for repelling, or as a tether, etc.

WesSpur has pulled the item from our website at this time to conduct testing on the product.

If you have ANY questions, please let us know and we will have you speak directly to our Arborist, Dave Stice.
Click to expand...

Wow! With all the oplux usage (including me), I would have thought this would get waaaay more play on here. This is the first I am hearing of it.

Any new info. On failures and accidents? And what exact activities are included in climbing?
 
[mention]DanO [/mention] do you have any info. Regarding failures or accidents with. Oplux?
 
Would be great to hear their explanation.


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I saw this posting a week or so ago. I didn’t see much banter about it on this forum. With the incident posted on Facebook (which I read here), and this from Wesspur, I opted for Teufelberger Resc Tech over Oplux. They are nearly identical, but Resc Tech has a MBS of 6,525 lbs. and I havent seen any issues or concerns yet. I only use it for a tether and linemans. For rappel, I use 9mm Canyon CI-V. It’s 9mm and in spec with Safeguard. 8mm ropes are out of spec for Safeguard, but many use it with no problems.
 
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